Listen, we’re not shy about sharing our criticisms of Ryan Day around here. We’ve done it again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and you get the point. We’ve been nothing short of militant in our disparagement of Ohio State’s head coach since the day this website was founded. It permeates into everything about this site’s existence from the articles to the podcasts to the boards and to our social media presence.
Our very brand and identity has become criticizing Ryan Day. And generally, we’ve happily embraced that role, because nobody else seems to be doing it.
But today, I’m going to flip the script on that a bit. Because lost in the barrage of criticism is the fact that there are many things about Ryan Day that I genuinely like and appreciate, and I think that he has actually improved Ohio State in a lot of ways since he took over.
So in an ocean of grievances, here are five thinks to like about Ryan Day.
He’s Elevated Ohio State’s Offense
It’s difficult to overstate just how much of an impact Ryan Day has had on the offensive side of the ball since he was hired at Ohio State. It started with the immediate jump from the anemic 2016 offense to one of the best offenses in the country in 2017, and it’s carried over since then.
For context, Ohio State’s offense finished the 2016 season ranked No. 32 in SP+. Since then, the Buckeyes never been lower than No. 4 (except, well, this past season, thanks to Kyle McCord).
- 2017: #3
- 2018: #4
- 2019: #4
- 2020: #2
- 2021: #1
- 2022: #4
- 2023: #34
With the exception of the 2023 season (again, shoutout Kyle McCord – it’s pretty jarring in this context), Ohio State has had the best and most consistent offense in college football since Ryan Day took over. And that is not something to take lightly.
He’s Produced the Best Quarterback Play in School History
The offense has obviously improved dramatically since Ryan Day arrived at Ohio State, and the biggest reason for that is a dramatic improvement in quarterback play. Under Day, Ohio State has produced the best string of quarterbacks in program history, by quite a wide margin.
While recruiting has undeniably been a big reason for this success (more on that later), Day got great seasons out of both J.T. Barrett and Dwayne Haskins, neither of whom he recruited.
Barrett’s big jump in production from 2016 to 2017 tells you that Day’s impact on quarterbacks is more than just recruiting elite players.
Following Barrett, the next five years can pretty much be described as “the best quarterback in program history replacing the best quarterback in program history.”
Dwayne Haskins toasted Ohio State’s single-season record books in 2018, then Day brought in Justin Fields who immediately emerged as the most all-around talented quarterback the program had ever seen. Then C.J. Stroud came along and had two Heisman-caliber seasons, went No. 2 overall in the NFL Draft and appears to have finally broken Ohio State’s curse of not ever producing a successful NFL quarterback.
Kyle McCord was an obvious step back – which is concerning, considering he was a five-star prospect hand-picked by Ryan Day – but Day has turned Ohio State into QBU since he arrived in Columbus. And with Julian Sayin and Air Noland on the roster and Tavien St. Clair following after, the future is looking pretty damn bright too.
Recruiting at Skill Positions Has Never Been Better
When Urban Meyer retired, one of the biggest concerns was whether or not Ryan Day could continue to have the same success on the recruiting trail that Ohio State fans came to enjoy during the seven seasons under Meyer. I think even the most optimistic fans expected at least some drop-off, but that really hasn’t happened.
Ohio State has been relatively lacking at a few positions under Day, especially in the trenches on both sides of the ball, but they’ve never had a recruiting class rank outside of the top five nationally, and recruiting has never been better at offensive skill positions like quarterback, wide receiver, and even running back.
Under Ryan Day, Ohio State has signed *seven* quarterbacks rated higher than any quarterback that ever signed under Urban Meyer: Justin Fields, C.J. Stroud, Quinn Ewers, Kyle McCord, Devin Brown, Air Noland, and Julian Sayin.
The same goes at wide receiver. Even if we give Meyer credit for Garrett Wilson (who signed during that transition class), Day has still signed Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Julian Fleming, Emeka Egbuka, and Jeremiah Smith – all of whom were higher-rated prospects than Wilson. If you exclude Wilson, Carnell Tate, Brandon Inniss also fit that description.
Even at running back, Ohio State landed TreVeyon Henderson, who is a higher-rated prospect than any running back that signed under Urban Meyer. And Quinshon Judkins can probably be thrown in there too, even if comparing transfer players to high school recruits isn’t exactly apples to apples.
It would certainly be nice if Ohio State started bringing in this sort of star power in the trenches as well, but the improvement at skill positions is undeniable.
He Wins the Games He’s Supposed to Win
Famously, Ryan Day hasn’t won much of significance during his five seasons as Ohio State’s head coach. However, he does generally win all of the games he’s *supposed* to win.
In his five seasons with the Buckeyes, Ryan Day has a record of 56-8. Those eight losses have been against Michigan (thrice), Oregon, Georgia, Alabama, Clemson, and Missouri, with the latter four coming in bowl games. Outside of that, Ohio State has been dominant and has really never even struggled in games against inferior competition.
And you know, a large part of me thinks he shouldn’t get credit for this. I mean, by definition, those are the games he’s “supposed” to win, so why would we praise him for it? But the fact is, we couldn’t always count on this from Urban Meyer.
Meyer’s Ohio State team cost itself a College Football Playoff appearance in 2017 and 2018 with losses to Iowa and Purdue, respectively. And as magical as the 2014 run was, that team wouldn’t have even had to stress on selection day had they handled a subpar Virginia Tech team at home back in September. And that’s not even mentioning a handful of closer-than-they-should-be games that Day’s teams haven’t really dealt with.
Obviously, winning games against inferior opponents doesn’t get you any real recognition – nor should it – but there is something nice not having to worry about the local team ever shitting the bed on a random Saturday against Rutgers. And that wasn’t always the case in the Meyer or Jim Tressel years.
RYAN DAY SEEMS TO BE A GOOD GUY THE PLAYERS LOVE
He Seems to be a Good Guy the Players Love
I do not personally have a relationship with Ryan Day, but I know plenty of people who do. I also know plenty of people who have had personal relationships with Urban Meyer. The way they each talk about the two coaches is wildly different.
Ryan Day is, by all accounts, a great guy, a great father, a great husband, and a person who is beloved by his players, colleagues and staff members. You can tell that by the way the team talks about him and each other and by the genuine emphasis on things like “the brotherhood.” He is not an asshole. He is not a despot. He is not problematic.
He’s not the type of guy that’s going to get involved in some sort of personal scandal. He’s not going to do anything to embarrass the program during the offseason. He’s not going to be involved in some unsavory headline or cover-up of some unsavory headline.
He is also a champion for mental health and not just in a “this is good optics in 2024” way. He has been open and transparent about his own mental health battles as well as the mental health battles that claimed the life of his father when he was just nine years old. In fact, just last week, Day and his wife, Nina, were honored with an award for their work to promote mental health.
Without knowing him personally, I am fully convinced that Ryan Day is a great human being who is compassionate and kind.
I understand that does not mean a whole lot of the football team hasn’t lived up to his own expectations over the past three years. But all else equal, he is a guy I would be proud to represent my alma mater.
Those are five nice things about Ryan Day. Now we I can freely pick up my pitchfork again when the time comes.