Well past dinnertime on Dec. 5, two days before the Big Ten championship game, Martin Jarmond and Jeff Hafley met for the first time, at Hotel LeVeque in downtown Columbus, Ohio.



Boston College’s 39-year old athletic director and Ohio State’s 40-year-old co-defensive coordinator found they had a lot in common — including stints in Columbus, where Jarmond previously worked as the Buckeyes’ deputy director of athletics — and that they could sit and talk for hours quite easily.



“I knew 20 minutes in — I wrote ‘Bingo’ on my page of notes,” Jarmond told The Athletic on Monday. “Here he is, he’s tired. He’s preparing for a championship, and he’s meeting with us late at night.”



Even so, they clicked almost immediately.



“I’m thinking, I’ve heard this guy can connect with people,” Jarmond said. “So, the first 10 minutes, is he connecting...