New QB Coach Billy Fessler An 'Easy' Hire For Ryan Day

No matter how much Ohio State head coach Ryan Day embraces a CEO role and steps back from the quarterback position that is his background, he is always going to be known as a quarterback guy. This fact should tell you all you need to know about Day’s confidence in Billy Fessler after hiring him as the Buckeyes’ full-time quarterbacks coach following Chip Kelly’s departure early last month.

Fessler came to Ohio State in 2024 with Kelly. He was slated to be UCLA’s quarterbacks coach last year after spending two years as Akron’s QB coach. At Ohio State, he was Kelly’s de facto quarterbacks coach, working with starting QB Will Howard on a daily basis. It also wasn’t Fessler’s first time at OSU, as he was a graduate assistant for the Buckeyes in 2020 and 2021.

When Kelly left Ohio State to be the offensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders, that also left the Buckeyes with an opening at quarterbacks coach.

Did Fessler think the job was going to be his?

“Don’t think I don’t understand it. Being the quarterback coach at Ohio State is such an honor. It’s a dream job,” he said. “You start coaching, and you start getting in this profession, and you think maybe one day, if I work hard, I’ll have that opportunity. So did I think so? No, I didn’t. I wasn’t sure. Coach Day can go out and find the best quarterback coach in the country. That’s how special this place is. So when I was given the opportunity, just completely honored, and so excited for the chance to do it. I’m just excited to get rolling here and to start getting after it.

How long did it take Fessler to accept the offer?

“Zero seconds,” he said.

Fessler was a walk-on quarterback at Penn State, so he’s been around big-time college football for most of his adult life. In his first go-round at Ohio State, he was a graduate assistant helping out the quarterbacks. He learned quickly what Ryan Day wanted from his coaches and he did his best to soak it all in.

Current Ohio State tight ends coach Keenan Bailey was a quality control analyst back in those days. He and Fessler grew close, and so when the quarterback coaching job was opened again, Bailey viewed Fessler as an “off the charts” selection.

“I don’t want to compliment him too much because he’s one of my best friends,” Bailey said. “But Billy, right off the bat, his knowledge — he’s one of the smartest football minds I’ve ever been around. Like, you got Coach Day and then you got a couple others, and then Billy’s up right up there.

“Billy and I were roommates during COVID. I sent my wife back to Cleveland. We didn’t want to get anyone sick. Billy and I roomed together and when that season got taken from us for a little bit, it was like football clinic every single day, 24 hours a day. And I was learning a whole lot more from him than he was from me. So, I mean, one, his football mind. But also how he relates to these guys. Obviously, he’s young and he played the position. But his ability to teach, he’s off the charts. That was a home run hire and super excited to work with him.”

While Billy Fessler didn’t view last season as an audition, it’s clear that his performance was effective in convincing Ryan Day he was the right guy for the job.

“I say this to a lot of the coaches — when you walk in the building, it’s your job to bring value,” Day explained. “I think sometimes some coaches wait to do things. Billy jumped on it right away. He saw this as an opportunity and he took it and ran because of the opportunity that these coaches have now to coach in the field, which they didn’t have in the past. He took that and ran.”

Ryan Day’s feelings on the quarterback position haven’t changed. It’s still the position he is drawn to most. Partly because it is the most important position on the field, and partly because that’s what he’s always done. It’s very important to him, and Fessler has been able to see exactly how Day wants the position managed.

“The good thing for Billy is he was here before so he knows how we want to coach things,” Day explained. “He knows how we teach things. He understands the progressions. He sees it the way that we see it. Him walking in the building, he was a step ahead that way. He’s very smart. He works really, really hard at it. He’s got a really bright future in the game. I think the guys in the room know him. It was easy. For me, it was good because we see things the same way. I believe that I can walk out of the room and what we want to get taught is going to get done.”