According to multiple reports, Ohio State assistant coach Al Washington is staying with the Buckeye program and will not accept the role of defensive coordinator at Tennessee.
Reports surfaced earlier this week that new head coach Josh Heupel had zeroed in on Washington as the main priority target to run the defense in Knoxville as he continues to assemble his new staff. That then led to a ton of speculation on where things stood with the current OSU linebackers coach.
The decision by Washington was first reported by Dave Biddle of 247Sports, and then echoed throughout the college football community. It also appears that Ohio State may have sweetened the deal for Washington’s current post in Columbus with additional duties and a raise according to Lettermen Row’s Austin Ward, though nothing official has come from Ryan Day, Washington, or the university.
This now means that the Columbus native will enter his third year on staff with Ohio State after being airlifted out of Ann Arbor under Jim Harbaugh and Michigan.
Keeping Washington on staff is extremely good news for Ohio State. He has been a star on the recruiting trail and is one of the bright young coaches in college football. As soon as we get anything official we’ll have more on what all this means.