The Ohio State Buckeyes take the field for the Big Ten Championship football game between the Ohio State Buckeyes and the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Joshua A. Bickel//Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Former UCLA Coach Joins Conference Foe

Originally posted on UCLA Bruins on SI
By Aidan Champion | Last updated Mar 2, 2025 5:45 PM ET

UCLA football endured a lot of coaching changes this offseason.

One of those was the loss of its former defensive line coach, Tony Washington Jr., who served on staff for just one season. He was hired under Chip Kelly shortly before the former Bruins head coach's departure.

According to multiple reports, Washington has now been hired as an assistant defensive line coach at Ohio State.

This is Washington's fourth coaching staff Washington has joined. His first coaching stint was with Nebraska, where he served as a graduate assistant in 2019 and 2020.

Washington would then serve as the director of player development at his alma mater, Oregon, in 2021 before acting as an assistant defensive line coach in 2022 and the outside linebackers coach in 2023.

Washington played linebacker for Oregon for four seasons (2010-11 to 2014-15), making appearances in 51 games. He totaled 158 tackles, 26 for loss, 14.5 sacks, eight forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and three passes defensed. He was named the defensive MVP of the 2015 Rose Bowl between Oregon and Florida State, which served as a semifinal game in the first-ever College Football Playoff.

Washington would go undrafted the following spring but signed with the Houston Texans, with whom he spent two seasons. He then spent two years with the Tennessee Titans.

UCLA, of course, has a new defensive line coach in Jethro Franklin, a much, much more experienced coach than Washington and one who even coached at UCLA for the 1999 season.

Franklin has experience coaching at both the college and NFL levels.

Washington, meanwhile, will be coaching under defensive coordinator Matt Patricia in what will be his first year at the helm. It will be Patricia's first season coaching at the collegiate level since 2003.

This wouldn't be the first time a UCLA coach eventually went on to coach in Columbus, as Kelly had done so to become Ohio State's offensive coordinator last year.

It, of course, worked out pretty well for him, as he won a national title and is now back in the NFL as offensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders.

This article first appeared on UCLA Bruins on SI and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: