As Brian Smith sat down and figured out who was going to be a part of his coaching staff, the first-year head coach didn’t have to look far when choosing his offensive coordinator. Former offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Scott Isphording was an easy pick for Smith to lead his offense.
Isphording, a native of Cincinnati, has been with the Bobcats for more than 10 seasons, making him the longest-tenured coach on the staff. Although Isphording served as the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach last season, he isn’t new to the offensive coordinator position. From 2020-2023, Isphording was Ohio’s offensive coordinator before Smith took over the position in 2024.
Smith and Isphording have worked together on the offensive end in some way or another since Smith took over as running backs coach in 2022. Through the years, the two have established an invaluable relationship.
“When Brian (Smith) got here, he had been a coordinator at a number of great places,” Isphording said. “I was all for it. Let's hire the best guy. He could have come in and questioned things, but he never did to me. There's a fine line between asking questions and questioning. He asked questions, but he never questioned. I really appreciated that. We work very, very well together, no matter what roles we are in.”
When Smith was named head coach following the departure of Tim Albin, many of Ohio’s core coaching staff left to follow Albin to Charlotte. However, for Isphording — someone who has left Ohio before — he was thrilled at the opportunity to keep his family in Athens and get to work with Smith.
Isphording left Ohio to work with MAC rival Toledo for a four-year stint beginning in 2010. After finding offensive success with the Rockets, Isphording returned to Athens and began what has now been more than 10 straight seasons with the Bobcats.
“The type of people that we attract here are the type of people that I really enjoy coaching: from the Rourkes to Clinton Maxwell to Parker Navarro and so on and so forth,” Isphording said. “But the bricks are the bricks, and it's beautiful, but the people that are in the buildings are the best part.”
Now, more than a decade later, Isphording has begun to go to work with an offense that has the potential to be the best he’s coached. At the helm of that offense is returning quarterback Parker Navarro – an asset Ohio is lucky to have back.
“In this day and age, it doesn't happen very much,” Isphording said. “Especially if you’ve got a good (quarterback) that's had success, there are a lot of avenues for guys to move on.”
Navarro found his stride with the Bobcats in the final five games of the 2024 season. With the aid of Smith and Isphording, Navarro was among the best in the country when it came to passing.
“I think that we did a great job with Parker (Navarro) in the second half of the year; we really figured out what Parker was best at,” Isphording said. “He did some good things early. But coach Smith and I and some of the other coaches did a great job of figuring out what allowed him to be a great player. If you look at his last five games, I'll put him up against anybody's five games.”
For the past two seasons, Ohio has been fortunate to have an all-conference slot receiver in both Coleman Owen and Sam Wiglusz, both of whom have since graduated. Despite these losses, Isphording has liked what he’s seen out of his receiving core early on in spring camp and is confident the receiver room can remain one of the best in the conference.
“It's a battle, that's part of what spring ball is — the competition of who's going to be that guy,” Isphording said. “I think we've got a number of guys, Chase Hendricks, Caleb Gosset, Max Rodarte, we just added a young man, Alfredo Jordan Jr. and I know I'm missing guys, but we're excited to see who's going to be that slot guy.”
From position battles to who works best with a returning all-conference quarterback, Isphording is looking for one thing above all else in spring practice: toughness.
“I truly believe we were the toughest team in the MAC last year, and that's why we won games,” Isphording said.
What the offense brings to the field in the 2025 season won’t be seen for a handful of months. Still, Isphording and his unit have already gotten to work on perfecting the chemistry of what could be another historic offensive year in Athens.
