Forde-Yard Dash: How Hot Is Ryan Day’s Seat at Ohio State?

Plus, taking a look around the coaching landscape with suggestions for power-conference openings.

Ohio State Buckeyes coach Ryan Day is 1–4 against the rival Michigan Wolverines after another debacle last weekend. / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Forty names, games, teams and minutiae making news in college football, where everyone is cherry-picking stats for playoff lobbying purposes. First Quarter: Eleven Teams for 12 Spots. 

Second Quarter: Is There an Exit Strategy at Ohio State? For Both Sides?

Ohio State Buckeyes athletic director Ross Bjork voiced his support for Ryan Day (11) on Sunday to the Columbus Dispatch. Which is the only rational approach when the team still has a chance to win a national championship.

“Our full focus right now is on the College Football Playoff and making a strong run,” Bjork told the Dispatch. “We have a ton to play for. We have a great team made up of talented players and great young men. Coach Day does a great job leading our program. He’s our coach.”

The larger question, which was addressed in part Saturday after the debacle against an undermanned Michigan Wolverines team, is whether Day wants to stay in this pressure cooker. A man with a 66–10 record is hard to fire. A man with a 66–10 record also has options—although not many in the current landscape, where just four power-conference jobs are currently open (more on those later).

The timing of the playoff and the college job cycle adds to the tension in Columbus. Given the absence of Day’s nightmare nemesis from the playoff field, Ohio State would seem to have a chance to play for all the marbles. Anything short of winning the national title might be viewed as a reason for one party or the other to move on—but the playoff lasts a month, from Dec. 20 to Jan. 20. It could be a while before Ohio State’s season-ending bridge can be crossed.

If the Buckeyes are playing well into January, Day’s best escape options would be in the NFL. But it’s unlikely that a franchise would hire him as a head coach—a coordinator, perhaps, but not as the guy in charge. The optics of taking a demotion to get away from Michigan would be humbling.

On the college level, few places would be able to match Day’s $10 million annual salary. But many of them could pay him in peace of mind, so long as Michigan isn’t on the schedule. 

So for now, it’s onward into the playoff for Ohio State—if the Buckeyes can get over the psychic damage of a full-system failure against the Wolverines. Meanwhile, the fans are already fantasizing about who’s next. A Dash list of potential candidates:

Start with the alumni pipeline (12), which is considerable.

If Ohio State wants a Jim Harbaugh parallel, returning to the alma mater from the NFL, there is Mike Vrabel. He’s a former star Buckeye who was on Urban Meyer’s staff, then went to the NFL and largely succeeded. Vrabel was the six-year head coach of the Tennessee Titans, compiling four winning seasons, three playoff appearances and a 54–45 record. The Titans made the AFC championship game in 2019. He will likely have other NFL suitors this hiring season, and there are questions about whether he wants to reenter the world of recruiting your own roster. But there are plenty of people in Ohio who would welcome him back.

If Ohio State wants a Dabo Swinney parallel, promoting the rising star from within, there is current assistant coach Brian Hartline. He’s a recruiting monster who theoretically would stand the best chance of keeping Ohio State’s current talent glut together (including the standout freshman receiver he coaches, Jeremiah Smith). Is he ready, sans head-coach and play-calling experience? That’s the question.

If Ohio State wants a Deion Sanders parallel, there is Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL star Eddie George, currently winning games at an HBCU school in the FCS ranks. In his fourth year at Tennessee State, George broke through with a 9–4 record and a berth in the FCS playoffs. Alas, he doesn’t appear to have a star quarterback son and five-star, two-way player he could bring with him.

If Ohio State wants someone who will walk to Columbus from his current location, there is Luke Fickell. Unfortunately for him, his fickle results in two years with the Wisconsin Badgers (he’s gone 12–13) have sullied his résumé. Timing is everything in life, and Fickell hit apex marketability in 2021 by leading the Cincinnati Bearcats to the playoff while Day was still riding high with the Buckeyes. Finishing tied for 12th in a conference Ohio State expects to win isn’t a good launching point.

But most of all there is former Buckeyes linebacker Marcus Freeman, who has the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the playoff and looking like a title contender in their own right. There are no concerns about whether Freeman can recruit, build a staff and navigate the current college football waters. The bigger question might be whether he would leave the school that gave him his head-coaching shot and bulked up its resources to help him. (Here’s a long-shot, but juicy, scenario: a Day-for-Freeman job swap after the playoff. If Freeman wants to go home, he does. And Notre Dame hires Day. The sticking point there might be Day’s over-the-top attack on Irish icon Lou Holtz last year.) 

Freeman is among the candidates with a connection to Ohio State that the Buckeyes may covet should they choose to move on from Day. / Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

Outside of alums, Ohio State has every reason to think big and swing big. It’s one of the top handful of jobs in the country and can offer a coach pretty much anything they desire.

Given that, the first guy without program ties who should get a call would be Dan Lanning (13). His undefeated Oregon Ducks are one win away from being the No. 1 playoff seed and national title favorite. His record in three seasons as a head coach: 34–5. And he isn’t even 40 years old. Of course, Lanning has a near-perfect setup right now, so there’s no guarantee he would listen.

If Lanning is the hottest young coach in the country, the hottest younger coach is Kenny Dillingham (14) of the Arizona State Sun Devils. The 34-year-old former Lanning assistant took over a program in trouble, and two years later has the Devils in the Big 12 title game with a 10–2 record. Yeah, he’s an ASU alum—but the difference between Ohio State and Arizona State outweighs a diploma.

Or how about Dillingham’s coaching opponent in the Big 12 title game, Matt Campbell (15) of the Iowa State Cyclones? Prior to becoming the best coach in school history at Iowa State, Campbell’s life was steeped in Ohio—from Massillon, played at Bowling Green, coached there and Mount Union and Toledo. You wonder whether he could move up the ladder to hit the highest notes at Ohio State while recruiting five-star talent and enduring the fishbowl existence, but Jim Tressel once faced those questions, too.

As for one other name, Urban Meyer: Let’s not.

There are a lot of potential candidates for a job that isn’t open. And may not open. The Ryan Day saga at Ohio State has weeks—perhaps years—still to play out.

The Power Conference Carousel Finally Spins

It took far longer than most years, thanks in large part to the looming financial reckoning of the House v. NCAA settlement, for power-conference coaches to be fired. But it has happened, with four jobs opening up in recent days. None of them are elite positions, but all have potential. A Dash quick look at candidates that make sense, and/or make story lines.

Let’s start with this disclaimer: Jon Sumrall (16) of the Tulane Green Wave would be an attractive candidate for all of them. He’s 32–7 in three years as a college head coach and is playing this week for his third conference championship. He might also be in position to wait for a good SEC job to open.

Now, on to everyone else.

West Virginia Mountaineers (17). Neal Brown is out after going 37–35 in six seasons. There is opportunity to be had in the Big 12, and Brown failed to seize it. It was time to make that move.

The candidate who makes sense: Barry Odom of the UNLV Rebels. He has a history with athletic director Wren Baker, dating to when they both worked at Missouri in 2015–16. Odom was probably prematurely fired as coach of the Tigers and has rebounded impressively in Las Vegas. The 48-year-old is 19–7 in two seasons at a dead-end job and has UNLV within reach of a playoff spot, if it can beat the Boise State Broncos on Friday night.

The candidates who make story lines: West Virginia native Jimbo Fisher, if he chooses to get up off his pile of buyout cash from the Texas A&M Aggies; and former Mountaineers hero coach Rich Rodriguez, who made two unfortunate career decisions—he turned down the Alabama Crimson Tide, then accepted the job coaching the Michigan Wolverines. That lasted three seasons before he was fired.

North Carolina Tar Heels head coach Mack Brown embraces North Carolina State Wolfpack head coach Dave Doeren after Saturday's rivalry game. / Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

North Carolina Tar Heels (18). Mack Brown 2.0 in Chapel Hill ended with his dismissal last week and subsequent backseat complaining from its trustee chairman. (The trustees do enjoy their backseat driving of UNC athletics.) Assuming they have no shot at alum Ben Johnson, currently the best coordinator in the NFL with the Detroit Lions, they still should be able to make a quality hire.

The candidate who makes sense: Jamey Chadwell of the Liberty Flames. He’s probably had his eye more on the SEC, but this is a good opportunity in a winnable league. Chadwell is 47 years old but has been a college head coach for 16 years at a variety of levels, winning at all of them. His record the last five seasons (three leading the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers, two at Liberty): 52–10. He’s also recruited the area extensively for years.

The candidate who makes story lines: Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator and former Atlanta Falcons head coach Arthur Smith. He’s a North Carolina alum with some booster juice. The real intrigue is whether his billionaire father, FedEx founder Fred Smith, would become a program rainmaker the way he has for his hometown Memphis Tigers.

Purdue Boilermakers (19). Ryan Walters was an impressive assistant coach who did not translate at all to being a head coach, going 5–19 and losing 11 straight games to FBS opponents. The immediate success of Curt Cignetti with the rival Indiana Hoosiers only highlighted Walters’s struggle.

The candidate who makes sense: Dave Clawson of the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. The last two seasons haven’t been great, but Clawson has a demonstrated ability to win in hard jobs—and frankly, Purdue is probably easier than Wake Forest in some ways. Throwing out a 4–5 pandemic season, Clawson had six straight winning records—that’s without precedent in school history. He also won at Bowling Green, Richmond and Fordham—not a dissimilar career track to Cignetti.

The candidate who makes story lines: Jeff Monken of the Army Black Knights. He’s from the area, just across the border in Illinois, and he’s a stone-cold winner who has guided Army to an 11–1 season. The leap of faith would be Purdue buying into an option offense, which Monken is convinced can win at the power-conference level. (He’s from the Paul Johnson coaching tree, and Johnson won with it at Georgia Tech.)

“It would work well anywhere,” Monken told Sports Illustrated in October. “If we can take a team of players that isn’t as talented as the teams we’re playing and we can still win, imagine what a team with bigger, faster, more athletic, longer, more talented players could do with the option offense. They would destroy people.

“You’d rather watch your team in mediocrity than run a different offense that may win them those games that they traditionally lose every year? There are teams in each conference that are the superior teams. How do you as a team that’s right in the middle, get yourself close to those teams to the top and win a conference championship? If you can’t be better, it’d be different.”

Central Florida Knights (20). It seems to The Dash that there was tampering at work in the Sunshine State. News leaked Saturday during the Florida State Seminoles’ game against the Florida Gators that the Noles were hiring UCF coach Gus Malzahn as their new offensive coordinator. Malzahn coached his last game the night before. There JUST MIGHT have been some discussions between the two parties before Malzahn’s duties were done in Orlando.

Someone please get Congress on the line to investigate this horror. When players are “tampered with,” the system is in shambles. When it’s the coaches, everyone shrugs.

The candidate who makes sense: Andy Kotelnicki, Penn State Nittany Lions offensive coordinator. Athletic director Terry Mohajir worked at Kansas as both a coach and administrator, so he knows how hard it is to win there. Kotelnicki called plays for Lance Leipold when the Jayhawks went 9–4 there last year, and he’s calling the plays for Penn State’s current 11–1 team. Pair him with a really good defensive coordinator and try to get upwardly mobile in the Big 12.

The candidate who makes story lines: Scott Frost. Much like a potential RichRod return to West Virginia, this would be a shot at rekindling past magic. Frost might need to find himself another McKenzie Milton to make it work.

More College Football on Sports Illustrated

feed