Ohio State head coach Ryan Day can take a sigh of relief after the Buckeyes defeated the Notre Dame Fighting Irish 34-23 in the national championship. After falling flat against the Michigan Wolverines, the Buckeyes focused in and captured their first national title since 2014. But what’s next for Day?
Will Ryan Day Ever Leave Ohio State for the NFL?
Among the praise and kudos, questions about the future arose. More specifically, would Day ever entertain the notion of leaving Ohio State for the NFL? Steven Means of cleveland.com posed the question to the coach, and here’s how he responded:
“I would never wanna say, ‘I would never consider it,’ because you don’t know how things can change. I was in the NFL for two years and had a great experience there, and it’s a great league. But right now, the impact we can make on young people is, to me, more impactful in college. That’s why I got into this game is to do that, and that’s what I want to do.”
Day outlined the want to make a more profound impact on college rather than the professional level. In a way, you can peer into his perspective. In Columbus, he oversees one of the five most nationally recognized programs in America.
Additionally, by virtue of the school’s ability to recruit, Ohio State will always contend for the Big Ten title. No draft exists, and down years don’t occur for a coach who can lay claim to an 87.5% win rate.
While free agency in the form of the transfer portal poses problems, no salary cap exists, and teams can open their wallets and spend to their collective heart’s content. Day makes $10.5 million per season, a mark that will probably increase due to winning a title.
His voice is the singular one concerning college football in the state of Ohio. Stories of players at Division III schools running to watch the Buckeyes play are not fiction. The area from Chillicothe to Cleveland is in his domain.
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As the coach mentioned, he spent two seasons in the NFL (2015 and 2016) as an assistant under the tutelage of his current offensive coordinator, Chip Kelly. One of the biggest attractions for Day to leave the comfort of his scarlet kingdom is the desperation of an NFL owner. No one owner exemplifies that level of distress better than Jerral Wayne Jones, Sr.
Yes, Jerry Jones wants to win. He also desires to keep the Dallas Cowboys at the top of the Google search list. Jones, already known for a quick trigger and irrational management style, would throw a bank truck filled with cash at Day. The Cowboys enter their 29 year without hoisting a Lombardi Trophy.
Sporting a 1-4 record against hated rival Michigan provides Day with an incentive to stay. To leave while the record sits underwater would leave the absolute worst taste in the collective mouths of fans, players, and alums.
On top of that, Michigan would hold that winning record over Ohio State’s head forever. It would stand as an eternal footnote to Day’s tenure, a blemish that no makeup conceal.
Day left the door open for a return to the NFL, this time as a head coach. Smartly, he didn’t shut down that option, as it could provide contract negotiation leverage when the time arises.
Deeper than that, Day changed the narrative not just around the program but his own personal vibe. Why not stay, cement the legacy, and continue to challenge for titles, eclipsing the careers of his predecessors?
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