Ryan Day

Ryan Day's four straight losses to Michigan left him on the hot seat, at least with Ohio State fans.

It sounds as though Buckeyes' athletic director Ross Bjork sees things a bit differently, however, telling the Morning Juice show on 97.1 The Fan on Thursday that he "absolutely" expects Day to return in 2025 (h/t Kari Anderson of Yahoo Sports).

"Coach Day is awesome," he added. "He's great to work with. He totally gets it. He loves being a Buckeye. And so we're going to support him at the highest level throughout."

Day's tenure has divided opinion.

The positives are that he's gone 66-10 in parts of seven seasons, won two Big Ten titles and reached the College Football Playoff four times.

The negatives are that he's just 1-4 against Michigan, has yet to win a national title and there remains a prevailing belief among many Ohio State fans that Day's decision-making and in-game management fails to maximize the immense talent the Buckeyes regularly have on the roster.

Is it fair that Ryan Day is judged off of one game per year as the Ohio State coach?

"It's part of the job responsibility to beat them."

Kyle McCord on how Ohio State fans treat the rivalry game with Michigan.

WATCH: https://t.co/OhlrjLB4sT pic.twitter.com/2Dkuhy32Nx

— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) December 6, 2024

.@CFBHeather and @finebaum both think Ryan Day needs a deep playoff run to keep his job 😳 pic.twitter.com/oPtvTnb3gQ

— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) December 3, 2024

I just do not know how Ohio State can keep Ryan Day after losing to Michigan for the fourth straight year ... unless the Buckeyes win a national championship.

— Nicole Auerbach (@NicoleAuerbach) November 30, 2024

This feels like Ryan Day's equivalent of John Calipari losing to Oakland. Whether it's by his choice or someone else's, the guy is going to need an exit plan after this. There's no coming back from it.

— Stewart Mandel (@slmandel) November 30, 2024

That came to a head after yet another loss to Michigan, this time against an unranked Wolverines team. But Bjork, in his first year as Ohio State's athletic director, isn't hitting the panic button.

"We're still breathing. We're still alive. The season's not over. The book is not closed," he said. "We've got to have confidence. I mean, Ohio State should be confident every single day. We're Ohio State. But we also have to make sure we stay to our values, and we stick to what we believe in. And so to me, it's the process as much as it is about the end result, and if the process is right, the end result will take care of itself."

"If you get fixated on the end result and not have the process fully baked every time, you're going to lose," he added. "The mindset's going to lose because you're only fixated on one thing. And so what we have to do is this whole 'championship or bust' mentality, you want that as the goal, but it has to be about the process. To me, we've got to maybe change some conversations a little bit. I think we need to maybe just approach things a little bit differently."

It's the right perspective for an athletic director to hold, but it's also hard to convince fans to care about process if the results they expect aren't coming to fruition. Day has kept Ohio State consistently relevant and competitive, but whether he can take the program over the top and lead them to a national title for the first time since 2014 is another question entirely.

Former Ohio State head football coach Urban Meyer denied Thursday that he has any interest in returning as head coach of the Buckeyes.

In a statement released via Tim May of Lettermen Row, Meyer emphasized that he does not want to coach, and he noted that he has "full confidence" in current OSU head coach Ryan Day and his staff:

This from @CoachUrbanMeyer pic.twitter.com/JgxxVrhrGA

— Tim May (@TIM_MAYsports) December 5, 2024

Speaking this week on the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show (h/t Brad Crawford of 247Sports), WKYC-TV anchor Jay Crawford said Meyer would have interest in returning to coach at Ohio State if Day were to get fired at the end of the season.

Meyer, 60, spent seven seasons as head coach at Ohio State from 2012 to 2018, going 83-9 and winning three Big Ten championships and one national title.

After retiring at the end of the 2018 season for health reasons, Meyer spent some time as a college football analyst before returning to the sidelines at the NFL level in 2021 as head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Meyer did not even last one full season in Jacksonville, as he was fired after a 2-11 start to the campaign.

In conjunction with Meyer's 2018 retirement, Day was named the new head coach at Ohio State, earning a promotion from the offensive coordinator position he held in 2017 and 2018.

Day has accrued an impressive 66-10 record as head coach of the Buckeyes, winning two Big Ten titles and the 2019 Big Ten Coach of the Year Award.

However, the Buckeyes are just 1-3 in the College Football Playoff under Day's guidance, and they have not won a national championship.

Perhaps even more damning than that is the fact that Ohio State has now lost four consecutive games to chief rival Michigan, including a shocking 13-10 home defeat last weekend.

The Buckeyes were heavily favored to end their three-game losing streak against the Wolverines last week, as they entered the game ranked No. 2 in the nation with a 10-2 record, while Michigan was just 6-5.

Instead, the Wolverines prevailed in a sloppy, turnover-laden game, leaving Ohio State out of the Big Ten Championship Game.

The Buckeyes are still essentially a lock for the College Football Playoff as the No. 6 team in the nation, but if they don't make a deep run, calls for a coaching change from the Ohio State fanbase are likely to get even louder.

Ryan Day has failed to accomplish a single one of Ohio State's primary goals since the 2020 season, but he doesn't believe his tenure with the Buckeyes will end after the 2024 campaign.

"Yes," he told reporters Wednesday when asked if he believes he will be back next year.

"This is a wonderful place," he continued. "I have one of the best jobs in America. I'm disappointed more than anybody. We'll continue to move and figure out what it is and overcome this obstacle."

While there has always been a portion of Ohio State fans who have been vocally frustrated with Day's performance as head coach since taking over for Urban Meyer, Saturday's loss to Michigan felt like something of a tipping point nationally.

His job status and potential firing became a major talking point across various outlets after one of the most stunning losses in program history.

Everything was set up for Day to end the three-game losing streak against the hated Michigan Wolverines. The game was at home against a 6-5 team that was missing two of its best players in cornerback Will Johnson and tight end Colston Loveland.

The only real advantage the Wolverines had on paper was their strong defensive line against Ohio State's injured offensive line, but Day and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly chose to run the ball 26 times at an average of three yards per carry.

Star wide receiver Jeremiah Smith had just two targets in the second half, and the Buckeyes didn't take advantage of their skill on the outside.

A fourth straight loss to Michigan after winning 17 of the previous 19 in the series does not sit well in Columbus, Ohio. Neither does failing to even reach the Big Ten Championship Game for a fourth consecutive season.

Ohio State's primary goals every year are to defeat Michigan, win the conference and compete for a national title. It still has a chance to do the last one with the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff field, but the last time Day did either of the first two was back in the COVID-shortened 2020 season when he won the Big Ten championship after the Michigan game was canceled.

He sounded like someone who expects to be back in 2025, which should, in theory, at least help the Buckeyes in continuity with immediate recruiting and transfer portal concerns.

But his seat is only going to get hotter if he doesn't start delivering the lofty results that are expected at a program of Ohio State's stature.

If Ohio State decides to fire Ryan Day because he cannot figure out how to beat archrival Michigan even when the Wolverines are a mediocre team on their way to a mediocre bowl, it is going to cost some money.

As Austin Curtright of USA Today relayed Saturday, Ohio State would owe Day a $37.3 million buyout if it chose to fire him by Sunday. The fifth-highest-paid coach in college football is making $10.02 million in total pay this season.

On the surface, some fans of other programs might wonder why the idea of Day being fired is even being brought up.

After all, he is 66-10 in his six years as the Buckeyes' head coach. This season will likely mark the fourth time in those six years he led the Scarlet and Gray to the College Football Playoff, and they made the national championship game during the 2020 campaign.

However, he isn't accomplishing any of the program's goals even with a sparkling overall record.

Ohio State has three primary goals going into every season: beat Michigan, win the Big Ten championship and compete for the national title.

Yet the Buckeyes haven't beaten the Wolverines since Day's first season as head coach in 2019 and have now lost four in a row following Saturday's defeat. They haven't won the Big Ten since the 2020 campaign, which was the same season the rivalry game against Michigan was canceled because of COVID concerns.

Meanwhile, the Wolverines won the Big Ten in each of the last three seasons and won the national title during the 2023 campaign, although they are still under NCAA investigation for a wide-ranging sign-stealing scandal that just so happened to occur during those years.

Ohio State dominated the Michigan rivalry for decades during the Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer eras before Day took over. Yet it is now staring at a four-game losing streak in the head-to-head matchups after failing to take advantage of a home game against a 7-5 squad that was missing star players Will Johnson and Colston Loveland.

There was never going to be an easier opportunity for Day to end his losing streak against his hated rival, yet he still managed to lose while breaking out a staggeringly poor gameplan that included 26 running plays even though Michigan's biggest and perhaps only advantage on paper was its defensive line against Ohio State's banged-up offensive line.

Even though the Buckeyes are almost assuredly heading to the CFP, the sting of Saturday's loss will linger for the foreseeable future for the fanbase and players. And it might not cost Day his job, but it will lead to even more question marks about his status.

Former Ohio State defensive back Tyreke Johnson called out head coach Ryan Day on Saturday.

In a post on X, Johnson claimed that Day "didn't say a word to the team" at halftime of the Buckeyes' 52-24 loss to Alabama in the 2021 College Football Playoff National Championship matchup and blamed his coaching staff instead.

Y’all can say I’m hating or whatever y’all want but. I knew coach Day was not the answer when we played in the national championship against Bama and at half time he didn’t say a word to the team just went in the office and started to blame other coaches.

— tyreke johnson (@Im_showtime_) November 30, 2024

Ohio State hasn't earned an opportunity to compete for a national title since, with Day's team suffering a surprising 13-10 upset loss to Michigan on Saturday that effectively eliminated the Buckeyes from Big Ten title game contention.

Johnson was with Ohio State in 2019 and 2020, registering eight tackles in 11 total appearances. He transferred to Nebraska following his 2020 campaign, suiting up in two combined contests with the Cornhuskers from 2021-22.

While Johnson unveiled the story about Day during the CFP title game against the Crimson Tide, it wasn't his first time expressing doubts about the Buckeyes' head coach.

Following a 30-24 loss to the Wolverines in 2023, he wrote that Day has "gotta go" and he can't win a "big game" on social media.

Ryan Day gotta go. He can not win a big game. Every game he was supposed to lose or be questionable HE LOST.
buckeye fans deserves a winner. @OhioStFootball

— tyreke johnson (@Im_showtime_) November 25, 2023

Saturday's result was a disappointing result for Ohio State, to say the least, as the team's only other loss of the season was a narrow one-point defeat on the road at the hands of No. 1 Oregon on Oct. 12.

After the game against Michigan ended, a fight broke out between players on both teams once the Wolverines looked to plant their flag on the Buckeyes' logo in the middle of the field.

A fight breaks out following Michigan-Ohio State game.

(via @CFBONFOX)pic.twitter.com/wEP1ssDBYf

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 30, 2024

"Everybody wants to win this game in the worst way, and nobody wants to win it more than we do, and it's our number one goal every year," Day told reporters after the loss, per the school's official website. "When you don't do that, there's disappointment and frustration. I don't blame anybody for being upset; I'm upset more than anybody."

Ohio State took down Michigan in the annual matchup between the Big Ten programs during each season from 2012 through 2019, but the Wolverines have gained the upper hand in the rivalry as of late.

With Saturday's victory, Michigan has won four games in a row against the Buckeyes.

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day said that losing a fourth straight game to Michigan on Saturday left the Buckeyes with "a locker room full of guys that are devastated."

"This is not easy to accept, and obviously you have to take the ownership," Day told reporters after the loss. I'm the one, ultimately, that makes the final decisions on things. Felt like we were in a really good place coming into this game, I felt like we were prepared to play well in this game."

A last-second field goal by Michigan sealed a 13-10 win that damaged Ohio State's shot at the Big Ten championship game and a first-round College Football Playoff bye.

Day, who was hired as Ohio State's coach in 2019, led the Buckeyes to a 56-27 win over Michigan in Ann Arbor in his first season with the team. Since then Ohio State has been outscored by a total of 130-84 in four consecutive losses to Michigan.

"We're very disappointed," Day said on Saturday. "Never thought this would happen right here. We were expecting to win this game, and then go play in the Big 10 championship game, and neither of those things happened."

The loss ended with a skirmish after a Michigan player attempted to plant a flag at center field at Ohio Stadium.

After the game Day praised his players for their "emotion" but criticized the team's offense. Quarterback Will Howard threw an end-zone interception with a chance to take the lead in the second quarter.

WILL HOWARD IS PICKED 😳

MICHIGAN GETS SET UP FOR THE TD

(via @CFBONFOX)
pic.twitter.com/YSipTz1kIM

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 30, 2024

Overall, the Buckeyes were held to 77 rushing yards, their second-lowest total of the season, while going 6-for-16 on third downs and 1-2 on fourth down attempts.

"I thought they played with great emotion, I thought the defense played their tails off, and I thought everybody played hard," Day said. "Just the overall execution wasn't good enough, especially on offense... we couldn't control the game, in the run game just weren't efficient enough."

Day pointed to changes in the Ohio State offensive line, including the losses of starting left tackle Josh Simmons and starting center Seth McLaughlin to season-ending injury, as part of the reason for the Buckeyes' struggles in the loss.

"Some of those guys have to look at the film and figure it out, but we just couldn't seem get through to the second level on some runs, and that led to some frustration," Day said.

This latest rivalry loss was arguably the most impactful in the four-game streak. Ohio State now needs Penn State to lose to Maryland, and Indiana to lose to Purdue, in order to get a shot at the Big Ten title.

The Michigan Wolverines shocked the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday, upsetting their rival 13-10 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus.

Although Michigan entered the game just 6-5 on the season, head coach Sherrone Moore shut down the high-powered OSU offense, thus handing the Buckeyes their second loss of the campaign.

Michigan authored an 11-play, 57-yard scoring drive that took 5:28 off the clock and put the Wolverines on top with a 21-yard field goal by Dominic Zvada with 45 seconds remaining.

A 27-yard run by Michigan running back Kalel Mullings was the play of the game, as it helped put the Wolverines in field goal range:

HOW DID MULLINGS ESCAPE THIS?! 🤯@UMichFootball pic.twitter.com/SpIvRHA7e0

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) November 30, 2024

The Michigan defense stiffened once again on the ensuing drive, forcing a turnover on downs to preserve the massive upset.

With the win, the Wolverines have now been victorious in the historic rivalry known as "The Game" in four straight seasons, marking their longest winning streak since taking four in a row over Ohio State from 1988 to 1991.

Given the struggles of the OSU offense on Saturday, head coach Ryan Day and offensive coordinator Chip Kelly were widely criticized on social media:

Ryan Day is about to get himself fired because he and Chip Kelly would rather try to prove they're tougher than Michigan in the trenches, rather than just throwing to one of his 237 NFL wide receivers

What a world.

— Aaron Torres (@Aaron_Torres) November 30, 2024

Ryan Day and Chip Kelly looking at their roster and remembering they have 3 NFL receivers after barely throwing the ball the first half pic.twitter.com/S1nPhHNUDS

— Jordan (@JWurminator) November 30, 2024

*Ohio State having the best WR room in the country and Michigan missing their best CB*

Chip Kelly and Ryan Day: pic.twitter.com/74FywpHsNX

— FanDuel Sportsbook (@FDSportsbook) November 30, 2024

Ryan Day is trying to prove how TOUGH his team is instead of just trying to win the damn football game.

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) November 30, 2024

"What were you thinking with the playcalling?"

Chip Kelly and Ryan Day: pic.twitter.com/EdaL5Krqpz

— FanDuel Sportsbook (@FDSportsbook) November 30, 2024

https://twitter.com/JT_Roegner/status/1862942595665526823

Ryan day gonna take OSU to the playoff and get fired. And he prob should be fired tbh

— (AND STILL) KING OF THE NORTH 🦁 Tom Clos (@ClassyHawkeye) November 30, 2024

The most embarrassing head coaching tenure in Ohio State history?

Four-straight losses to Michigan, no B1G titles since 2020, 2-4 in bowl games and a 1-3 record in the CFP.

But it’s great he beat up on Purdue and Iowa to pad that overall record!!

— Land-Grant Holy Land (@Landgrant33) November 30, 2024

If i send you this it means I lost as a -1350 ML favorite pic.twitter.com/OtJADryVka

— br_betting (@br_betting) November 30, 2024

Ohio State attempted to establish the run throughout the game to no avail, as the team rushed for just 77 yards. Quarterback Will Howard struggled in his own right, going 19-of-33 for 175 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.

Overall, the Wolverines held Ohio State to 252 total yards, and they managed to win the game despite quarterback Davis Warren going just 9-of-16 for 62 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions.

With Saturday's loss, the Buckeyes are likely out of the Big Ten Championship Game. Undefeated Oregon has already clinched a spot in the game, meaning a win by either Penn State or Indiana on Saturday will knock OSU out.

While Ohio State is not guaranteed a spot in the College Football Playoff after its second loss of the season, it is somewhat difficult to envision the Buckeyes going from No. 2 in the CFP standings to outside the top 12.

However, even if the Buckeyes are part of the 12-team CFP field, many expressed their belief on social media that they are a fraud incapable of challenging for a national championship:

Ohio State, fraud fraud fraud!

— Tim “Get Lost” Rodgers (@TomThompso23335) November 30, 2024

19.5 point favorite. What a fraud.

— Bucks070222 (@Buckeyes0331) November 30, 2024

Ohio State should not be in the playoffs they're terrible they don't belong in the playoffs

— GPM⛩️AGA⛩️ILITIA (@GPM316) November 30, 2024

Ohio State should not be in the playoffs over this performance

— Mets Brother (@DrMurphPhd) November 30, 2024

if we are being honest osu shouldnt even make the playoff after this

— Faaris 🦭 (@373Sprite) November 30, 2024

Losing at home yo a team that had much less talent than you and was without their 2 best players

Woof

— Dan Orlovsky (@danorlovsky7) November 30, 2024

After perhaps the most embarrassing loss of the Ryan Day era, Ohio State must now sit, wait and hope that it is granted a spot in the College Football Playoff and a chance to play for the national title.

Even if that does happen, the Buckeyes will face a tough road since their chance at a first-round bye is now gone.

As for the Wolverines, they have struggled through a tough season after going undefeated and winning it all last season, but they got head coach Sherrone Moore his signature win on Saturday.

Although Michigan won't play in a significant bowl due to a 7-5 record, beating Ohio State still made it a worthwhile season for the program, and it provides the Wolverines with a huge building block for next season.

While Jim Harbaugh's Los Angeles Chargers are 6-3 in his first season after making the jump back to the NFL from Michigan, that reportedly isn't inspiring much interest in other notable coaching names from the college football ranks.

Conor Orr of Sports Illustrated reported Thursday he doesn't "see there being an appetite for college coaches at the NFL level" during the upcoming coaching carousel.

He specifically mentioned USC head coach Lincoln Riley and Ohio State head coach Ryan Day as names that aren't generating much "excitement" and added he isn't aware of any "seriousness" to the possibility of Deion Sanders taking over for the Dallas Cowboys.

There is a major difference between Harbaugh and some of these other college coaches when it comes to the NFL.

The leader of the Chargers was formerly an NFL head coach before he took the job at Michigan and found plenty of success. Harbaugh went 44-19-1 in four seasons as the coach of the San Francisco 49ers from 2011 through 2014 and led the team to three straight NFC Championship Games and a Super Bowl.

A track record like that was surely appealing to the Chargers and other teams that were interested in him last offseason, and Los Angeles jumped at the opportunity to add him.

Riley and Day are both known as offensive innovators who have coached the likes of C.J. Stroud, Baker Mayfield, Caleb Williams and Justin Fields, among others. They also have experienced plenty of success at the collegiate level, although Riley's USC program has trended in the wrong direction of late.

The Trojans went 8-5 last season despite having 2024 No. 1 overall pick Williams under center and are just 4-5 in their first season in the Big Ten in 2024. Perhaps that has tempered any interest from the NFL.

As for Day, he is a sparkling 64-9 during seven seasons at Ohio State but has drawn criticism from outside and inside his own fanbase for falling short of the program's overall goals in recent years. The Buckeyes have lost three straight to rival Michigan and haven't won the Big Ten title since the 2020 campaign.

Perhaps he can change that this season with a team that is No. 2 in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, but it doesn't seem like there are many NFL teams knocking down his door at this stage.