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Ohio State

Ryan Day on Gene Smith: 'He trusted me'

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•08/09/23•

BarkleyTruax

Gene Smith and Ryan Day by Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
Ohio State head football coach Ryan Day (left) and athletic director Gene Smith (right) before a road game at Indiana during the 2021 season. (Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK)

Gene Smith is the man who hired Ryan Day to be Ohio State‘s head football coach in the first place. It comes as no surprise that the Buckeyes athletic director’s retirement is an emotional one for him.

After Smith announced that the 2023-24 athletic calendar year would be his last running Buckeyes athletics, Day congratulated Smith on his long, successful tenure in Columbus and reflected on the faith that was put in him by the longtime AD.

“I couldn’t be any happier for Gene and Sheila [Smith],” Day said. “What they’ve done in Ohio State, and the 19 years that they’ve dedicated themselves, they poured their heart and soul into Ohio State athletics and just the university in general.

“What I owe him and what my family owes him, I can’t even really verbalize the opportunity to be a first time head coach at Ohio State. And, you know, he trusted me. Our relationship is going to go on forever. There will be a lot of time to figure out what the next phase is and how that goes.”

What Day has done since he has been given that opportunity in 2018 has been nothing short of spectacular. With Day at the helm, Ohio State has produced a 45-6 overall record with a 31-2 record in Big Ten play. It’s also worth mentioning that he has led the Buckeyes to the College Football Playoff in three of his first four seasons as head coach.

Day has yet to win it all as head coach — and it would be a perfect sendoff for Smith who has been waiting a decade for another college football national championship.

“He’ll be with us till next summer, but I think today is just an opportunity to reflect on what great work has been done by Gene and we are certainly going to miss him,” Day said. “We’ve got some time to worry about [what happens after that].”

Day remains focus on his duties as the head coach, and said that he will not play a major role in the hiring of Ohio State’s next athletics director.

For now — he’s all in on fall camp in preparation for the 2023 college football season. The Buckeyes are expected to be back in the mix for the CFP once again, and they’re set out to prove that when they kick the new year off with an early Big Ten road trip at Indiana.