Ryan Day reflects on past criticism, Ohio State legacy after winning national championship

It’s not exactly a secret the kind of pressure Ohio State coach Ryan Day was under when the regular season ended. The Buckeyes were in the playoffs, but they entered limping after losing to rival Michigan for the fourth straight time.

Many wondered if Day could ever get the job done. Not Day and not the Buckeyes.

“I feel like from the start of this thing we’ve been knocking on the door, and I think about the ’19 team and ’20 team and ’21 team, the ’22 team, you keep going through these seasons and we weren’t that far off,” Day said.

Still, the program was in a fantastic place when Day took over. Urban Meyer had won a national title in 2014, elevating the program back to its familiar perch atop the sport.

Maintaining and extending the success was Ryan Day’s chief task.

And while he won a whole lot of games, the big game seemed to trouble him. He just couldn’t get by Michigan. And, at least in a four-team playoff, that was prohibitive.

“You’ve got to find a way to break through and make it to where we are right now,” Day said. “I think in today’s day and age, there’s just so much that goes with wins and losses and social media and people have to write articles and there’s a lot of things that are said that, yeah, certainly have an affect on you and your family. But when you sign up for this job, that’s what you sign up for.”

Ryan Day was on shaky ground. Four wins later, he’s standing on soil that’s about as firm as it comes.

He’s only the third active FBS coach to have won a national championship.

For the Ohio State boss, it was all about being resilient and continuing to pluck away. Eventually, the wall would come crashing down and the Buckeyes would be where they wanted to be.

“You’ve got to be strong enough to withstand those storms, to come out the back end,” Ryan Day said. “And now it’s an even better story. Nothing’s guaranteed, but I always, in the back of my mind, felt that the people of Ohio and all of Buckeye Nation, after going through difficult times and seeing a team and a bunch of coaches go through difficult times achieve their goal it would mean even more. I hope they’re all proud of what we’ve done.”