NFL
By: Brock Vierra
The standard is the standard at Ohio State. The fans demand wins and the boosters demand championships. This is the standard. For the Buckeyes, outside of one year with Luke Fickle who was appointed to the role of head coach when Jim Tressel was wrongly fired, the coaches that command the Scarlett and Grey have been phenomenal. Excluding Fickle, the last three coaches all were at the helm for at least seven years. Ohio State is so historically dominant that the last coach (outside of Fickle) to coach the Buckeyes and not have won a Big 10 title during their tenure was Paul Bixler in 1946. Francis Schmidt who coached from 1934-1940 and is Bixler’s predecessor holds two Big 10 championships.
There are 13 different Ohio State head coaches that have won a conference championship. Four different head coaches have won at least one national title but only the great Woody Hayes has multiple. Ohio State has been an NFL factory for as long as the NFL has existed and even before that. Columbus, Ohio is one of the great cathedrals of college football, ready for the next great sermon to be told.
The author of this next chapter is Ryan Day. Day the 44-year-old from New Hampshire began his coaching career as a pupil of Chip Kelly. He would then work with Urban Meyer as a GA in 2005 at Florida. He received his first position coach job with Frank Spaziani at Boston College before becoming Steve Addazio’s offensive coordinator at Temple before following Addazio back to Boston College in the same role. He then went to the NFL as a QB coach under Chip Kelly during both his stops in Philadelphia and San Francisco. In 2017, Day was hired by Meyer as OC of Ohio State and hasn’t looked back.
Bringing his offense that has the innovation of his mentors and the creativity formed from the relationships made with incredible quarterbacks, Day has had Ohio State rolling since his first game. A trial run was granted for Day in 2018 when Urban Meyer was suspended for three games. Day went 3-0 with a total score of 169-62 including a 40-28 win of #15 TCU at Cowboys Stadium. Day was given the job when Meyer announced his retirement at the end of the season.
During his first year in charge, Day was rolling. He brought in Justin Fields from Georgia, he had a stout defense led by Jeff Okudah, Damon Arnette, and Chase Young and he had one of college football’s premier running backs in J.K. Dobbins. Ohio State cruised to the College Football Playoffs with a 13-0 record and Day’s first conference championship. After multiple controversial calls that went against Ohio State and a miscommunication by Justin Fields and Chris Olave resulting in the game-losing interception, the Buckeyes’ season ended in the Fiesta Bowl to defending National Champion Clemson.
Revenge was on Day’s mind as we entered 2020. Fields was back and better than ever. Ohio State had one of the best WR rooms in the country, a solid offensive line, and a stout defense. Nevertheless, the pandemic delayed the start of Ohio State’s season but they would once again overcome obstacles against Indiana and Northwestern to make the College Football Playoff again while Day secured his second Big 10 championship. After receiving harsh criticism from Dabo Swinney for Ohio State’s lack of games (which obviously wasn’t their fault), Ohio State was granted a rematch with Clemson in the Sugar Bowl.
Now Clemson had Ohio State’s number. They were 4-0 against the Buckeyes, defeated Woody Hayes 17-15 in what would be his last ever collegiate football game, and beat Urban Meyer in the CFP semi-final Fiesta Bowl 31-0. Day didn’t let the jitters of last year or of history stop him. Ohio State torched Clemson 49-28. Ohio State would lose the National Championship 24-52 to Alabama but Trey Sermon got hurt on the first play of the game and didn’t come back while Alabama had 8 players selected in the top 50 of that year’s draft, including six first-round picks and Heisman winner Devonta Smith on the field that night. Future first-round picks Bryce Young and Will Anderson Jr also played in that game.
Despite the loss, a national championship seemed to be right around the corner. However, here we are two years later and some are calling for his job despite his 22-4 record since 2021. The problem is that he lost to Michigan twice. He also was at the helm for the Buckeyes first loss to Michigan in Columbus in about two decades. What’s worse is that Urban Meyer went 7-0 versus Michigan, what’s worse than that is that Day is 0-2 since making his “we’re gonna hang 100 on them” comment. But Michigan is one thing, a big thing but one thing. The other problem is Day’s inadequate performances in post-season play. Yes, Day did win the 2022 Rose Bowl against Utah but the Buckeyes continuously found themselves trailing, being down by fourteen at multiple points to a clearly inferior team and needing Jaxon Smith-Njigba to have the greatest Rose Bowl performance of all time with 15 receptions, 347 yards and three touchdowns to get over the Utes. What would be worse is the following year. They sneak into the CFP despite the lack of a conference title and dominate Georgia. C.J. Stroud and Marvin Harrison are going off. Yet due to multiple moments where Ohio State was outcoached and god-awful playcalling in the fourth quarter, Georgia escaped with the dub. Yes, Harrison Jr got hurt but you still need to find a way to get it done. With Georgia beating TCU 63-7 the following week, one could infer Day threw away his much coveted National Title but with his coaching performance, that would be no guarantee either.
For these failures, some have coined 2023 as title or bust for Ryan Day. What I hate is the hypocrisy. Jim Harbaugh implied that Day had it easy by inheriting Urban Meyer’s team. Harbaugh said “Some people wake up on third base but think they hit a triple.” The problem with that is that Day is directly responsible for himself being on third. He helped build that dominant offense as OC so he had his guys as they were juniors and seniors. Day has done nothing but win. The few losses here and there doesn’t mean anything except he’s human. Urban Meyer who is revered in Columbus got shut out in a CFP semi-final, he got blown out by Purdue, he faltered to Michigan State, and only made the CFP twice compared to the three times they went with Day. He was human. Meyer only has one more Big 10 title than Day despite having six eligible years to win it. John Cooper only has three and Earle Bruce only has four. Yet these guys are revered as great coaches and guess what…they are.
So what Day lost twice to Michigan. Woody Hayes lost five times in the Ten-Year War and is still beloved. Day isn’t behind the curve, he’s not falling short. He’s doing his own thing. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither are national championship winners. It took Kirby Smart six years and Alabama losing all their receivers to win his first title and he took over a 9-3 team from Mark Richt. No one is calling Smart a scrub. It took Tom Osborne over 20 years to grab his National Championship after he took over a squad in 1973 that already won 2 National Titles that decade.
Teams like Notre Dame, USC, Texas, Oklahoma, the historical powerhouses are still trying to find the guy that would give them their long overdue championship and if Day becomes available, teams will be buying coaches out and calling Day with 100+ million dollar offers. You don’t give up on a coach like that and just because he’s had some poor defensive performances doesn’t mean he can’t hire a good DC. It took Jim Harbaugh years to find his and all he had to do was call his brother. He also doesn’t have 2.5 million to spend on a DC like other coaches. Justin Fields, Chris Olave, Garrett Wilson, Paris Johnson Jr, Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and via Alabama, Jamison Williams are all players who worked with Day and were first-round picks. You can pencil in Marvin Harrison Jr for this next draft as well. You don’t produce that type of talent by accident.
Day haters are victims of the moment and I speak from experience. Yes, there were some things that are clearly his fault but it would be ignorant to think we all didn’t have our own. His was just displayed on national TV. Ohio State has a gem and with the Big 10 getting bigger and better, you need a recruiter, a coach, and a leader like him to not end up like what Nebraska has been since Bo Pelini. Give the man his flowers or another big-time program will.
For more on Ohio State, watch the College Football Forecast with guest Joshua Keatley (@JoshKeatley16) of Buckeyes Wire.
