After being reported by a number of media outlets, Ohio State made it official Friday, announcing the hires of new secondary coach/cornerbacks coach Tim Walton and safeties coach Perry Eliano.
Walton joins Ohio State after 11 years in the NFL, and spent the last three seasons coaching cornerbacks for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
His football career began at Ohio State, where he played in 41 games from 1990-93 and totaled 159 tackles, 10 interceptions and 11 pass breakups. He was a member of the 1993 team which was named Big Ten champions.
After graduating from Ohio State, Walton had collegiate stops at Bowling Green (1995-99), Memphis (2000-01), Syracuse (2002), LSU (2003), Miami (2004-07) and Memphis (2008) before heading off to the NFL.
“We’re very excited to welcome Tim and his family back to Ohio State,” head coach Ryan Day said. “As a former Buckeye captain, he comes here with a deep appreciation for how special this place is. And, his experience at both the collegiate and NFL levels make him someone who is uniquely qualified to develop the back end of our defense.”
Though Eliano does not have the same Ohio State connections that Walton has, he has 21 years of collegiate coaching experience
He played college ball at Stephen F. Austin from 1996-99 and later was a graduate assistant for his alma mater. He had stints at Sam Houston State, Central Arkansas, UTSA, Bowling Green and Cincinnati, where he helped lead the Bearcats to a berth in the College Football Playoff this past season.
“Perry’s work the last two years at Cincinnati speaks for itself,” Day said. “He has developed great players and has been a huge part of the Bearcats’ success. He has 15 years of collegiate experience coaching either safeties or cornerbacks and that was the kind of experience we were looking for. I look forward to welcoming Perry and his family to Ohio State University.”
Eliano and Walton join offensive line coach Justin Frye and defensive coordinator Jim Knowles as Ohio State’s new assistant coaches.
Though not announced by Ohio State, the addition of Eliano and Walton means defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs and linebackers coach Al Washington will not return, as Ohio State must get down to 10 assistant coaches allowed by the NCAA.
Coombs and Washington confirmed as much over the weekend, posting goodbye messages to Ohio State on Twitter.
