In college football, you can win 10 games every season and rank in the top 10, but if you aren't beating your rivals, your seat can get hot fast. Just ask Ryan Day of Ohio State.
The Buckeyes head coach is 66–10 with two Big Ten titles to his name. He has never finished outside the top 10 in the rankings. Yet many in Columbus and beyond would fire him at this very moment if they could. Losing to Michigan four years in a row is a fireable offense.
A whole lot of fans and media don't see the point of persisting with Day, who is the coaching equivalent of "always the bridesmaid, never the bride." However, it looks like the Buckeye boosters feel different, according to writer and journalist John U. Bacon.
Ryan Day's buyout is big enough to deter Ohio State boosters
"Apparently [Ryan] Day's buy-out is going viral on Ohio media. It's $37M, and insiders tell me OSU boosters have no appetite for it, with NIL demands, and the like," Bacon tweeted after Saturday's game.
Apparently Day's buy-out is going viral on Ohio media.
— John U. Bacon (@Johnubacon) December 1, 2024
It's $37M, and insiders tell me OSU boosters have no appetite for it, with NIL demands, and the like. FYI.
It's hard to know how seriously to take Bacon's reporting, given his Michigan ties. An Ohio State source confirming would be preferable. Still, it tracks since $37 million is a lot of money and most schools aren't bold enough to do what Texas A&M did by eating Jimbo Fisher's $76-million buyout. Moreover, Fisher was 45-25 at A&M. It would be even tougher to justify a massive buyout for a coach who has never lost more than two games in a season.
The trouble is, only one of those seasons included a victory over the hated rivals. Nor does Day have a national title to subdue the growing crowd of villagers with their torches and pitchforks out.
So Day is likely to be spared but the criticism will keep on coming until he does one of two things: Beat Michigan and/or win the College Football Playoff.