In his short six seasons as the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, Ryan Day has garnered plenty of praise while never succumbing to the heaping mounds of criticism. There are some, including this author, who were served up a 10-course meal of crow as Day led the Buckeyes to a national title after losing a fourth consecutive time to Michigan in what has to be the ugliest, most disappointing loss for the program since the 2018 letdown at Purdue. However, despite the best wishes of the Lunatic Fringe 
, Day is a champion and one of the most respected men in the game.
Recently, as part of Athlon Sports‘ previews for the 2025 season, it compiled comments from anonymous Big Ten coaches for each of the programs. In addition to a few gushing about how favorable of a situation Julian Sayin (presumably) is in or how the defense will have to rebuild, one coach set the record straight about Day.
That anonymous coach put it well: “The resilience of [Ryan] Day and his staff is really, really remarkable. I don’t think they get enough credit from the public for how they managed the playoff run after losing to Michigan. The calls for his job were absolutely ludicrous. Do they need to beat Michigan? Yeah, sure. But this program is at the very top of the sport because of the head coach.”
Rival Big Ten Coaches Show Ryan Day Respect in Annual Preseason Publication
Day has amassed a commanding 70-10 record in his six-plus seasons as the head coach. For plenty of programs, he’s already etched his name into the rafters with this kind of start. For Ohio State, the fact that 40% of Day’s losses were to Michigan has some in the fanbase unmoved by the national championship. When a coach takes over at Ohio State, the goals are to beat Michigan, win the Big Ten, and win a national title. In six years, Day has two Big Ten titles (2019, 2020), one win over Michigan (2019), and one national title (2024). Sure, Ohio State looked like it was going to beat the Wolverines back to the Stone Age/Michigan’s glory days in 2020, but this is the Big Ten, they don’t peddle in hypotheticals like some other Power 4 conferences do…
As the head coach of the Buckeyes, Day is under the microscope and has the largest target on his back. Despite the fact that Michigan won three straight Big Ten titles and Oregon won last year, Ohio State is still considered the top dog.
Coaching, Talent, or Both?
Coaching at Ohio State, much like covering the Buckeyes, is like playing on easy mode. In the media market, covering Ohio State comes with an already established, ridiculously massive, and passionate fanbase who laps up any content about the Buckeyes. On the field, Ohio State often benefits from having an embarrassment of riches in terms of talent.
Under Jim Tressel, Ohio State recruited well. Under Urban Meyer, the Buckeyes began playing on a much larger scale and were often among the top recruiting classes. When Day took over, one of the concerns was whether or not the first-time coach would be able to keep up the momentum. Considering his recruiting classes have been just as good or better than Meyer’s, it’s safe to say that concern was laid to rest.
So, does Day just ride talent to the bank, and does Ohio State’s recruiting prowess make him look significantly better than he actually is? Not really.
There are certainly coaches who recruit well but don’t develop or even win with that elite talent. Mario Cristobal and Jimbo Fisher (at Texas A&M) tend to come to mind. Comparing Day to his predecessor, he outperforms Meyer in total NFL Draft picks (59 to 37) and first-round picks (16 to 10) in their first six seasons. The obvious caveat is that Day took over for Meyer and benefited from Meyer’s players, whereas Meyer took over for Tressel and one year of Luke Fickell.
Keep Feeding the Beast
As we’ve seen time and again, even the best programs can fall short with the wrong hire. Miami (FL) was a juggernaut at one time and now, not so much. The same can be said for Oklahoma, Nebraska, and USC. Notre Dame went through it, but it looks like Marcus Freeman is the right man for that job. Remember how good Alabama was before Nick Saban took over? No? Exactly.
It takes a lot to keep a well-oiled machine going, especially in today’s wild, wild west with the transfer portal.
The claim out there is that Ohio State is recession-proof. It’s not a popular belief to push back on that idea, but there will come a time when the Buckeyes struggle. It may not come under Day, and it may not come under whoever succeeds him. However, he was the right man for the job when Meyer literally handed him the reins after the 2018 season.
Now, with his first national championship on the books, Day gets to try to become just the second coach in program history to win multiple titles. Woody Hayes won five national championships while Paul Brown, Tressel, and Meyer all won one apiece.
2025 marks the toughest challenge of Day’s young career. According to his Big Ten peers, he will be up to the task.
Main Image: Syndication: The Columbus Dispatch
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