Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson speaks with the media at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center Tuesday. Credit: Casey Smith | Lantern TV Sports Producer
Entering his 27th year as a college coach, including his ninth at Ohio State, Larry Johnson is the one returner among the Buckeyes defensive staff.
Despite being asked “all the time” about retirement, No. 2 Ohio State’s associate head coach isn’t concerned with when he’ll hang up his hat.
“My retirement plan is way away from here,” Johnson said. “I enjoy coaching, and the day that I stop enjoying coaching and having passion in what I do, then I’ll do that.”
Johnson joined the Buckeyes program prior to the 2014 season, departing rival Penn State where he coached the Nittany Lions defensive line and coordinated special teams from 1996-2013. His coaching career spans as far back as 1974 when he served as an assistant and head coach at the high school level in Maryland and Virginia.
Ohio State overhauled its defensive coaching staff during the offseason, bringing in new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles from Oklahoma State, safeties coach Perry Eliano from Cincinnati and secondary and cornerbacks coach Tim Walton from the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Johnson said the Buckeyes have a “fun” and “great” defensive coaching staff, which he thinks will translate to the players’ success on the field.
“Coach Knowles has been the best and secondary guys are great, so I think that’s important,” Johnson said. “I think our players are feeding off that because we have bonded, and we come from different backgrounds, but at the end of the day, we’re football coaches, and we got to find a way to bring our players together.”
The overhaul comes after Ohio State missed the College Football Playoff last season for the first time since 2018 and fell to Michigan for the first time since 2011, the latter being also the first time Johnson was on the losing end of the rivalry game against the Wolverines.
Johnson said he doesn’t consider his coaching career to have reached a point where he considers stepping away, saying “that’s not the way I function.”
Throughout his lengthy coaching career, Johnson has coached six Big Ten Defensive Players of the Year, including most recently former defensive end and Heisman Trophy finalist Chase Young in 2019.
Fourth-year defensive end Zach Harrison said Ohio State’s new defensive coaches “gel together,” and Johnson has upheld his familiar leadership despite recent coaching changes.
“A lot of other players have cycled through coaches, and I’ve had coach J as the D-line coach at Ohio State since I was a sophomore in high school recruiting me,” Harrison said. “I know what I’m going to get from him, he knows what he’s going to get from me, and we got a relationship to where I can be honest with him and he can be honest with me.”
Johnson has also maintained relationships among Buckeye players and coaches, third-year defensive tackle Ty Hamilton said.
“There’s been plenty of coaches that have been through here and then every single time he’s able to find a way to be able to gel with them and make it work,” Hamilton said. “It’s never been like a problem or anything with any of the coaches. He always makes it work.”
With the season-opener approaching against No. 5 Notre Dame Sept. 3, Johnson said he’s eager for what the 2022 season holds for both the Buckeyes and himself.
“I get up every morning dying to get into this building and coach those guys, and when I can’t do that anymore, it’ll tell me,” Johnson said. “Right now I’m not telling myself anything. I got to get going. It’s time to go play a game.”
