Over the past several seasons, Ohio State Buckeyes wide receivers coach Brian Hartline has emerged as perhaps the best position coach and recruiter in the entire country. But it sounds like there’s a chance Ohio State could lose him to a different school.
According to a report from Chris Anderson of 247 Sports, Brian Hartline interviewed for the vacant head coaching position with the West Virginia Mountaineers.
Anderson reports that the school could announce their final decision on Wednesday, so the fact that Hartline was interviewed means that he “has to be taken seriously as a candidate.”
Hartline has served as Ohio State’s wide receivers coach since 2018 after the school fired former receivers coach Zach Smith. During his seven seasons with the Buckeyes, Hartline has been a dominant recruiter and produced a lot of NFL talent.
Hartline has produced four first-round picks – Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Marvin Harrison Jr. – and has landed 20 players ranked inside the top 100 of the 247 Sports composite ratings including current Ohio State receiver Jeremiah Smith, who is the highest-rated player he has ever landed.
While Hartline is clearly a candidate, that does not necessarily mean he is the leading candidate for the job.
Rich Rodriguez, who was the head coach of the Mountaineers from 2001-07 and currently serves as the head coach at Jacksonville State, has been viewed as the leading candidate in the search.
We’ll have to see whether or not the team decides to hire Hartline.
