On the Record: Ryan Day will win Big Ten Coach of the Year this season

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From now until preseason camp starts later this week, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about the things we need to get off our chests before the season starts; the things we need to get on the record. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”On the Record” articles here.

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Since the Big Ten started handing out Coach of the Year awards in 1972, Ohio State football head coaches have only earned the honor four

times.

Woody Hayes was named Big Ten Coach of the Year in 1973 and 1975, Earle Bruce earned the award in 1979, and most recently Ryan Day was named Big Ten co-Coach of the Year with Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck in 2019.

The fact that Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer never won the award during their time at Ohio State is crazy to think about, considering the records they amassed during their time in Columbus.

While it’s easy to understand why the conference feels hesitant to bestow the honor on Ohio State football head coaches, it’s still puzzling how Buckeye head coaches went 40 years without being named the best coach in the conference.

Apparently, since Ohio State has more top recruits, receives more media attention, and has many advantages over fellow conference members when it comes to facilities and what they are able to spend on the program, the Big Ten prefers to recognize those coaches that they perceive have to “work harder” than whoever is in charge of the Buckeyes.

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Despite this year feeling like Illinois head coach Bret Bielema will win the Kirk Ferentz Big Ten Coach of the Year award if the Fighting Illini go on to make the College Football Playoff, Ryan Day could be in the mix if he is able to lead Ohio State back to the Big Ten Championship Game for the first time since 2020.

This feels like it could be the year where Day has to really show his coaching chops since he has so much to deal with. Not only are the Buckeyes defending national champions, they have to replace a slew of starters from last year’s team on both sides of the football. Add in Ohio State opening up the season against Texas in a rematch of the Cotton Bowl College Football Playoff semifinal last year, and it’s obvious Day is going to have to work harder than ever this season.

As if all that wasn’t enough for Day to deal with, he’ll be breaking in new offensive and defensive coordinators after Chip Kelly returned to the NFL and Jim Knowles thinks the grass will be greener in State College with Penn State. Even though Brian Hartline has plenty of familiarity with what Day prefers to do on offense, it’ll be interesting to see just how hands-off Day is with the play-calling.

On the other side of the football, Matt Patricia will be running the Buckeye defense. Despite Patricia having copious amounts of experience at defensive coordinator, he hasn’t coached at the college level in over 20 years, dating back to when he was a graduate assistant at Syracuse from 2001 to 2003.

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Last season saw Day go from his lowest point as Ohio State’s head coach to the top of the mountain in just under two months. After the Buckeyes lost to Michigan for the fourth straight season in late November, there were plenty of people calling for Day to be fired, even though Ohio State would go on to host Tennessee in the first round of the College Football Playoff.

Morale among fans was so low that there was a ton of uncertainty on how those in attendance for the game against the Volunteers would respond if the Buckeyes fell behind. Luckily that situation never materialized, as Ohio State would jump out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter in a game they would go on to win 42-17.

What makes Day such an interesting candidate to win Big Ten Coach of the Year this season is he’ll be coaching without nearly as much pressure as the last few years. Not only did Day lead Ohio State to a national title, he signed a contract extension shortly after, meaning he’ll be in Columbus for the foreseeable future.

With a national championship and a new contract under his belt, Day can coach a little more freely this season and maybe take some more risks than we have seen from him in the past. Now Day definitely has more margin for error than he did last season, when it looked like the season was destined to be a failure after the Buckeyes didn’t beat Michigan and were left out of the Big Ten Championship Game.

Day should get some bonus points for everything he had to go through from late November to February last year. The loss to Michigan, the magical playoff run, losing not only his offensive and defensive coordinators, but also offensive line coach Justin Frye, navigating the transfer portal as well as high school recruiting, as well as getting ready for spring practices, which felt like they began about four minutes after last season ended.

No other coach has had to deal with so much in such a short period of time since it was the first season of college football with a 12-team playoff. There was no handbook prior to last year on how to get through a 16-game college football season while balancing everything else.

I’m not saying Curt Cignetti wasn’t deserving for what he did last season in his first year at Indiana, since he deserved recognition for leading the Hoosiers to their best season in school history. In 2023, David Braun was thrust into a tough situation at Northwestern when he replaced Pat Fitzgerald at head coach on short notice after a hazing scandal cost the former Northwestern linebacker his job.

At some point though Ohio State has to stop being penalized when it comes to the Coach of the Year award just because they are the best team in the conference. Sure, it’s no secret the Buckeyes have accumulated the most talent. They also have the most targets on their back since everyone is looking to knock off one of the top college football programs in the country.

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If Day and Ohio State are able to beat Michigan and make it to the Big Ten Championship Game this year, it feels like it’ll almost be impossible to keep the Coach of the Year award in the conference away from Day. The Buckeyes aren’t really seen as runaway favorites this season since Penn State returns a ton of talent in their backfield.

There are more questions than answers with Ohio State this year since they’ll have a new starting quarterback, two new running backs, as well as a pretty green defensive line. If Day is able to go back-to-back with this team, he is free to coach the Buckeyes for as long as he wants to.

In the end does it really matter if Day wins Big Ten Coach of the Year? Aside from the contract bonus and the recognition for a job well done, Day and the Buckeyes have bigger goals this season. I’m sure the voters in the Big Ten will find some coach this year to give the award to who has a better story than Day because they resurrected a program that had been struggling for a while.

Buckeye Nation knows they have one of the top coaches in college football, and even though it has been trendy to call for Ohio State to move on from Day at times over the last couple of years, it’s hard to imagine the program finding someone better than who is leading their program right now.

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