Tag: Tim Walton

The day after: Thoughts on Ohio State’s crushing loss to Georgia

So many thoughts but these stuck out in my mind the most. How about yours Buckeye fans? #GoBucks

If you were like me, it was hard to sleep Saturday night.

For more than three quarters of the [autotag]Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl[/autotag], it looked like [autotag]Ohio State[/autotag] would face [autotag]TCU[/autotag] with a national championship on the line. Georgia had different plans. It mounted a massive comeback during the fourth quarter and sent the Buckeyes back to Columbus with a disappointing loss.

Since the game ended, many thoughts have passed through my head, some good, some bad and a great many pondering what the future for [autotag]Ryan Day[/autotag] and his program will look like. Here are my thoughts the day after Ohio State’s 42-41 loss to Georgia in the College Football Playoff semifinal. (Also, happy New Year’s everyone, even if it wasn’t what many of us wanted).

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Brutal weekend on the diamond as Gators get swept at home in baseball, softball

It was the first time Florida has been swept at home in baseball in nine years.

There are weekends that you always want to remember, moments taken with mental snapshots that make you smile.

Maybe it was your wedding or the day your boss got canned or Florida 52, FSU 20.

Those kinds of days.

Sunday was not one of them for the teams that use bats and balls this time of the year.

On one side of Hull Road, Florida finished off one changing of the guard. On the other side, an hour later, they were part of another one.

This was supposed to be a big weekend for both the baseball and softball teams with a pair of top 10 teams coming to town. Instead, it was a clean sweep in the worst way.

Arkansas finished off the Gators softball team first — a 2-0 win against a team the Razorbacks had lost 30 straight against when the game started Friday night.

Then, it was baseball, a brutal home loss to allow Tennessee the sweep of a series where it was Florida that needed to make some noise.

Six games.

Six losses.

It was the first time Florida has been swept at home in baseball in nine years. That sent me scurrying through the records to see if both programs had been swept at home on the same weekend.

I know that it hasn’t happened since [autotag]Tim Walton[/autotag] and [autotag]Kevin O’Sullivan[/autotag] showed up in Gainesville, but I didn’t go all the way back to the really old days because I needed to submit this in time for publication.

The point is that two programs had opportunities this weekend – softball to get back into the picture as a national seed and baseball to get back into the mix as a host for the first round of regionals.

Instead, both of those things are in jeopardy and any chances of winning the SEC are gone.

Meanwhile, Arkansas showed why it will win the SEC for the second straight year (shared with Florida last year), which is amazing considering this was a one-win team in the conference not long ago.

Meanwhile, baseball is in terrible trouble when it comes to simply making the NCAA Tournament.

“We’re finding a way to do the wrong things at the wrong times,” said O’Sullivan, the frustration showing on his face. “I’m at the point where there isn’t much to say.”

Florida lost the first game because it gave up seven runs in one inning. The Gators lost the softball opener when they gave up nine runs in two innings.

Baseball lost the series because it had 11 hits in three games. And that was almost enough to salvage a game Sunday because of [autotag]Brandon Neely[/autotag]’s performance, going seven innings and taking a no-no into the seventh.

But closer [autotag]Blake Purnell[/autotag] gave up three runs in the ninth to allow the game to be tied and lost it on a two-run homer in the 11th by Christian Moore, who also had the game-tying hit.

Florida is now 23-17 and 6-12 in the league.

Tennessee, now 17-1 in the SEC, is going to win the conference easily. Another torch gets passed from what was a dominant program to the new dominant program.

“We’ve been No. 1 for a long time around here,” O’Sullivan said. “I don’t see anybody we are inferior to.

“But the game is a bit unforgiving.”

The baseball team still has four weekends to try to right the ship with a young team. UF probably needs to win seven of the 12 conference games to make a regional.

The schedule eases up after what has been a rough three weeks in a row.

The softball team has a trip to LSU before it plays host to the SEC Tournament. But winning in Gainesville hasn’t been that difficult for visiting ball teams.

Combined, baseball and softball are 7-15 in SEC games at home.

AT HOME.

That’s not the way it usually works around here.

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New Ohio State football assistants, Walton, Eliano’s, salaries unveiled

We now know what new assitants Perry Eliano and Tim Walton will be making at Ohio State. #GoBucks

Hopefully, your head isn’t still spinning from all the staff changes Ryan Day has been working on since the end of the regular season. In fact, you might want to excuse the “pardon the dust” signs around the football offices as they go through ‘Extreme Make Over: College Football Staff Edition’ over at the Woody.

All the changes have been well-chronicled, but not the salaries everyone will be making. However, that too is beginning to trickle out. And, thanks to the terms sheet obtained by Eleven Warriors, we now know what new assistants Tim Walton and Perry Eliano will be making per year (subscription may be required). Walton, the new secondary coach, will make a cool $700,000/year, while Eliano, who agreed to become the safeties coach, will make $450,000 annually.

Those figures might pale in comparison to some of the other dollar signs we’ve seen thrown around the program for assistants lately, but remember that these aren’t your big-time positions within a staff. What they are, is a foot in the door of one of the biggest college football machines out there, and a chance to further one’s career.

There are also bonuses and such that are pretty standard for all assistant coaches at Ohio State, but that’s boilerplate stuff for the program. In both cases, the assistants are making more in Columbus than in their previous stops.

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Ohio State expected to hire Jaguars secondary coach Tim Walton

Walton, a longtime NFL assistant who has been with the Jaguars since 2019, played at Ohio State in college.

Jacksonville has already seen some staff shakeup following the 2021 season with defensive line coach Tosh Lupoi heading to Oregon to become the defensive coordinator while tight ends coach Tyler Bowen took the offensive coordinator position at Virginia Tech. Now, it looks like another one of the team’s top assistants is being poached by the college ranks.

Cornerbacks coach Tim Walton, who has been on staff in Jacksonville since 2019, is reportedly close to joining the staff at his alma mater, Ohio State. It’s unclear what role he will be in, but he is likely to remain as a cornerbacks coach. The news was first reported by The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman.

Walton is one of the more experienced assistants in the NFL, and he was retained during the coaching change last offseason. He has a lot of experience at both the college and professional levels, winning a national championship at LSU in 2003 as a defensive backs coach and serving as the defensive coordinator at Miami and Memphis.

Since joining the NFL ranks in 2009, he has worked stints coaching the secondaries for the Lions and Giants as well as serving as the St. Louis Rams defensive coordinator in 2013.

With another coaching change this offseason, some movement on the staff was to be expected, but it seems the Jags will now be tasked with replacing one of the most proven names on the staff.

Former Buckeye Tim Walton joining OSU staff as secondary coach

The news just keeps coming on Ryan Day’s re-work of the defensive coaching staff. #GoBucks

The news just keeps flying with all the changes forthcoming with Ryan Day’s defensive coaching staff. Reportedly out are Al Washington and Kerry Coombs, and in is Cincinnati cornerbacks coach Perry Eliano as the new safeties coach, and now this.

According to Austin Ward of Lettermen Row, former Ohio State captain and Jacksonville Jaguars‘ secondary coach Tim Walton will be joining Day’s staff as the secondary coach for OSU. Others have also corroborated the news.

Walton is a native of Columbus, Georgia, and spent the last 13 seasons in the NFL. During that time, he’s worked on defensive staffs with the Detroit Lions defensive backs), St. Louis Rams (defensive coordinator), New York Giants (cornerbacks coach), and Jacksonville Jaguars (cornerbacks coach). He was on Urban Meyer’s staff last season.

It’s not just his NFL pedigree that is noteworthy. Walton has a ton of coaching experience at the collegiate level and played for Ohio State from 1990-1993. He was a team captain during his senior season.

Ohio State has yet to confirm any of these moves that have been reported on Thursday, but as soon as we have something official, we’ll be on top of it.

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Florida softball eliminated in NCAA Super Regionals

Florida failed to score a run in both games versus the Bulldogs. The Gators have been knocked out by UGA for the second time since 2016.

Florida has only failed to make the Women’s College World Series five times since coach Tim Walton took over the program in 2006.

Georgia has kept Walton’s team from Oklahoma City twice. The Bulldogs swept the Gators in the NCAA Super Regionals 4-0 in Game 1 Friday and 6-0 Game 2 Saturday.

UGA’s pitcher Mary Wilson Avant threw every pitch through two games and silenced Florida on the scoreboard. The Gators only recorded seven hits and struck out 13 times against Georgia’s ace.

“Whatever pitch she wanted, it felt like she could throw,” Florida coach Tim Walton said, according to The Gainesville Sun. “She probably touches more spots in the zone than any other pitcher we’ve faced all season. I thought our swings were good today, definitely a lot better than they were last night.”

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It didn’t matter who Walton sent out to the circle whether it was senior Natalie Lugo, junior Elizabeth Hightower or fifth-year Katie Chronister. Georgia slammed five homers off of Florida’s staff.

Georgia’s Jaiden Fields, the younger sister of Chicago Bears quarterback Justin Fields, earned two dingers.

The Gators only suffered 11 losses this season, but Avant was the winning pitcher in three of Florida’s defeats. It also took two out of three games against the Bulldogs earlier this season.

Georgia limped into the postseason. It lost its last seven regular-season games and collected a 7-17 record in SEC play. The Bulldogs have now rattled off five straight wins and have ousted No. 13 Duke and No. 4 Florida.

Walton and his program will have to say goodbye to fifth years Chronister, Kendyl Lindaman and Jaimie Hoover. Lugo and her classmate Hannah Adams said after the game that they will use the fifth year of eligibility granted by the NCAA.

“We had a fantastic season, played really well,” he said. “We lost one series all year long. Unfortunately, we picked the wrong series to lose. Overall, it was more Georgia and less us. They just did a much better job competing this weekend than we did.

“But I am proud of our team. They’ve accomplished a ton. We had some huge growth in our program. So really proud of what we’ve built here and the consistency. Disappointed that we’re not advancing, but I’d much rather get beat than beat myself. And they beat us.”

Jags cornerbacks coach Tim Walton misses trip for personal reasons

The Jacksonville Jaguars will be short one staff member Week 10 as Tim Walton didn’t travel to Green Bay with the team.

When the Jacksonville Jaguars take the field against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, they will be without one member of their coaching staff in cornerbacks coach Tim Walton. Per the team, Walton didn’t travel to Lambeau Field for personal reasons not connected to COVID-19.

With Walton absent, the Jags secondary coach duties will be on safeties coach, Joe Danna, who has been with the team for three seasons but is currently in his 15th season as an NFL coach.

As for Walton, 2020 marks his second year with the Jags though he’s been coaching in the NFL for 11 seasons. During his time in Jacksonville, he’s coach players like Jalen Ramsey and A.J. Bouye in the past while also coaching the Jags’ current group of CJ Henderson, Tre Herndon, Sidney Jones IV, and D.J. Hayden among notables.

When looking at the year as a whole, the Jags’ secondary has struggled mightily, but the pass-rush hasn’t done them any favors either aside from a couple of games. As a result, Henderson (56.3) and Herndon (46.9) haven’t garnered favorable Pro Football Focus grades, though Jones has (71.3).

With Walton staying at home, the Jags’ secondary and Danna are going to have to press on against former NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers. With wind speeds of 24 miles per hour expected, the passing game could be limited, which would be a huge help.