Defensive line coach Larry Johnson celebrates after a Buckeye touchdown in the second half of the game against Michigan State on Nov. 10, 2018. Ohio State won 26-6. Credit: Casey Cascaldo | Lantern File Photo
When the players poured Gatorade on Larry Johnson as time expired, they weren’t celebrating a championship.
Instead, a team that just wanted a chance to play was celebrating a mid-December win headed by the first Black head coach in the history of Ohio State football. The defensive line coach filled in for head coach Ryan Day and captured a 52-12 win against Michigan State Saturday.
Johnson said the Gatorade bath was “pretty cold” and the situation was brought about when sophomore defensive end Zach Harrison served as the distraction by speaking with him.
“I’m just glad it wasn’t below freezing here, I’d probably be sick. The kids kinda set me up,” Johnson said Saturday. “What a great moment for all of us to enjoy, especially the guys. I’m really happy for the players and the way they responded throughout the adversity of this week.”
The North Carolina native has been with Ohio State since 2014 — serving as the team’s defensive line coach.
Ohio State has had 25 head coaches call the shots throughout its history, and even though it was for only a game, Johnson became the 26th.
Although historic, Johnson said he was focused on one thing throughout the game and it wasn’t the context of his Ohio State head coaching debut.
“Going into it all week long, it was never about me, it was about the team,” Johnson said. “More important than just being the first is everything I do is for the players and the passion we have and show the player, that’s more important than anything I can do.”
Focusing on winning the game, Johnson turned to offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson to lead the offense against the Spartans. Wilson left his usual position in the press box to coach on the field Saturday.
Johnson said he had conversations with Wilson about situational football, but he said he left Wilson to do what he was hired to do.
In terms of his role and what he was thinking about, Johnson said his primary focus was on winning.
“All I’m doing is standing in the gap,” Johnson said. “I thought about the fact to go here, come into East Lansing and get a win and I’m going to make sure when I turned it back over to coach Day we were 5-0 — that was the biggest thought in my mind. I didn’t want to go back Sunday and stand in front of the team after a loss.”
Helping Johnson and the Buckeyes earn the win was junior quarterback Justin Fields, who helped the offense score five touchdowns before the starters were taken out of the game.
Johnson, who credited the team’s effort for the win, said he had the ideal signal caller behind center for his only game at the helm.
“If you’re going to be the head coach for one day, you want Justin Fields with you,” Johnson said.
Head coach Ryan Day, who is completing his 10 days of isolation after his positive COVID-19 test was announced Nov. 27, watched his fill in from afar Saturday.
“His title is associate head coach and had that conversation with Gene [Smith] right off the bat when I took the job, just never know what’s going to happen in today’s day and age and then obviously this year we have all these contingency plans that have been talked about since the preseason,” Day said. “I think Larry has great leadership. Larry understands how to motivate a team, when he stands in front of the team, the guys listen.
Although focused on the task at hand, Johnson still acknowledged the difficulty of navigating the week shorthanded.
Keeping in mind how the team got to the game, Johnson said there was a moment in the third quarter when he realized the team had a chance to win and the emotion of the moment began to sink in.
“I just got a tear in my eye because I felt so great for the players, how hard they worked,” Johnson said. “They deserved the opportunity to play on Saturday and they did, and I was just happy for them because you could just see it in their eyes all week long having the opportunity to play here today.”
