Ohio State hires another assistant from Big Ten school

Ryan Day’s coaching staff gained another member Thursday with the hiring of Matt Barnes.

He heads to Columbus after three seasons at Maryland, where he coached linebackers and was the special teams coordinator.

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At Ohio State, he will be the special teams coordinator and assistant secondary coach.

The Terms had outstanding return teams last season with two of the top five return men in the Big Ten (Ty Johnson and one-time Ohio State commit Tavion Jacobs), and Maryland linebacker Tre Watson led the Big Ten in tackles (9.6 per game) and interceptions (five).

“Matt is young coach who has really done a great job at Maryland,” Day said in a team release. “He’s an energy guy who has considerable knowledge of the Big Ten Conference plus experience coaching in the Southeastern Conference. He’s going to work well with our staff and I’m pleased to have him on board.”

Before landing in College Park, Barnes spent a year as a defensive analyst at Michigan, making him the third new member of Ohio State’s coaching staff to have also coached the Wolverines at some point in his career.

(Greg Mattison most recently coached the defensive line in Ann Arbor while Al Washington was the linebackers coach and special teams coordinator.)

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Barnes has also coached at West Virginia Wesleyan and Delaware Valley after playing at Salisbury University in eastern Maryland.

Along with Barnes, Mattison and Washington (linebackers), Day has hired Jeff Heflay (co-defensive coordinator with Mattison) and Mike Yurcich (quarterbacks and passing game coordinator) while promoting Brian Hartline from interim wide receivers coach to full-time.

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