Coombs’ exit leaves big void for Buckeyes
Cornerbacks coach helped guide NFL first-round picks.
Assistant football COLUMBUS — coaches can be anonymous figures. Not Kerry Coombs.
With his irrepressible personality (he joked that he liked coffee but didn’t need it), recruiting prowess and success in developing cornerbacks, Coombs had become esteemed at Ohio State.
Now he is leaving the Buckeyes to join former OSU player and assistant coach Mike Vrabel’s staff with the Tennessee Titans.
A native Cincinnatian, Coombs built Colerain High School into a perennial power. He then became an assistant at the University of Cincinnati before coming to Ohio State as part of Urban Meyer’s first Buckeyes coaching staff. Just two days ago, he tweeted that he was in Texas recruiting for Ohio State.
Now he is headed to Nashville to rejoin Vrabel, who was retained by Meyer on that original coaching OSU staff. Vrabel left after the 2013 season to join the Houston Texans.
The Titans hired Vrabel to be their coach Saturday, and he pursued OSU quarterbacks coach/co-offensive coordinator Ryan Day to be his offensive coordinator. Day decided to remain with the Buckeyes and subsequently got a bump in title to offensive coordinator, which he shares with Kevin Wilson.
But Vrabel did nab Coombs. His departure certainly will leave a void. Coombs, 56, was the cornerbacks coach and special-teams coordinator at Ohio State. Four cornerbacks — Marshon Lattimore and Gareon Conley in 2017, Eli Apple in 2016 and Bradley Roby in 2014 — became first-round NFL draft picks.
Denzel Ward is almost certain to be a first-rounder in April.
“The Titans are getting the best college football corners coach in America!” Ward tweeted Wednesday. “The amount of love and respect I have for (Coombs) is indescribable. Definitely impacted my life beyond just being my coach.”
Coombs also was an enthusiastic recruiter who helped the Buckeyes shore up southwest Ohio — their biggest soft spot in the state — and had impressive success making inroads in Michigan and elsewhere.
Luke Fickell was interested in hiring Coombs at Cincinnati when he left OSU to become the Bearcats’ coach after the 2016 season. But Coombs stayed in Columbus and was rewarded with the title of assistant defensive coordinator.
Meyer recently said he was confident he wouldn’t lose anyone from his coaching staff for 2018. With the hiring of Alex Grinch after the NCAA allowed programs to add a 10th assistant coach, the Buckeyes’ staff looked to be as strong as ever. Now Meyer must replace Coombs.
Grinch coached safeties along with his defensive coordinator duties at Washington State. His responsibilities at Ohio State have not been determined, at least publicly. Defensive coordinator Greg Schiano has coached OSU safeties.