Ohio State’s MVPs made it clear why Buckeyes never felt the heat on Ryan Day

A lot of people doubted whether Ryan Day was the right coach for Ohio State. It was fair to call his job into question after a fourth consecutive loss to Michigan. While people outside the locker room questioned Day, the players kept faith. 

Following Ohio State’s national championship, the program’s first since 2014, quarterback Will Howard and linebacker Cody Simon talked about how they always believe in Day, per an On3 story. 

Simon recalled days he would be working out and seeing Day studying film in his office. Howard talked about how Day gave him an opportunity when all seemed lost. This was a team that knew they were only going to be good in the College Football Playoff because of Day. 

That’s something us outsiders left out. Recency bias took over. It was fair to question if Day could ever beat Michigan. But to question if he could lead Ohio State to a national championship, well there weren’t a lot of facts to back that up. 

Ryan Day was always the right coach for Ohio State even if we doubted how good of a coach he was

Day entered the season 56-8 overall as a coach at Ohio State, three-straight 11 win seasons and two College Football Playoff appearances. Back in 2020, Day appeared in his first national championship game. 

While he had a lot of success most coaches dream of, the one game that held his job in question was the Michigan game. Since the game was canceled due to COVID in 2020, Ohio State hasn’t beat Michigan. 

Because of that, we felt he wasn’t the right person. In actuality, though, who else was going to win like Day did at Ohio State? Who could the Buckeyes have brought in that would have now five seasons with 11 or more wins?

Day was always the right person for the job. Look at how long it took Jim Harbaugh to finally beat Ohio State. His job was called into question and look how that turned out. He ended his tenure with three-straight wins – even though Sherrone Moore coached the 2023 game due to Harbaugh’s suspension – and he won a national championship. 

The Ohio State and Michigan jobs are tied to The Game. But what you accomplish in that game isn’t the only determining factor in if you’re the right person for the job. Day coached in the CFP like his job security depended on it. 

And it worked out exactly like it needed to. So Howard and Simon backing their coach shouldn’t be a surprise. It shouldn’t even be questioned. Because they knew no one was going to rally Ohio State after a devastating loss to win a national championship like Day. 

Now we see exactly why Ross Bjork was against sending Day to Alcatraz, despite the nudge from the “lunatic fringe”. In the worst of times is when the best of moments can occur. For Day, nothing was darker than losing 13-10 against Michigan and then the post-game brawl that followed after. 

Everything else that followed was because Day was the only coach that could have brought Ohio State from the dead.