COLUMBUS, Ohio — Even if Kerry Coombs had not cited scripture on Tuesday, his first public comments since the shakeup of Ohio State football’s defensive coaching staff would have resembled a sermon.
Coombs mentioned three passages among those given to him by family and friends who sought to bring him comfort. One in particular, James 1:2, concerned welcoming trials as a test of one’s faith.
Coombs’ pride took a hit in the wake of the Sept. 11 loss to Oregon. Ryan Day took responsibility for calling the defense on game days away from Coombs and gave it to secondary coach Matt Barnes. The Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator, at least by title, called the past month “the hardest stretch of my professional career.”
Yet he could also imagine what would have made that stretch more difficult.
Ohio State’s defensive performance has improved, incrementally but undeniably, since that staff change. Coombs had a decision to make in the days following his demotion — become a disgruntled impediment to that progress, or set aside ego and live out the lesson he had preached to so many players upset about playing time or other slights over the years.
“Handling it in a different fashion — picking up your ball and going home, kicking the can down the road, quitting, packing your stuff up, being a miserable human being,” Coombs said. “If I had done those things that would make me a liar to every one of those young men that I’ve coached along the way that had tough times. That got replaced on a given Saturday or a Friday night, or a Sunday afternoon, and had to have a conversation — ‘Hang in there. It’s going to be OK.’
“Whether they agree with the decision or not, it didn’t matter. You have to battle and fight through.”
Coombs did not agree with this particular decision. Day, though, had little choice but to make a structural change. After the Buckeyes finished 2020 with the nation’s 122nd-ranked passing defense, Oregon repeatedly gashed them with the same run-game concepts in the second game of the season.
When Coombs returned to Ohio State after the 2019 season, he added another chapter to a unique and remarkable career. He made the jump from longtime high school head coach to assistant at Cincinnati, then on to the Buckeyes and a two-year stint on Mike Vrabel’s staff with the Tennessee Titans.
His demotion a month ago served as the first interruption from that ascent. The man who stood at the podium in OSU’s team room on Tuesday remained confident in his abilities and the way he goes about his job.
Yet that battle he mentioned, that fight, could not become an outward one. He said he gave himself the same window he gives his players who encounter and injury or other setback — a 24-hour window to indulge the disappointment.
“I’m not going to tell you I was kicking my heels and jumping up for joy,” Coombs said. “That’d be a lit. It would be disingenuous.
“But I’m going to tell you that I made a conscious decision every day, and even that day, to make sure that I wasn’t going to paint that picture for everybody else. Your guts can be turning inside out and upside down. But you don’t have to show that to everybody else.”
Coombs remained vague on the extent to which his role has changed. The most visible was his departure from the sideline to the press box, which he says was his idea. He joked that he missed hugging people — “I’ve got (offensive coordinator) Kevin Wilson now and I’ve got to be honest with you, it’s not the same” — but admitted the new vantage point gave him a valuable new perspective on the game.
Day gave Coombs the game ball following last Saturday’s 66-17 victory over Maryland. Coombs said he felt “undeserving” and “embarrassed” by that gesture. On the other hand, his plight has unfolded concurrently with veteran OSU defensive players who have been passed up by younger teammates. Some have handled that turnover better than others.
As tough as the past month has been for Coombs personally, he retains perspective on his trials. if this is as bad as it gets for him, he says, then that’s an enviable career. Besides those reaching out with spiritual advice, Coombs said he also heard from Vrabel and Steelers coach Mike Tomlin and longtime NFL assistant Dick LeBeau.
Coombs has recruited and developed some of the great Ohio State defensive backs of the past decade. He helped the Buckeyes win one national championship game and reach another.
The decisions Day made after the Oregon loss started the clock on the end of Coombs’ tenure. He seemed to leave no doubt about that Tuesday. Yet the decisions Coombs made, and keeps making, will help define the legacy he worked so hard to create.
“I‘m going to be here,” Coombs said. “I’m going to be fighting and battling, scratching and clawing for the remainder of the season to help us win every freakin’ Saturday. That’s what I’m going to do. And so whether or not I like everything of how everything went, that’s got nothing to do with it. It’s gotta do with you’ve got a job to do.
“You look people in the eye and you say this is how hopefully someday down the road, some young man who had trouble, who faces trouble or adversity can remember an example of a man who tried to leave with positive energy in the midst of adversity. And if I can do that then I will have accomplished my goal.”
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