Ohio

Ohio State’s Ryan Day sought NFL experience in offensive coordinator

Published

4 weeks ago

March 11, 2026

Ohio State’s Ryan Day sought NFL experience in offensive coordinator

When Ohio State coach Ryan Day hired Arthur Smith as offensive coordinator in January, it mirrored a staffing move from the previous offseason.

He found a coordinator with a deep NFL background

Smith had been in the league for more than a decade, rising through the ranks from a quality control coach to head coach of the Atlanta Falcons.

It was a similar path to Matt Patricia, who made a splash in his first year as the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator after a long career as an assistant and head coach in the NFL.

The immediate success of Patricia, who kept the Buckeyes as the top-ranked defense in the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2025 despite heavy roster attrition, offered a blueprint for the other side of the ball with Day leaning into a CEO-style role leading the program.

“It allows me an opportunity to kind of step away,” Day said, “and really dive in everything else and be more present in the building with players, staff, and certainly with the NIL stuff and raising money. It’s a different mindset.”

Day first hired an established play-caller for his offense when the Buckeyes won the national championship in 2024, bringing in his coaching mentor Chip Kelly as the coordinator.

Kelly also had four years of experience in the NFL between head-coaching stints with the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers. But he had not gone directly from the league to Ohio State, having spent six seasons coaching UCLA in the immediate years before his move to Columbus.

As Day considered Smith in his latest coordinator search, he valued his postseason experience. In each of Smith’s four years as an offensive coordinator between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tennessee Titans, the teams made the playoffs, including the Titans’ appearance in the AFC championship game in 2019.

The expansion of the College Football Playoff has put a premium on teams peaking at the right time in December and January, requiring them to play as many as 16 or 17 games, approaching the length of the NFL’s 18-week, 17-game regular season.

“We’re trying to build an identity that carries throughout the entire season,” Day said. “When you have somebody like Arthur who has been through playoff games and played through a long season in the NFL, you have to build toward the end of the season. That’s the goal for us, because when you think about the way things are structured now, you’ve got to be building toward the end of the season.”

The Buckeyes hit a wall down the stretch last year. After finishing the regular season with an unbeaten record, they lost consecutive games to Indiana in the Big Ten championship and Miami in the playoff quarterfinals to end the year.

In two postseason losses, the Buckeyes, who averaged 37 points per game during the regular season, totaled just 24 points.

Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Email him at jkaufman@dispatch.com and follow him on @joeyrkaufman on X.

Source link

Click to comment

Ohio

Spring wild turkey hunting in Ohio broken into four seasons this year

Published

5 hours ago

April 9, 2026

Press Room

Spring wild turkey hunting in Ohio broken into four seasons this year

Spring turkey hunting is about to start in Ohio and is broken into four separate seasons this year.

That covers youth and adult hunts across two different zones: northeast and south.

Ohio’s northeast zone consists of Cuyahoga, Geauga, Trumbull, Lake and Ashtabula counties. The south zone is comprised of the state’s 83 other counties, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Youth spring wild turkey hunting season will be April 18-19 for Ohio’s 83 southern counties and April 25-26 in the five northeast counties.

For adult hunters, the spring wild turkey season runs April 25 to May 24 in the south zone and May 2 to May 31 in the northeast zone.

Spring gobbler hunters in Ohio are allowed to harvest one bearded turkey in 2026.

Hunters should refer to the Ohio Hunting and Trapping Regulations for turkey hunting requirements.

Seasons established to manage size of state’s flock

The seasons are in place to regulate the turkey population of the Buckeye State, Nathan Cass, an ODNR wildlife officer in Crawford County, previously told the News Journal.

“In the early 1900s, they were pretty much gone from Ohio,” Cass said.

Management practices allowed the birds to rebuild their flocks. A century later, they were just as plentiful as ever.

“Probably the 1990s and early 2000s was when the population was at its highest,” Cass said.

Predators and loss of habitat have reduced the state’s turkey numbers slightly over the last two decades, but there are still plenty of gobblers for hunters to harvest this spring.

Hunters who scout their local flocks ahead of the season will notice the bird strutting to entice a mate.

“We try to time our season right after the peak breeding time,” Cass said. “It gives the birds an opportunity to breed and then some of the hens will start incubating their eggs and sitting on their nest.”

ztuggle@gannett.com

419-564-3508

Source link

Ohio

Giaunna Renee Lee Jackson, Youngstown, Ohio

Published

17 hours ago

April 8, 2026

Press Room

Giaunna Renee Lee Jackson, Youngstown, Ohio

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (MyValleyTributes) – Giaunna Renee Lee Jackson, affectionately known as “Gigi” departed this life suddenly on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Youngstown, Ohio at the tender age of 22.

Born January 15, 2004, to Thomas Hall, Sr. and the late Fannie M. Jackson, Giaunna was a smart, determined and resilient soul whose sassy charm and confident spirit made her believe she could conquer anything she set out to do.

Whether it was playing the trumpet, making the softball, basketball and volleyball team, finding a job or being on the honor roll at school she set, and most times conquered her goals. She was a hard worker and held several jobs with her most recent employment at Walmart and McDonald’s.

Giaunna’s educational journey began at Martin Luther King Elementary and included Campbell Memorial Middle School, Rayen Early College, and Campbell Memorial High School where she graduated in 2022. She continued her education at Youngstown State University where she majored in Criminal Justice.

Giaunna enjoyed going out to dinner, shopping, binging on Netflix & Hulu, creating her own personal quotes, coloring books and listening to chill music. However, what she loved most was cooking for her brothers and grandmother, late night conversations with her brother Gerald, car rides with her brother Joshua, face timing her dad for cooking recipes, hanging with her cousins and with her best friends, Emily, Aiyana and Amy. Over the last several months, Giaunna opened her heart to let God in as she began to join her grandmother on what she called “grandma’s Jesus’ line” and as she joined her “Aunt Katrett” for Thursday devotions.

Giaunna was preceded in death by her mother, Fannie M. Jackson; maternal grandfather Abraham Jackson, maternal aunt Debbie Jackson Woodside, paternal grandparents; Thomas & Creola Hall and paternal uncle Bruce Harris.

Giaunna’s life will be treasured and remembered by her father & stepmother; Thomas (Monica) Hall, Sr. of Campbell, Ohio, brothers; Gerald and Joshua Jackson both of Youngstown, Ohio, Thomas Hall ,Jr. of Atlanta, Georgia and step-brother Darnell Heard of Columbus, Ohio, sister Devan Hall of Greenville, North Carolina, grandmother Elder Bessie Jackson, Aunts; Patricia Jackson McLendon of Bellevue, Michigan, Brenda (Rev Arthur) Jackson-Mackey, Jr. of Roosevelt, New York and Janet Jackson of Youngstown, Ohio, uncle; Barry Harris of Wellsville, Ohio and a host of cousins, godparents and loving friends. Rest in peace, dearest Giaunna. You will forever live on in our hearts.

Funeral services will be held on Friday, April 10, 2026, at New Beginnings Outreach Ministries, 2007 Shenley Ave. Youngstown, OH 4451. Visitation will be from 10:00-11:00 a.m. followed by a celebration of life at 11:00 am. Bishop Chris Crump, Eulogist. Internment: Tod Homestead Cemetery, 2200 Belmont Ave. Youngstown, Ohio.

Arrangements are being handled by the L.E. Black, Phillips & Holden Funeral Home.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Giaunna Renee Lee “Gigi” Jackson, please visit our floral store.

Source link

Ohio

Ohio prisons, including Butler County, making millions to house immigrants for federal officials

Published

1 day ago

April 8, 2026

Press Room

Ohio prisons, including Butler County, making millions to house immigrants for federal officials

Ohio prisons are making millions of dollars to house immigrants for federal authorities, including in Butler County, which has raked in more than $6 million.Records show six correctional facilities across Ohio are currently holding immigration detainees for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.Last year alone, those facilities brought in more than $13 million in federal payments. Butler County received a large share of that money, serving as a primary holding site for immigration arrests, including operations out of Columbus.Documents show ICE pays facilities a daily rate per detainee, along with transportation costs. Those rates can range from about $68 to $125 per person each day.In November, Butler County updated the agreement with ICE and is now paid $105 per detainee.Advocates say these agreements raise concerns about detaining people who are not facing criminal charges.But some Ohio sheriffs defend the practice, saying it helps support federal immigration enforcement and provides local resources.These agreements are expected to continue into this year, with Butler County remaining a key location for immigration detention in Ohio.

BUTLER COUNTY, Ohio —

Ohio prisons are making millions of dollars to house immigrants for federal authorities, including in Butler County, which has raked in more than $6 million.

Records show six correctional facilities across Ohio are currently holding immigration detainees for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Last year alone, those facilities brought in more than $13 million in federal payments. Butler County received a large share of that money, serving as a primary holding site for immigration arrests, including operations out of Columbus.

Documents show ICE pays facilities a daily rate per detainee, along with transportation costs. Those rates can range from about $68 to $125 per person each day.

In November, Butler County updated the agreement with ICE and is now paid $105 per detainee.

Advocates say these agreements raise concerns about detaining people who are not facing criminal charges.

But some Ohio sheriffs defend the practice, saying it helps support federal immigration enforcement and provides local resources.

These agreements are expected to continue into this year, with Butler County remaining a key location for immigration detention in Ohio.

Source link