ATLANTA — Watching Ohio State this last month in the College Football Playoff was like watching an aircraft carrier turn on a dime. How can one coach be so vilified and then legendary in the same seven-week period? Ain’t that America — or Ohio State.
Maybe both.
“Everyone is saying you’re wonderful and you’re really not,” former coach Jim Tressel surmised after Ohio State won its ninth national championship with a 34-23 win over Ohio State. Tressel, of course, was speaking from experience through the lens of what current coach Ryan Day and his family go through on a weekly basis in Columbus. “The next day they’re saying you’re horrible and you’re really not.”
“That’s what happens when you’re the Ohio State head coach,” defensive back Denzel Burke said. “We’re the most hated program but the most loved program.”
Yes, sometimes in the same holiday season.
It goes deeper than that. Gene Smith is the now-retired AD who elevated Day — a young offensive coordinator with no head coaching experience — after the tumultuous last days of Urban Meyer. Day, whose first full season was in 2019, has made the CFP four of six seasons and is 70-10 all0-time.
Afterward on the field, Smith explained his reasoning while taking what seemed like a veiled shot at Meyer.
“This is a great program with great culture and good kids. That hasn’t always been our case,” Smith said. “You don’t see these kids getting in trouble. You don’t read abut the police anymore. All that is done …
“[Day] had a high football IQ … He really cares about the players. We needed that.”
Among FBS coaches with a minimum of 50 games under their belt, Day is now second only to Knute Rockne in winning percentage. He could stay and build an empire in Columbus, if he wants to.
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There have been many references to the famous team meeting the Tuesday after the Michigan loss. Team meetings happen all the time. This one took in a major way and it’s a reflection of the man in charge.
“I’ve told him he’s a great leader. He’s built for this,” said Chip Kelly, who coached Day as offensive coordinator at New Hampshire and is now on his staff in the same role. “He’s prepared for it his whole life and there is adversity he’s going to face. No one gets through scot free and clean. But can you grow from it?
“I said it … the other day, ‘You lost that game to the Team Up North and that could be a tombstone or that could be a steppingstone. Ryan changed the dynamic for the players to look at it in a different way.”
That different way was choking down that Michigan loss and realizing the Buckeyes could win a national championship without so much as playing for its conference championship.
Still, Day is a guy who holds things in. You can tell by his personality. It’s just the way he is. The heartbreak didn’t start with the Michigan game. It only continued it.
After the game, Day referenced the CFP semifinal here two years ago. The Buckeyes blew two big leads to Georgia. He lost his best receiver, Marvin Harrison Jr., to a much cussed and discussed blow by a defender that might have been targeting.
A 50-yard kick that would have won the game sailed wide left.
Turns out sometimes that tombstone is a steppingstone.
“I understand now,” Day said. “It all makes sense. And here we are. I couldn’t feel better.”
