Ohio State’s wide receivers coach and offensive coordinator Brian Hartline would be a home run hire for Penn State as their next head coach. The 38-year-old Hartline has been Ohio State’s wide receivers coach since 2018, a position he has been widely successful at. Last season, he was named co-offensive coordinator, but he did not call plays. This season, he has called plays for the Buckeyes, and they are currently 7-0 and the number 1 team in the country.
Hartline is considered by many to be one of the best recruiters in the country, as he regularly lands the best wide receivers in the country. NFL stars Jaxon Smith-Nijaba, Garrett Wilson, and others have excelled 1st at Ohio State, then at the NFL level. An example of this is the recruitment of wide receiver Jeremiah Smith. The Florida product was the number one player in the 2024 class, and it was a battle to the end, but he ultimately signed with the Buckeyes and has become one of the best players in the country.
Under James Franklin, Penn State has recruited well, but they have missed the buzz of being a top school for certain prospects. Hartline would immediately change that. He would go into schools in Philadelphia and be a great recruiter. I think his impact would be like when Marcus Freeman replaced Brian Kelly, when a younger, fresh face gets into the homes of prospects that Franklin could never get into. The top prospect in the 2026 class is Joey O’Brien from Lasalle College High School in Philadelphia. Penn State was never a serious contender for him; Hartline is the type of recruiter who wouldn’t let that happen.
Hartline is also a great developer of wide receivers. His receivers have talked about how disciplined and tough he has been with them. Now imagine if his entire program was coached like that. You have an elite recruiter who is developing players at a high level. Next, you see that he is calling plays and is excelling at that. That extra experience allows him to gain an understanding of how to call plays on a big stage.
The concern with Hartline is that he has never been a head coach before, but we have seen several coordinators excel as 1st year head coaches. Look no further than his current boss, Ryan Day, as Head Coach at Ohio State. Other recent examples are Kirby Smart at Georgia, Dan Lanning at Oregon, and Rhett Lashlee at SMU. We have seen over the years assistant coaches at top programs be hired at other schools as head coaches and be successful.
Another issue with the Hartline hire is the timing. He will most likely be coaching Ohio State through a long College Football Playoff run, so he probably won’t leave the Buckeyes to take the job right away. He could do what Dan Lanning did at Oregon when he continued to coach Georgia through the College Football Playoffs, along with setting up his staff at Oregon. It is not ideal, but it could be done by Hartline. If Hartline gets the job, he has to quickly try to sign as many prospects as he can and then hit the portal in January when it starts. I doubt Hartline would Ohio State during the season either.
Hartline has the pedigree to be a head coach. He is ready to lead a program as he has the recruiting ability and coaching pedigree to be successful. If you add his abilities along with the resources Penn State has and you could have an excellent match.