Being At Ohio State Is Everything Tyler Bowen Expected And More

One year ago at this time, new Ohio State offensive line coach Tyler Bowen was in the middle of spring football at Virginia Tech as the Hokies’ quarterback coach trying to get his room ready for the 2024 season.

It is safe to say that being the Buckeyes’ offensive line coach was not on Bowen’s radar. When the job came open following the 2024 season, however, that obviously changed.

Bowen was announced as Ohio State’s new offensive line coach about one month ago. Speaking with reporters recently, he explained what drew him to Columbus.

“You think about alignment with the type of coaches you wanna be around, the type of head coach you wanna work for, the ability to compete at the highest level,” Bowen said. “I think all of those things attracted me here.”

Like most college football coaches at major programs, Tyler Bowen ran into Ohio State constantly on the recruiting trail or in cross-tape game planning and admired the program from afar. When the call from OSU head coach Ryan Day came, Bowen admitted that he was excited about the prospects of coaching for the Buckeyes.

Reflecting on his first month at Ohio State, Bowen was asked if there was a ‘wow moment’ for him yet.

“I wouldn’t say a wow — it is what I expected it to be, but more,” he explained. “And I’d say that all starts with Coach Day’s vision. Just how the program is run day to day, the detail, the organization, how everyone has a very detailed role of what they need to accomplish for the greater good.”

Not only was Tyler Bowen the quarterbacks coach at Virginia Tech the past two seasons, but he had also been the offensive coordinator for the Hokies the previous three seasons. He now enters a coaching staff where he is no longer the coordinator — that job belongs to Brian Hartline, but views his previous experience as very beneficial for him in his current role.

“I think the biggest thing you learn as a coordinator—and me doing that job for the last three years—you learn how to be a really good assistant coach,” he said. “I think that’s my number one job for Coach Hartline, to be the best assistant coach I can be. Whatever his vision is for the offense, to be able to go out and make sure that those five guys can execute that vision.”

Bowen is at a new place in a new position with a new role, but it’s nothing he hasn’t done before. It’s still coaching football, which is what he’s been doing for 15 years now.

“You’re trying to build that trust in a short amount of time, and that’s where it starts,” he said. “It starts with the person. At the end of the day, the football is the football. This is a people business, right? And our job is to motivate, direct, coach, and develop people.”

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