Ryan Day shares he adopted a military approach once being named Ohio State head coach

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day enters his sixth full season as the head coach for the Buckeyes. Thrown into the fire as an acting head coach for the first time in 2018 for Urban Meyer and never looking back after taking over the reigns full-time.

Since Day has taken over the program, the Buckeyes have lost eight total games with just three coming in conference play. But with all of those Big Ten losses coming versus rival Michigan and national titles being the goal in Columbus, there’s definitely more success to be desired for Day and the Buckeyes.

Day recently sat down with former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel and was asked how his perspective and approach to coaching has evolved since becoming the face of the Buckeyes program.

“I think the thing that I realized is as the head coach, you gotta be looking on the horizon to figure out what’s coming next,” Day told Tressel. “I think that’s more of a military approach of the soldiers and captains, I mean they’re in the trenches, they’re working and you have to sometimes get in the trenches with them. That’s important.”

Being a player’s coach or a man of the people is important as a head coach, with coaches who lead by example and build a culture firm on strong values oftentimes seeing success.

But what separates the good from great is the ability to evolve and adapt, which Day has been able to do in a variety of different ways since his tenure began in Columbus.

“But it’s our job, as the general, to be looking on the horizon and figure out what’s coming next and make sure that they all have the vision to recognize where we’re all going. I think that probably that was important for me to learn. Every year you learn more and more,” Day explained. “I think the next thing I learned was you got to have the right people in the right spots. You got to have the right people right spots and this job isn’t for the faint of heart.”

Whether it was a concerted effort to bolster Ohio State’s defense in the past with hires like Jim Knowles to his recent decisions to give up his play-calling duties and hand the keys of the offense to new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, Day has not been afraid of making changes and looking ahead. Which has allowed him to serve in more of a general manager role this offseason and help the Buckeyes land numerous big time additions through the transfer portal.

“You got to make hard decisions and when you care a lot about relationships and you care a lot about people, but you also know what’s at stake and you have to have the courage to make change sometimes when it’s not easy,” Day admitted. “And I think those are probably the things that I’ve learned the most in my in my five years.”

Day’s lessons learned have resulted in Ohio State being a perineal power in college football, entering this season with arguably the strongest roster in the country and high expectations heading into the upcoming season.