Kirk Herbstreit shreds '15 percenters,' Ohio State fans calling for Ryan Day's ouster

Criticism is a tricky thing in college football, with the sport so nuanced and multi-faceted that it’s almost always possible to find flaws in some part of an organization’s operation. Ohio State fans are no different than most, with a small subset of them liable to latch onto those few, minor negatives, even in a program that is excelling.

Former Ohio State quarterback and noted ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit has long bemoaned the presence of that overly critical minority.

It came up again on Wednesday, when the Toledo Blade published a quote from Herbstreit at a recent local celebrity dinner to benefit the Historic South Initiative.

Herbstreit called out Ohio State fans who have any inkling of wanting to fire coach Ryan Day.

“The 15 percenters, they get mad at anything,” Herbstreit said, per the Blade. “That percent is going to be mad at something always. [Day] could win the Michigan game, go to the playoff and lose, and they’ll be mad about that. That group is just a bunch of jackasses who kind of embarrass all of us as Ohio State fans. So I don’t really care, honestly, what that group thinks.

“The people who matter, the logical people who actually have a brain and understand the sport, they love what Ryan Day has done. The fact that this is even a topic is almost comical.”

All Day has done at Ohio State is compile a 45-6 overall record, with three College Football Playoff Appearances and two Big Ten titles. The Buckeyes reached the College Football Playoff national championship game under his watch in 2020, eventually falling to Alabama.

If there’s grumbling about him as head coach, it almost certainly comes down to recent results against Michigan.

The rival up north has won the last two head-to-head meetings, which has resulted in back-to-back College Football Playoff appearances for the Wolverines. After nearly two decades of dominance, is Ohio State losing its strange-hold grip on the rivalry ever so slightly?

Even if that’s the case, Herbstreit’s contention that only the ’15 percenters,’ the Ohio State fans that always seem to find something to pick a bone with, would want Day fired is likely accurate.

In no sane universe would Day be fired given his overall track record.

Even in 2022 with the loss to Michigan, Ohio State still found its way into the College Football Playoff, giving it a chance at winning an elusive national title.

In any event, Herbstreit certainly isn’t shy about reminding that small subset of Ohio State fans that they are, in fact, a small minority.

And that he doesn’t care about their opinions.