College football head coach rankings: Dabo or Saban? Who is the best young coach?
By Dante Pryor
- Career Record (2 seasons): 17-1
- Conference Titles: 1
- National Championships: 0
Though Ohio State head coach Ryan Day does not have the resume that the other coaches on this list have, there is little doubt that he is one of the best coaches in college football right now. In his first season at Ohio State, Day led the Buckeyes to a Big Ten Championship and the College Football playoff.
Had Justin Fields had two good knees against Clemson, who knows what would have happened? Even with a limited resume, Day deserves to be on this list. He has continued the tradition of the machine that is Ohio State. It seems no matter who coaches the program; there is little drop off from the previous coach.
Day, a Manchester, New Hampshire native, has taken recruiting to the next level. Meyer went to Ohio State and took recruiting nationally at a level not seen in the Big Ten. Day has leveled-up their recruiting.
Urban Meyer’s recruiting classes were all in the top five except for 2015. Meyer brought speed to the Big Ten and there were able to compete with the SEC for the first time in a long time. Day took that to the next level.
The Buckeyes did suffer some de-commits in 2019, but they were right back in the top 5 in 2020. They are ranked No. 1 in 2021. Looking at who he has targeted these cycles, Day is committed to throwing the football.
Day has been a bit of a nomad during his coaching career. Though he never stayed in one place too long, he received hight praise everywhere he went. One of the factors in Day landing at Ohio State was the work he did at Florida as a grad assistant and at Boston College, where he was the wide receivers coach.