When Ryan Day became Ohio State’s head coach after Urban Meyer announced his retirement, he made it clear that he and his family understood the expectations that come with the job.
This is THE Ohio State University. Expectations are to win the national championship every season. How does that impact the leadership of the man in charge?
I’ll say this: Day is the leader every college football program should want in today’s college football.
Day combines demanding excellence with a deft touch for leading
young men. Very few coaches can do that, but Day can. It’s what separates him from almost every other head coach in college football.
In today’s landscape in the sport, leading 18-to-22-year-olds is harder than it has ever been. There are already enough stressors on them being in college and playing the game of football, not to mention at one of the nation’s premier programs. Add in the transfer portal and NIL, and they need guidance more than ever.
They don’t need to be coddled, though. They need a leader in their lives with that deft combination Day has. Every Buckeyes player has that in their head coach.
Multiple times during Saturday’s game against Maryland, I noticed Day wasn’t happy with a player. At one point, it looked like he wasn’t happy with Julian Sayin. Even against Maryland, Day was staying true to the standards he demands of his players.
He knows how to strike the right tone and chords with his team. That’s the mark of a true leader.
In today’s college football, old-school, fiery, demanding leaders are out. You can still demand accountability, but you can’t be the fiery, hard-headed coaches like Nick Saban was — watch the Saban documentary on ESPN, and you’ll see what I mean.
Ryan Day has the right amount of old-school in him while also embracing new-school core values and virtues that should be part of the program.
Being the head coach at Ohio State comes with as much pressure as any job in the country, in any sport. Day’s leadership style perfectly fits the role in this day and age of college football.
You know what else I love? Whenever FOX, NBC, or any other network broadcasts an Ohio State game, I see Day and the players walking through the tunnel before the game. It looks like a family, and Day is leading it into battle. That’s powerful.
With all of the chaos that can ensue in college football, Day’s steady hand has kept the Buckeyes among the nation’s best programs. The Buckeyes were always going to be, but it’s still impressive how consistent they’ve been through Day’s first seven-plus seasons.
Through 100 games, Day’s record is 87-13. That’s pretty darn impressive in an era of high turnover, even at the highest levels of college football.
Day always has the Buckeyes ready to go into battle. It doesn’t matter if it’s Indiana or Maryland. Day demands a standard of excellence while also understanding who he is leading. That’s why players buy into him. That’s why Day has had the success he has had at Ohio State. It’s his leadership.
Ohio State fans can question a lot of things about Day. The Day I saw on the sideline against Maryland held players accountable and upheld the high standards that come with being the head coach and playing for Ohio State.
Players trust him. They trust him to hold them accountable even against an overmatched team. It’s why the Buckeyes can go into Indiana and win on Saturday.
The standard will always remain the standard. Day understands who he is leading, and that matters. It’s why every college football program should aspire to have a leader like him.
Day’s leadership was vindicated in the Ohio State’s run to the national championship in 2024. Out of something so catastrophic that could have ended his tenure as the Buckeyes’ head coach, Day put his leadership on full display. That’s a testament to his resilience and his resolve.
Ohio State needed that at the time, and Day delivered. The players followed suit that season, and this year’s players trust him the same way those players did.
Even though the Buckeyes are looking up at Indiana going into this weekend, with the Hoosiers the reigning Big Ten champions, there’s every reason to believe Ohio State can go into Bloomington and win.
It starts at the top, with how Ryan Day is leading this program.
