‘That’s some bad clock management’: How MLB teams are preparing for new rules
On the first day of live batting practice at Chicago Cubs camp, right-hander Adrian Sampson stood on the mound ready to face his teammates — just as he had done to start preparation for the season in his 11 previous years of professional baseball.
But this time, there was a clock hanging high on the backstop behind the hitter and catcher.
When Sampson received the ball after each pitch, the clock reset to 15 seconds and started counting down. He wasn’t just working on the pitches he was throwing, but how quickly he could throw them. Several times, the clock ran out on him. In the dugout, teammates shook their heads in mock disappointment.
“That’s some bad clock management right there,” catcher Yan Gomes said with a smile.
Welcome to spring training 2023, where a new term has entered the baseball lexicon.
“It will be front and center with everything that we do throughout the spring,” Cubs bench coach Andy Green said. “It needs to get to a point where it doesn’t rattle anyone when the regular season starts. We’ll push those buttons now to get them ready for April.”
During visits to a dozen teams over the opening weeks of camps, it became clear that adjusting to a massive overhaul to the rulebook will make this a spring training like no other. In discussions with players, coaches and executives, it’s easy to see that this isn’t just about getting a pitch off within 15-20 seconds.
“I imagine the conversation around the shot clock in the NBA was similar to the ones we’re having here,” Detroit Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris said. “Same with the [football] play clock, in a way. Both of those sports have evolved to the point where players are competing within the new constraints and not thinking about these clocks. We’re going to get there. The goal is to get there as fast as we can.”
From adapting to the pitch clock and shift regulations to using bigger bases on the field, performing at a high level under the new rules is as important as conforming to them. And there is no consensus among players who will have to make the bigger adjustment with a clock ticking down.
“Generally speaking, it will advantage the pitchers more,” Atlanta Braves starter Spencer Strider said. “We can still control the tempo.”
His teammate, standing a few feet away, disagrees: “I’ll stay in the box a pretty good bit,” first baseman Matt Olson said. “I think for pitchers it will be a bigger transition. They may have to take a ball [violation] or just throw a pitch at the last second.”
Players have more than 30 spring training games to prepare for the changes before the bright lights and scrutiny of the regular season arrive.
“The best part of all this is we have a month of games where the results do not matter,” Milwaukee Brewers manager Craig Counsell said. “Players can make mistakes and there is no essential penalty for it, in terms of win/loss.
“Let them experience it. That will be a great teacher for all of us and how we have to adjust. And what we’re going to be facing once the season starts.”
The pitcher
Not only are pitchers learning to work with a ticking clock, but for the first time they can call their own games from the mound. PitchCom is now available to communicate both ways between a pitcher and catcher, after being introduced last season with only catchers able to choose pitches.
St. Louis Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright used it on his first day of live BP, telling his catchers what he wanted to throw by clicking them into a device on his own body. And according to the 17-year major league veteran, the new technology could be a key to adhering to the pitch clock.
“As soon as I get the ball back I’m going to be pressing buttons,” he said after his throwing session.
Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy identified a potentially comical snag, though: “We worry about if the catcher is hitting [PitchCom] and the pitcher is hitting it at the same time. They’re going back and forth and time runs out.”
There’s also a greater potential for human error with the advanced technology. If a player clicks the wrong button for a pitch, time could become a factor.
“I had to shake myself off a couple of times,” Chicago White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito said, laughing. “Was just getting used to the buttons and where everything is. I accidentally called a pickoff with no one on base during a live BP session.”
Streamlining the process will take time and every little tweak to a pitcher’s routine will have an impact, which is why pitch clocks and PitchCom devices are prevalent even on the back fields of training camps.
“The thing that is coming out of this is you can’t be that pitcher that is consistently the same when he releases the ball,” Colorado Rockies manager and former MLB pitcher Bud Black stated. “We’re working on that.”
Pitchers were confident in their early adjustments when pitching with the bases empty at camps. But live batting practice can only prepare them so much, adding importance to spring games as an opportunity to work on what at times can feel like a completely new job description.
“I feel like a QB now. I’m reading the defense, keeping the play clock in mind and making sure I get the ball off in time.” Strider said. “We may have to have a default play [pitch] if time is running down.”
Pitchers appearing in the World Baseball Classic this month face an added challenge. The tournament will not have any of MLB’s new rules, so they’ll have to adapt again when they return to spring training.
“I’m going to enjoy the heck out of no clock,” Rockies and Team USA reliever Daniel Bard said. “I’m going to cherish 40 seconds between pitches. It’s the last time in my whole life I’ll get to pitch without a clock.”
Bard represents the most common anti-clock player: the high-leverage reliever who often has to face another team’s best hitters with the game hanging in the balance.
“Selfishly, I want more time if I’m facing the middle of the Dodgers lineup,” Bard said. “Why would you want to rush through that?”
Teammate Kyle Freeland nodded in agreement but added: “I think we need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. It’s adapt or die.”
The hitter
Though there have been more pitching violations than hitting ones so far, there’s an equally big change coming for hitters, who are required to be in the batter’s box and alert to the pitcher with eight seconds remaining on the clock.
This became an early talking point of the spring when a Grapefruit League game between the Boston Red Sox and Atlanta Braves ended with the bases loaded and the score tied because strike three was called on a violation against Atlanta’s Cal Conley for not being in ready position.
While live BP didn’t allow hitters much practice in these situations — many teams didn’t have clocks positioned for them to see — spring games will give them plenty of reps, especially as they face one of their toughest new decisions: whether to stay in the box after a pitch, as stepping out might eat up valuable time.
“Maybe taking one step out of the box instead of both feet,” Cardinals outfielder Lars Nootbaar said. “Just do a quick refocus thing. I hope not to change too drastically but these games will help.”
Spring training games are also giving hitters a chance to fine-tune their approaches against another major change that the league hopes will bring more action to the sport: rules governing the shift.
With defenses now having to play two fielders on each side of second base and all four infielders on the dirt, holes are opening where a shifted defender stood in recent seasons. Traditional pull hitters often felt like they had to try to do too much at the plate because defenses were set up to take away their natural tendencies.
In fact, runs and batting average were both up in early games compared to spring training a year ago. Players were hitting .272 through Feb. 28, with an average of 11.9 runs. That’s up from a batting average of .259 and 10.6 runs through the same period in 2022.
Part of the rise can be attributed to being able to replace attempts to go the other way or hit over the shift with a simpler approach.
“Just going to let my natural swing play,” Cubs outfielder Cody Bellinger said. “I don’t have to think about the shift. It’s going to be super interesting. I’m interested to see how it plays out on the dirt. No one [extra] in right field. That takes away so many hits.”
The defense
While defenders will have fewer options for where they stand on the field, the rules preventing an extreme shift will actually cause teams to put an even greater emphasis on pregame defensive prep.
“There are a couple positioning dynamics to put our players in [places] that they never really have been in the recent past,” said Green, the Cubs coach. “With runners on base, you might see some infielders closer together than you’ve ever seen them before.”
The positioning of the shortstop and third baseman are impacted the most. With a lefty pull hitter up, the hole at third base can still be open like it has been in the past — the third baseman would fill the shortstop position and the shortstop would play up the middle near second base.
“We have to be even more intentional with how we’re positioning players because second base is an even more difficult position than it has been over the past seven or eight years,” Harris said.
One of the bigger questions that remains unanswered in spring training is if teams will come up with untraditional defenses to get around the shift.
“The only thing we’ve talked about is we could see some teams that could be radical with some outfielders,” Black said of the possibility.
An example that has been mentioned is deploying a left fielder in short right field, potentially leaving a lot of room to cover for the other two outfielders. The Red Sox tried this out against Joey Gallo during a recent game and weren’t any executives, managers or coaches who would commit to using the strategy during the regular season just yet — but no one would rule it out.
“There might be a team that does it,” Green said. “It’s hard to see the value in it. There’s a reason teams haven’t done that. Has to be a unique situation. A really high ground ball guy that pulls it. And you need an outfielder that can stand in that hole and make a play at first base on a hot smash.”
Even though the use of bigger bases has been mentioned more frequently in conversations involving their impact on baserunning, they are another change that fielders will have to get used to this spring.
“There might be a small transition in terms of having more base to work with,” Olson said. “The footwork is second nature so that could be a little different.”
The base stealer
There are two factors in the new rules that lead to a belief that stolen bases will increase: Pitchers can step off the rubber only twice — unless the third time results in an out — and the bases are 3 inches bigger on each side, producing a slightly smaller distance between them and a more enticing target for potential base stealers.
“You have to pay attention to controlling the running game and how the disengagement rule is going to play into it,” Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “You don’t get those tossed over to first base anymore. You need intent. So we’ll stress that.”
The proof has been evident in the minor leagues, where stolen-base rates have spiked as a combination of the new rules has been tested in recent seasons. One of MLB’s elite base stealers, Billy Hamilton, is cautiously optimistic about the impact it could have — but he also sees a potential downside for runners trying to take advantage of the new rules.
“The limit to pickoffs makes it a little bit easier. If he’s used two, you can be aware of that but you still have to be careful,” the White Sox outfielder said. “The clock isn’t behind the pitcher when I’m looking at him so if I take a peek [behind the plate], I might get picked off. Can the dugout count it down so I know what’s going on?”
Since pitchers can no longer vary their timing to the plate to hold runners on base, it will give base stealers an opportunity to time their jumps to when they know the ball has to be thrown to home plate.
“You’re going to have to come set very early or learn side steps and go quickly to the plate.” Strider said of how pitchers can adapt. “Being ready ahead of the hitter is important, so you have several seconds to leverage against the baserunner.”
Whether or not there is a noticeable rise in stolen bases during spring training games, this new pitcher/baserunner dynamic is something teams are expecting to play out throughout the season.
“When guys pick [to run] based on the clock is something we’ll be watching,” Green said. “There’s a lot of smart people looking for edges. It’s a new frontier.”
The manager
Between the number of adjustments needed from players across their rosters and new strategies introduced because of the changes, the role of managers will be heightened this season. Never one to miss an edge, New York Mets skipper Buck Showalter has been studying for any advantage since last season.
“I went to the [Arizona] Fall League for that purpose,” Showalter said. “We spent a lot of time talking to our Double- and Triple-A people because those are the ones that have lived it. We have people constantly asking umpires and the replay group a lot of what-ifs. What if we did that, what if we did this? When we get to the point where they say, ‘hmm, we have to think about that,’ then I know I’m onto something.”
But Showalter isn’t about to give away any of his findings until the games start counting.
“If you have an advantage, you don’t want to show it down here,” he said.
Other managers acknowledge that one of the biggest ways to succeed with so many changes occurring at once will be simply by being the team that doesn’t let the inevitable learning curve wear it down.
“Everyone will adjust to the times but the mental side is what we’re talking about. Pitch. Bad result. Get emotional, mad at yourself,” Black said. “Without the clock you have more time to take a breath and gather yourself. Now, you have to get back on the mound and get going. The mental part of this is what we’re talking about.”
Managers agree that the best way to get their teams prepared for the mental side of the new changes is by working on everything so consistently during camps that it becomes second nature by the time the season begins.
“We’re doing a lot on a timed basis. That’s the main thing. Working within the timeframe that we’re allotted. Let’s build our stamina, our mental toughness, the speed in which we work,” Cubs manager David Ross said. “If we get 15 seconds, let’s get everyone within 12 so you never feel rushed. When the game starts, it slows down instead of speeds up.”
As much as teams are using the spring to adapt to MLB’s new rules, they all know there is still some mystery to how a sport that has been hesitant to change will look when the regular season begins and the stakes are that much higher.
“Baseball has not been comfortable with rule changes compared to other sports,” Counsell said. “We have to be OK with a rule change that can improve the game. That’s what we’re stressing. Get comfortable.”
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David Hale
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson’s game plan for Miami‘s first College Football Playoff appearance was to throw the kitchen sink at Texas A&M, to run every twist on every play he could imagine until something broke. He would leave no stone unturned.
By the fourth quarter, however, the score was tied at 3, and both offenses had traded blows in a battle of attrition. All the gadget plays and misdirection had amounted to nothing. A swirling wind at Kyle Field had stunted the passing attack and played havoc with the kicking game, as Miami missed three field goal attempts. The last hope, Dawson figured, was to do the thing he had been criticized for most this season.
He would run the ball — power run, A-gap, right down the Aggies’ throats until Miami was in the end zone.
Dawson found his tailback on the sideline before Miami’s final drive, and he issued an edict to Mark Fletcher Jr.
“We’re riding you down the field,” Dawson said.
Fletcher grinned — that smile that has become so familiar to everyone around Miami for the past three years. Fletcher is always happy, always an optimist, but this was different. It wasn’t optimism. It was certainty.
Fletcher found his O-line and explained the game plan for that final drive.
“I know what I’m going to do,” he told them. “Now you just get ’em out of the way, and I’ll handle the rest.”
Fletcher took a handoff on the first play of the drive, surged up the middle, dashed toward the sideline, fought off a pair of defenders and marched 56 yards downfield before he was dragged to the ground.
0:31
Miami’s Mark Fletcher Jr. takes off for a 56-yard run late in 4th
Mark Fletcher Jr. is able to break free to set Miami up in field goal range.
He followed with runs of 2, 12, 3 and 2 yards to set Miami up for what became the decisive touchdown in the program’s biggest win in more than 20 years.
No one on the team was surprised.
“To see him have that success,” quarterback Carson Beck said, “I’m super happy for him. But it was very expected.”
Fletcher finished the game, a 10-3 win, with 172 yards rushing for an offense that managed just 278 yards total. On Dec. 31, Miami will face Ohio State in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN).
In the chaos of the postgame locker room celebration, Fletcher went live on Instagram, holding up a T-shirt with his father’s face emblazoned on it, and the words that have come to define both his journey and Miami’s inspiration this season: “Long live Big Mark.”
It has been less than 14 months since Fletcher’s father, Big Mark, died in his sleep at 53. In the time since, Fletcher has reevaluated his outlook, refocused on his goals and relived so many memories of the man who helped make him into the glue that binds the Hurricanes together. He’s not playing for his dad exactly, Fletcher said, but it’s in these moments when he still feels closest to Big Mark.
So, yes, Fletcher knew what he was going to do on that final drive. He would do what his father always told him to do. He would put one foot in front of the other and fight for every inch.
“What he means to this team, it was a rough year for him, and he never flinched,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “He’s the heart and soul of our football team. Everything he does is dedicated to his teammates getting better and his team winning. And he was the difference in this game. He just took over.”
LINDA FLETCHER WELCOMED as many fans to the Miami-Texas A&M game as she could, whether they were decked out in orange or maroon. She perched outside the stadium armed with signs — “Freight Train Fletcher” and “Long Live Big Mark” — and said hello to anyone she saw pass.
“I gave out 10,000 hugs,” she said. “And I love it.”
To understand Mark Fletcher’s outlook on the world, it helps to know who raised him.
“My other children always say, ‘Oh, she finally had her mini me,'” Linda said. “Mark’s ways are a lot like mine.”
There’s a group text for all the “Mamma Canes” to trade travel tips and hotel advice and just to talk football, but even amid the fanatical group of mothers, Linda stands out. A few are baffled by Linda’s willingness to engage the enemy at games but, as she sees it, everyone could use a little more love in their lives.
“I don’t know what my purpose is,” Linda said, “but they feel good, I feel good, and people are always talking about how much they love Mark.”
Linda hates flying, so she drives to each game, including the 1,300-mile journey from Fort Lauderdale to College Station for Miami’s playoff game against the Aggies. She has two older kids who live in Jacksonville, so she tries to stop there for the night, then ventures on in daylong chunks — to Syracuse and Dallas and Berkeley, California — stopping wherever she sees fit to experience a little of what the road has to offer.
Linda has tried to convince a few of the other Miami moms to join her on a road trip, but so far, she has had no takers. Occasionally someone will offer to buy her a plane ticket, and she laughs.
“I say they can buy me a tank of gas,” Linda said.
The dream, Linda said, is to buy an RV, so she can cruise America’s highways in style.
“Once Linda Fletcher pulls out in her big RV, that’s how you know we’ve made it,” she said. “I’m going to get me a big RV. I look forward to that. It’s on my bucket list.”
And yet, Linda is in no hurry to make the dream a reality. Mark Fletcher could move on to the NFL when Miami’s season draws to a close, but he has talked with his mom about the decision, and he wants to stick around. He loves Miami, and the program has been the salve that has made the past year bearable.
Mark Fletcher Sr. was “an inside dad,” Linda said. He never missed a practice. When the locker room opened to family, he was there. He was his son’s closest ally, but he was also a rock for Fletcher’s teammates.
“Him being around the building with the team, he was always cheering somebody up, always willing to talk to somebody,” Miami defensive end Rueben Bain said. “Of course, Mark lost him, but I feel like so many of us on the team lost him. Even myself. It’s crazy what the Fletcher family has done for this university.”
Fletcher said his dad served as a father figure for a number of his teammates who had grown up without one.
Linda said Big Mark was just a fun, outgoing person. He was someone people could trust.
And then, on Oct. 24, 2024, he was gone.
“We were broken inside,” Linda said. “My baby was broken. That’s the worst thing that ever could’ve happened, and I was nervous for him because I know how close him and his dad are.”
A few hours after Fletcher was marched into Cristobal’s office, where he was told his father had died, he was at practice. A week later, Miami was set to play rival Florida State. Fletcher insisted on suiting up for the game. The family rescheduled the funeral to accommodate it.
“We were crying our eyes out,” Linda said. “But funeral time, you know, it’s business. We had to go lay dad to rest. We’re not crying now.”
Then a procession of five buses arrived at the church. Every member of the Miami football program had come to say goodbye to Big Mark.
“We couldn’t keep ourselves together,” Linda said. “We thought it would be Mario and his family. The whole team? Think about that. For us. A little Black family from Fort Lauderdale. That was over the top.”
In the year since, Linda has been constantly amazed at how much football has been her center amid the grief.
She shows up for every practice now, except the ones at the tail end of the week before a road game. Then, she’s in her car, following some new stretch of highway. She gets to the games, and she holds up her signs, and she hugs a thousand strangers because, for her and for her son, the world is still full of love, even if one of their most important lights has gone out.
“It’s not always sad because we’re doing work that Big Mark Fletcher would so approve of,” Linda said. “It’s a bittersweet thing.”
During warmups on the field this past Saturday, before Miami played its biggest game in decades, Bain found Fletcher, and he hung an arm around his friend.
Bain wanted to soak in the moment with one of the teammates who had helped deliver Miami to this place — two of Cristobal’s early recruits who have helped engineer this new era.
Bain looked at his friend, patted his back and smiled.
“Long live Big Mark,” he said.
BEFORE FLETCHER’S DOMINANT final drive delivered Miami to the doorstep of the lone touchdown of the game, the Canes had another drive brewing. Fletcher had opened it with a 16-yard run, and, on the next play, Beck connected with star freshman Malachi Toney on a 12-yard completion past midfield. But as Toney fought for extra yardage, an A&M defender jarred the ball loose, and the Aggies recovered at their own 47.
Toney was heartbroken. He jogged to the sideline, took a seat on the bench and slumped over, believing he had cost his team the game.
“The second I saw him drop down,” Fletcher said, “I rushed over to him.”
In the weeks after Big Mark died, Fletcher spent his share of time slumped in his seat, too.
He had never wavered from football, but the problem was that Fletcher kept thinking about what his dad would’ve wanted. He thought about all the ways Big Mark had pushed him, motivated him, supported him. He was at Miami because of his dad, and now he felt he had to honor his father’s legacy. It was a weight, a feeling like his every step came in the shadow cast by the man who had set him on this path.
“I’d get so sad,” Fletcher said. “I’d cry before games.”
That sadness felt wrong though, Linda said. She admits, she still has her moments of overwhelming grief, but that’s not how the Fletcher family had ever lived. It’s in their DNA to find the light, even amid the darkest clouds. They are happy people, Linda said. Big Mark was happy.
“Big Mark helped build my son up to what he is today,” Linda said. “It gets sad that he’s not here in the flesh to follow this dream with us, but in the spiritual realm, we say he’s here with us. We just have to enjoy him in a different form. And that’s where our faith kicks in.”
So Linda and Mark and the rest of their family devised a slogan to help them honor Big Mark without remaining tethered to their grief: Keep going.
When his father was alive, Fletcher texted him daily. Usually his phone would chime a few minutes later with a note from Big Mark, offering inspiration. Nothing was owed to Fletcher, Big Mark would say. You have to earn it, then take it. Big Mark always understood how to push his son forward.
Looking back now, Linda sees it as part of Big Mark’s legacy. In his absence, he taught his family — and, really, an entire team — to keep putting one foot in front of the other, to keep living life to the fullest. Their story is not over yet.
Fletcher’s mission, Linda said, has shifted from being stressful to being purposeful.
“I think about him every single day, every second, honestly,” Fletcher said. “That’s what drives me. But I had to switch my mindset in how I’d think about him. That’s not how he’d want me to play this beautiful game of football. I just said, I miss my dad but he’d want me to go out there and have fun.”
So when Fletcher found his teammate slumped on the sideline after the worst moment of his young career, he knew exactly the right words.
Keep going.
“God just gave you some adversity right now,” Fletcher told Toney. “That’s all it is. Now let’s go win this game.”
Miami’s defense stuffed Texas A&M on three straight plays after Toney’s fumble. The Aggies punted it back to the Canes, Fletcher ran 75 yards on five plays, setting up Miami with a third-and-5 at the A&M 11.
On the next play, Beck tossed to Toney streaking across the backfield. Toney bolted around the edge, out to the sideline, past frustrated A&M defenders and into the end zone.
Keep going, and good things will happen.
“Week in and week out, Mark’s been the best guy in the building,” Bain said. “He’s always positive, always gives his best effort. He’s the leader we need him to be, but he’s just a good, righteous person, and he’s reaping what he sows. He gives his all, and he’s getting it all.”
But Fletcher remembers what his father always told him. He’s not owed anything. He is blessed. And, like his mother’s RV, he’s in no rush to seize the dream. He’s here, right now, with a chance to make his family proud and to play the game he loves.
He wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
“I just know that every day I wake up breathing it’s another opportunity to make somebody else’s life better,” Fletcher said. “God blessed me to be in this position, and I just want to make an impact.”
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Eli Lederman
North Carolina and coach Bill Belichick are working toward hiring Bobby Petrino as the program’s next offensive coordinator, sources confirmed to ESPN on Monday.
Offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens was fired earlier this month after the Tar Heels ranked 131st nationally in total offense (288.8 yards per game) in 2025.
Petrino, the former head coach at Arkansas, returned to the Razorbacks in 2024, where he served as offensive coordinator for the past two seasons. He took over as interim coach after the program fired Sam Pittman on Sept. 28. He’s also served as head coach at Louisville, Western Kentucky and Missouri State and the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.
UNC sources told ESPN’s Pete Thamel that there are still multiple steps remaining before any potential hire is announced. No announcement is imminent and other candidates remain engaged in the process.
The move back into the top job at Arkansas marked a full-circle turnaround for Petrino, who was fired by the Razorbacks in 2012 for misleading officials about an extramarital affair with an athletic department employee. The Razorbacks went 0-7 under Petrino’s leadership this fall en route to a 2-10 finish, and Arkansas hired Memphis‘ Ryan Silverfield as its head coach on Nov. 30.
The Tar Heels are seeking to revamp their offense following a 4-8 season in 2025. Only five FBS teams finished this past season with fewer yards per game than North Carolina, which also ranked 121st in scoring offense (19.3 PPG) and 124th in rushing (105.3) in Belichick’s debut season at UNC.
Under Kitchens, the former Cleveland Browns head coach, the Tar Heels scored 15 points or fewer in six of their 12 games.
Petrino has built a reputation for turning around struggling offenses throughout his career.
As a head coach, he led Louisville from 2003 to 2006 before one season with the Falcons. At Arkansas, he went 21-5 in the final two seasons before he was fired in December 2012.
Petrino spent the 2023 season as the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M prior to joining Pittman’s staff at Arkansas in 2024. With Petrino calling plays, the Razorbacks improved from 107th to 10th nationally in yards per game (326.5 to 459.5) last year. Despite going winless in its final 10 games in 2025, Arkansas closed the regular season ranked inside the top 25 nationally in both scoring (32.0 PPG), total offense (454.8 YPG) and rushing (191.9 YPG) among FBS programs.
Each of the previous two head coaches Petrino has worked for — Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher and Pittman — have been fired within two seasons. If a deal is finalized, Petrino will arrive at North Carolina ahead of a pivotal season under Belichick, who went 2-6 in ACC play in 2025.
The Tar Heels’ intention to hire Petrino was first reported by On3.
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Jake Trotter
Ohio State coach Ryan Day said he will take over calling offensive plays in the Buckeyes’ College Football Playoff opener on New Year’s Eve against Miami.
Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, who had called plays this season, is balancing responsibilities, having recently taken the head coaching job at USF.
Day added that Hartline will focus on coaching Ohio State’s receivers in the CFP.
“We wanted to take [playcalling] off of Brian’s plate because he’s got so much going on with what he’s trying to do,” Day said Monday. “Ultimately it will be my decision what calls go into the game.”
As head coach, Day called Ohio State’s offensive plays until last season, when he relinquished those duties to Chip Kelly. After the Buckeyes won the national championship, Kelly left to be the offensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders and Day promoted Hartline from receivers coach.
Under Hartline, the Buckeyes rank 17th nationally in scoring, averaging almost 35 points per game, though they scored only 10 in their Big Ten championship loss to Indiana. The Buckeyes twice drove the ball inside the Indiana 10-yard line in the second half but failed to come up with any points.
Miami knocked off Texas A&M 10-3 on Saturday in the first round to advance to face the second-seeded Buckeyes at the Cotton Bowl.
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