- Ohio State coach Ryan Day has gone from facing job insecurity to becoming a national championship coach in less than a year.
- Despite past losses to rival Michigan, Day’s job is now considered secure after winning a national title.
- Day has made key coaching and player decisions, including hiring defensive coordinator Matt Patricia and developing quarterback Julian Sayin.
It’s catnip for the college football masses, an intoxicating rush for those living it and those vicariously experiencing it.
But understand this: the unofficial early start to the hiring/firing season is also a distraction from a unique story playing out on the field. One with a direct connection to last year’s hiring/firing season.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Ryan Day: the bulletproof coach.
Never has an Ohio State coach done so little against bitter rival Michigan, and become more secure in his job despite it.
From the worst Ohio State loss to Michigan in the modern era of The Game, to should’ve been fired, to national championship coach.
To the untouchable coach confidently navigating a tumultuous time in his profession.
And that’s just the beginning of this unrecognizable tale from 11 months ago, when Day stood on the field at Ohio Stadium while his team fought with Michigan players at midfield after the crushing loss.
He couldn’t move, and looked dazed in the moment. It was surreal and uncomfortable and everything you’d expect from a coach whose program hadn’t beaten the one team it must since before the pandemic season.
Yet there was Day earlier this week — while Ohio State was beginning bye week preparation for next week’s game at Penn State — delivering the unthinkable. Or maybe just saying what he knows is true.
“We’re now getting into the stretch run of the season,” Day said, “And then obviously some playoff football.”
My god, how can you not love this game? Less than a year ago, Day was all but fired after losing at home to Michigan, the scarlet and gray world crashing all around him.
Now he’s a national championship coach, with the No. 1 team in the nation — and he has the chutzpah to stand at his weekly news conference and all but declare the remaining five games prep time for the real deal in the College Football Playoff.
Penn State and Purdue? Not going to happen, fellas. UCLA and Rutgers? Please.
And Michigan? Day sure is making decisions and coaching like a guy who’s free from the clutches of all things maize and blue, no matter the recent history. Free of the lunatic fringe in Columbus stalking his house and tormenting his kids at school and generally making his life miserable because of one lousy game.
When you’re holding that national championship trophy, it not only provides (temporary) immunity, it’s a rare injection of confidence and bravado in a profession that’s week-to-week.
Lose an elite defensive coordinator to your conference rival Penn State? Who cares, just go out and hire one of the NFL’s best defensive minds over the past two decades and give him full control of a unit that had only three starters returning.
All new defensive coordinator Matt Patricia has done is build the best defense in college football, a unit that has given up four touchdowns in seven games. Four.
Yeah, it’s stupid good.
So is the transition at the most important position on the field, where Kansas State transfer Will Howard won a national title as a one-year mercenary hire and left the Buckeyes with zero experience heading into 2025. But instead of hitting the transfer portal again for a quick fix, Day chose redshirt freshman Julian Sayin to run the show, and the quarterback who had 12 career pass attempts coming into the season, is now on the short list to win the Heisman Trophy.
Sayin is completing 80% of his passes (that’s not a misprint), and has a touchdown to interception ratio of 19-to-3. He averaging 10 yards per attempt, and 12 yards per completion and has a streak of 125 passes without an interception.
Sayin is getting better with every game, and Day is getting better with every decision, every move further away from the disastrous rock bottom of his coaching career.
From you’ve got to fire him, to the top of his profession in 11 months. What a long, strange road it has been — in such a short time.
His profession has never been more unsettled, filled with more uncertainty in the ever-changing world of college football. Two blueblood jobs (Penn State, Florida) are officially available, and more are likely on the way.
LSU, USC, Florida State, Auburn, and on and on and on. Who knows where it all ends.
Every coach everywhere is in the crosshairs of win-now-or-else. Except the one coach who could’ve been fired last season but wasn’t.
The one coach who is now bulletproof heading into the most important stretch of the season. When big games are won and lost, and coaches are fired and hired.
“All of these games, all of these decisions,” Day said. “Everything we’re doing is just going to be ramped up and amped up at a higher level.”
Yeah, stupid good.
