Ed Warinner

Ohio State offensive coordinator Ed Warinner (right) will now coach the tight ends instead of the offensive line, a move which should allow him to stay in the coaching box during games and focus on calling plays.

(Marvin Fong, The Plain Dealer)

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Ohio State's offensive football staff will be restructured, with Ed Warinner focusing on running the offense and a new offensive line coach joining the staff, a source confirmed to cleveland.com.

As first reported by footballscoop.com, the new hire is former Maryland offensive line coach Greg Studrawa, who also worked at LSU and Bowling Green. He was Urban Meyer's offensive line coach at Bowling Green in 2001 and 2002.

Warinner will move to coaching tight ends while focusing on his role as offensive coordinator. Quarterbacks coach Tim Beck will remain on the staff. Former tight ends coach Tim Hinton will remain with Ohio State in an administrative role, but not as one of the primary nine assistants. That Hinton move clears the spot for Studrawa.

Warinner had taken over primary play-calling duties this season with the departure of co-offensive coordinator Tom Herman. The goal was for Warinner to remain as offensive line coach, where he had built Ohio State's line into a strength for four seasons, while taking on the additional duties.

That proved difficult logistically, even with a veteran offensive line.

Warinner was on the sideline both calling plays and coaching the line during games, while Beck was upstairs in the coaching box. Ohio State changed that in the middle of the season, giving Beck more play-calling duties.

But after issues in the Michigan State loss, Meyer sent Warinner up to the box, and the offense played its two best games in the last two games of the year with that setup.

Meyer wanted to continue that, but the issue was coaching the offensive line during the game. This will solve that, allowing Warinner to stay upstairs and the heart of the offense to retain its position coach, now Studrawa, on the sideline.

When asked last week if there would be any staff changes, Meyer said there wouldn't be. But this is a change that makes sense for the Buckeyes in a lot of ways. Warinner will be missed as a line coach, but he was needed more upstairs on gameday getting this offense to work.