Mike Vrabel’s Availability Increases Pressure on Ryan Day at Ohio State

If the former Tennessee Titans coach doesn’t land an NFL job this offseason, all eyes will be on the Ohio State Buckeyes football team thi fall.

The Tennessee Titans’ surprising firing of coach Mike Vrabel on Tuesday was far from the biggest story in a week dominated by seismic coaching news, but it was unexpected nevertheless.

The move seemed like a possible precursor to Vrabel’s returning to the New England Patriots as the successor to Bill Belichick, after the franchise parted ways with the legendary coach on Thursday. After all, Vrabel played eight of his 14 NFL seasons with the Patriots.

Instead, New England owner Robert Kraft elected to make a hire from within Belichick’s staff, promoting linebackers coach Jerod Mayo to the position Friday. Mayo, like Vrabel, was a standout linebacker in Belichick’s defense before entering the coaching ranks.

New England wasn’t the only NFL franchise that could look to hire Vrabel. The 48-year-old turned Tennessee into the class of the AFC South just a few years ago, before injuries and roster attrition contributed to back-to-back losing seasons in 2022 and ’23. As of Friday afternoon, six open jobs remain (not counting the Titans): the Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, Las Vegas Raiders, Los Angeles Chargers, Seattle Seahawks and Washington Commanders. More jobs could open after the wild-card round this weekend as well.

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Of course, there is no guarantee that one of those franchises will pick Vrabel, accomplished as he is, and he also could opt to wait a year rather than accept a less-than-ideal situation. Another year could bring better opportunities, perhaps even one at Vrabel’s alma mater and onetime employer: Ohio State. 

Ryan Day is one of the most successful coaches in college football, but without a national championship and given his current three-game losing streak to archrival Michigan—which, to the Buckeyes’ dismay, won Monday’s national championship—his seat could be hotter than any coach with an .875 win percentage would expect.

Michigan’s national title probably should serve as a lesson in patience to Ohio State.

Despite tumult, Michigan waited out Jim Harbaugh’s five-game losing streak to Ohio State to start his tenure, and then a 2–4 record in the COVID-impacted 2020 season, before he turned the Wolverines into national contenders. The Wolverines captured their first Big Ten championship under Harbaugh and reached the College Football Playoff for the first time in ’21, repeated those feats in ’22, and knocked off Alabama and Washington in the CFP to win it all this season.

If Day falls short again in ’24, and the program decides to move in another direction, Vrabel makes perfect sense as an obvious option.

Vrabel was a two-time All-American for the Buckeyes in the 1990s before winning three Super Bowls and earning All-Pro recognition with the Patriots. He began his coaching career in 2011 under interim Buckeyes head coach Luke Fickell and continued for two more seasons in Columbus under Urban Meyer before heading to the NFL. He was the NFL’s Coach of the Year in 2021. It’s an impressive, Buckeye-centric résumé.

Ryan Day (left) and Mike Vrabel both worked under Urban Meyer at Ohio State. Vrabel left for the NFL in 2014, and Day succeeded Meyer as the Buckeyes’ head coach in 2018 :: Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch/USA TODAY Network

The calls for Vrabel to return to Columbus began shortly after his dismissal from Tennessee, with Ohio State great Maurice Clarett, a noted critic of Day, calling for Vrabel to wait for a year for the job to open.

Vrabel has been in the NFL since 2014, and there is no guarantee he’d leave the professional ranks to return to college. Longtime Titans offensive tackle Taylor Lewan (who, it should be noted, played at Michigan) said on The Rich Eisen Show on Tuesday that he doesn’t believe Vrabel has interest in college coaching at this point.

“Vrabes is not going to college,” Lewan told Eisen, just moments after learning Vrabel had been fired. “I’ve asked him. Vrabel’s personality, could he be successful in college? Could he win a national championship in college? No quesh, as Vrabel would say. … But, all the political B.S. you gotta deal with, the NIL. You’re dealing with kids, and I say that very loosely because now there are seven-year seniors. But if your job is predicated on the development and values of 18- to 22-year-olds, that is a very different ballgame than having paid professionals who are expected to do a job.” 

That being said, Lewan admitted that as a Michigan alumnus, he’s afraid of the idea.

“I don’t see him going to college. It would be nuts. I would be absolutely terrified if he did go there because Vrabel is that dude,” Lewan said.

💻 @TaylorLewan77

We were LIVE with the former #Titans tackle when we all learned head coach Mike Vrabel was fired — WOW!#NFL pic.twitter.com/pWg9aoBT0s

— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) January 9, 2024

Lewan may very well be correct about Vrabel’s feelings toward the modern college game, but those feelings could change if the Buckeyes job opens up after next season. 

There will be pressure on Day to beat Michigan and compete for a national championship in 2024. If a prime candidate such as Vrabel is available when the season begins, that pressure definitely will be magnified.