Ohio football expected to hire head coach after Dec. 23 bowl game

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Following the firing of head coach Brian Smith, the Ohio football program is apparently close to naming his replacement.

According to ESPN college football reporter Pete Thamel, the Bobcats’ top two candidates are clear.

“The school is expected to hire a coach after Tuesday’s Frisco Bowl,” Thamel said of Ohio. “The leading outside candidate, per ESPN sources, is longtime college OC Kevin Johns. Interim coach John Hauser is a strong internal candidate, as he’ll coach Ohio against UNLV.”

When Smith was put on leave earlier this month, Hauser was named the interim coach. A Columbus native, Hauser arrived in Athens in 2022 as the Bobcats’ safeties coach. He added the title of pass game coordinator during his second season, and in his third, he was promoted to the position of defensive coordinator.

As for Johns, he is from Piqua and has never coached in his home state aside from the first year of his career in 1998 at his old high school. He has spent many years in the Midwest, though, including a decade at Northwestern, six years at Indiana, and one season at Western Michigan. This past season, he was the quarterbacks coach at Oklahoma State.

Since Frank Solich’s retirement in 2021, Ohio has promoted within; Tim Albin, a longtime Solich assistant, took over the program and led the Bobcats to a 33-19 record, including three 10-win seasons, before accepting the same job at Charlotte. Smith, who had joined Albin’s staff in 2022 as the running backs coach and pass game coordinator, ascended to assistant head coach and offensive coordinator until Albin’s departure. He then served as the team’s interim coach for last year’s Cure Bowl and, following the game, became the full-time head coach.

Smith was fired for cause on Dec. 17, a few weeks after he was put on leave. According to university records, Smith had engaged in an extramarital affair with an undergraduate student and had appeared at a public event allegedly intoxicated and smelling of alcohol.

The Bobcats play UNLV in the Frisco Bowl tomorrow at 9 p.m. ET.

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