An Autopsy of Ryan Day's Tenure To-Date, Including Two Changes He Must Make

An evaluation of Ohio State's head coach, how he can save his job and what he must do to get the Buckeyes back on track in the rivalry with Michigan.

An Op-Ed, By Howard S. Mittman:

One of my favorite movie scenes of all time is in the movie “Traffic.” James Brolin’s character is offering advice to his replacement, Michael Douglas, as the incoming US drug czar. While chatting cordially, Brolin offers the following advice:

“You know, when Khruschev was forced out, he sat down and wrote two letters and gave them to his successor. He said - "When you get yourself into a situation you can't get out of, open the first letter, and you'll be safe. When you get yourself into another situation you can't get out of, open the second letter". Well, soon enough, this guy found himself in a tight place, so he opened the first letter. Which said - "Blame everything on me". So he blames the old man, and it worked like a charm. He got himself into a second situation he couldn't get out of, he opened the second letter. It said - "Sit down, and write two letters".

You may be wondering what the heck this has to do with Ohio State football, but I like to think of this as the conversation Urban Meyer could have had with Ryan Day as he took the reins. And if you’ll allow me some hyperbole, I also like to think college football coaches, unlike government officials, get three letters and not two.

At the end of last season, Ryan Day opened letter one. It said, “blame Kerry Coombs.” That was the right advice. Ohio State’s defense was atrocious throughout the 2021 season. They were exposed by a depleted and very average Oregon roster, struggled mightily against Purdue, and were ripped to shreds by Michigan. 

The defense demanded a much-needed overhaul and after a quick search, OSU got its version of the 2 million dollar man, Jim Knowles. An Ivy League graduate with a salty, grizzled sailor's demeanor and a penchant for blunt statements and vegetarianism. Jim was OSU’s hero in waiting and though the defense is far from perfect and seems to play a weird brand of “break occasionally, but don’t bend” defense, this was a welcome and well-chosen upgrade for the Ohio State football program - though OSU defensive backs still can’t cover in man defense, or turn to find the ball. However, the defense was improved, but it was not the panacea to fix all of Ryan Day’s needs.

Enter 2022.

This year's version of the Buckeyes was supposed to be different. They were supposed to explosive, hungry, sharp, and focused. They were supposed to be Ryan Days' team. This would be his fourth year at the helm and as a college coach, the fourth year is generally when a team is considered yours. The team has completed a recruiting cycle and its makeup and personality are on you. No more leaning on the guy before you - either as a crutch, or an excuse. As Ohio State saw against Michigan yesterday, this team is certainly not like anything Urban Meyer ever put on this field. This was an entirely Ryan Day creation and it still needs work.

The Ohio State Buckeyes were far from disciplined. 

There were penalties galore for OSU throughout this game and most were self-inflicted wounds that a well-coached team can avoid. What Gee Scott Jr. did (walked across the UM sideline to head-but a Michigan player) was inexcusable and may have had an outsized impact on the game. This is in addition to the offsides penalties OSU had seemingly every time they went into an up-tempo mode. These are mental mistakes, but they are also a factor of poor conditioning and we will get to that in a bit.

The Ohio State offense is poorly managed and it has been all season long. Day seems to have built a Ferrari and yet he doesn’t seem to know how to drive and get the most out of the supercar he created. Every reader who watched the UM game will have their frustrating offensive moments, but for me, there were a few which come to mind:

- There was a time when on 3rd and 3 OSU threw a swing route (an outside pitch to a linebacker), instead of running it straight up the middle, which had worked all game.

- There was the handoff on first and 35 that seems inexplicable when you have some of the best receiving talent and one of the best quarterbacks in the country.

- There was a lack of use of freshman Dallan Hayden. He had the hot hand in the week prior and was inexplicably left on the bench for most of the game.

- There was the constant targeting of Cade Stover (who had an atrocious game with drops and penalties) instead of trying to find all-world receiver, Marvin Harrison, Jr. at the moments when OSU needed it most.

Ryan Day may have been “born on third base,” but he’s at least still on third base. He hasn’t run home yet, but he hasn’t regressed to second base (though he did yesterday). However, Jim Harbaugh, who stuck Day with that quip, has never rounded third either. Harbaugh excels at coming short of winning anything. That’s been true of his playing and coaching career at every step along the way. He’s a serial “good effort” coach who despite a lot of blusters and press moments never seems to win anything and he’s likely got UM on a path to be blown out in the CFP again. However, he’s not entirely wrong about Day, or at least he sees something we all see - even when we willfully pretend not to. It is also fair to say that Michigan's relative mediocrity in the BCS will only serve to underscore OSU’s gaps and should bring no solace to OSU fans about their own current challenges.

Day seems to tighten up in the biggest moments. His play-calling becomes erratic and predictable when he needs to open the throttle. If Urban became addicted to the RPO, Day seems stubbornly focused on running bubble screens that rarely seem to work. He wastes valuable downs and consistently shows little faith in his team by not going for it on gettable 4th downs. He’s sending messages about his fears about his team to the fans, opposing coaches, and the OSU players themselves.

Being a head coach is a hard job. You have to oversee everything. You’re the CEO of a billion-dollar corporation and in a post-NIL world, the role has never been harder or more complex. For comparison's sake, Urban Meyer held on to coaching OSU’s special teams for far too long. That group never got the attention, or production on the field until he gave up their reigns and hired a special teams coach. In that vein, it is time for Day to give up play-calling responsibilities. 

That's the first part of what must be contained in his second letter. He needs to give the keys to someone else to drive the Ferrari and he should strongly consider making a break from Kevin Wilson, if he doesn’t think he can call the plays on his own. Day needs to send a message that his Ferrari is meant for the track and that it’s more than something for a divorced uncle to look good in at a stop light in New Albany.

The second part of letter No. 2 needs to be reserved for strength and conditioning coach, Mickey Marrotti. Coach Mick has been a valued and trusted part of the OSU program, but after two years of this team being pushed around, it is time for a change. OSU has consistently been out-muscled and ran out of gas at the exact times Day has needed them to step up most. The strength and conditioning coach is an integral part of the program. They work with the team all offseason and are as critical as the offensive, or defensive coordinators in making sure the team is ready to compete - physically and mentally.

So if Day has built a Ferrari, he needs a new driver to hand the play calling to and he needs a new pit crew chief to get his supercar ready for the track. This is what must be contained within his second letter and he must open it now. He needs to make those changes to signal to the world, and his team, that what they saw all season long was not acceptable. Day needs to accept that the Michigan game was not an aberration and take proactive steps toward helping put the absolute best version of the Ohio State football team on the field.

It is fair to say that nobody in the country has done less with more over the last four years than Ryan Day. Back-to-back top five quarterbacks in the NFL Draft, the best receiving corps in CFB (maybe in history), and four and five star talent peppered all over the roster.

Unfortunately, all OSU has to show for it is some gaudy statistics against inferior teams and crying children (and some adults) who don’t want to go to school on Monday to face their friends who root for the team up North. Frankly, you only need to look at the production OSU players are having in the NFL and contrast that to the way their talent was squandered at OSU to know that something is wrong. Mark Pantoni continues to over-deliver for OSU on the recruiting trail, but those players will undoubtedly be questioning if OSU is the place for them to maximize that talent and win a natty.

Any talk of Ryan Day being fired should be squashed. It’s not appropriate and it’s not based on reality. Day needs to open his second letter, make changes and show progress on the field. He’s on the hot seat, but if he has another top-10 finish next year (even with a loss to Michigan, so long as it’s not a blowout) he probably gets to coach again in 2024. 

If he loses again to UM, well, it’s Ryan Day's time to write a couple of letters because he will be all out of envelopes and chances. 

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