Ohio State Pays Two Former NFL Head Coaches $4M+ to Run Ryan Day's Coordinators
Day delegates both sides of the ball for the first time, hiring Eberflus and Coen in a structural reset that changes how elite college programs compete for NFL talent.
Published September 10, 2026Source The New York Times / The AthleticFrom the chopped neck
Ohio State Pays Two Former NFL Head Coaches $4M+ to Run Ryan Day's Coordinators
Day delegates both sides of the ball for the first time, hiring Eberflus and Coen in a structural reset that changes how elite college programs compete for NFL talent.
Ohio State announced Matt Eberflus as defensive coordinator and Liam Coen as offensive coordinator, both former NFL head coaches, both earning north of $2 million annually. Ryan Day, who called plays himself for seven seasons, now delegates both coordinator roles to executives with head-coaching résumés. The move follows two consecutive playoff losses and marks the first time Day has hired a defensive coordinator from outside the college ecosystem since taking the job in 2019.
Eberflus spent three seasons as head coach of the Chicago Bears, compiling a 10-24 record before his dismissal in November 2024. Coen served as offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams and briefly held the head-coaching job at Jacksonville for 14 games in 2025, posting a 4-10 mark. Both coaches left NFL situations within the last eighteen months. Ohio State's athletic department declined to disclose exact salaries, but two people familiar with the negotiations said combined coordinator compensation exceeds $4.2 million, placing the staff budget in the top three nationally alongside Georgia and Alabama.
The structural shift matters for three reasons. First, it signals Day's recognition that the college game now requires dedicated coordinator attention on both sides, a concession he resisted while Ohio State ranked 7th nationally in offensive efficiency but 42nd in defensive success rate last season. Second, it establishes a new market ceiling for coordinator pay, forcing programs like Texas, Oregon, and USC to either match or explain to boosters why they are not matching. Third, it validates the NFL-to-college pipeline for experienced coaches seeking shorter recruiting cycles and longer job security, a reversal of the traditional career arc. Coen's agent fielded three other Power Four inquiries within 48 hours of the Jacksonville firing, per a person close to the negotiations.
The timing aligns with Ohio State's $30 million annual revenue-sharing budget, effective this season under the House settlement framework. Day now delegates play-calling and film study to two coordinators with professional pedigrees, freeing himself to manage recruiting visits, donor events, and transfer portal evaluations during the 72-hour windows that determine roster construction. The hiring also reflects Ohio State's calculation that NFL coordinators, even those fired from head-coaching roles, carry credibility with five-star recruits who view college as a two-to-three-year stop before the draft. Eberflus coached 12 first-round picks during his tenure with the Colts and Bears; Coen developed quarterback Matthew Stafford during the Rams' 2023 playoff run.
Both hires arrive with questions. Eberflus's Bears defense ranked 27th in expected points added in his final season, and his conservative fourth-quarter decision-making became a weekly storyline in Chicago media. Coen's Jacksonville offense ranked 31st in red-zone efficiency, though injuries to quarterback Trevor Lawrence limited his system's execution. Neither coach has recruited at the high school level since 2018, when Coen served as an assistant at Kentucky. Ohio State's recruiting staff, which added four analysts this offseason, will absorb most of the relationship-building work, leaving coordinators to focus on Xs and Os and Thursday night phone calls with draft-eligible juniors.
What to watch: Eberflus and Coen are expected to hire their own position coaches by mid-October, with at least two holdovers from Day's previous staff likely to depart. Ohio State's first transfer portal window opens December 9, and the new coordinators will lead virtual meetings with portal targets before official visits begin in January. The program's spring game, scheduled for April 12, will provide the first public look at scheme changes under the new structure. Meanwhile, Day's agent has fielded inquiries from two NFL teams about his availability, though he signed a contract extension through 2028 in July that includes a $20 million buyout.
The larger College Football Playoff committee meets November 18 to discuss expanded playoff seeding, and Ohio State's schedule strength—3rd nationally—positions the program for a top-four seed regardless of coordinator performance in year one. Day's willingness to cede play-calling reflects a bet that operational leverage matters more than personal control, a shift that tracks with how Alabama restructured after its 2023 playoff loss and how Georgia added NFL-level analysts to Kirby Smart's staff last spring. The coordinators are already in Columbus.
The takeaway
Ohio State paid **$4M+** for two ex-NFL head coaches to run Day's coordinators, resetting the market and signaling college programs now compete on NFL operational terms.
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