Ryan Day reveals if Ohio State's run would have been possible without giving up playcalling duties

Expectations were high for the Ohio State Buckeyes going into the 2024 season amid several staff changes and a returning roster that was among the best in college football. Those were expectations that the Buckeyes lived up to with head coach Ryan Day winning his first national championship with the program by the end of the season.

One of the major changes that Day made in the offseason was stepping down as Ohio State’s playcaller and letting new offensive coordinator Chip Kelly take over that role. As Day explained on the Joel Klatt Show, being able to become a CEO and not get caught up in the minutia of playcalling did end up helping him.

“Probably not,” Ryan Day said. “Probably not, but I also think I was able to go back and forth a little bit as well. Involved in every special teams meeting. Midway through the season much more involved on the other side of the ball on defense, and then able to kind of come back.”

A notable benefit of the Chip Kelly hire was that there was an amount of comfort between Chip Kelly and Ryan Day. The two have worked together before, so Day was able to trust handing off playcalling duties.

Without those playcalling duties on his plate, Day then had the opportunity to better focus on the rest of his team. That means he was able to better do the job as head coach at Ohio State.

“Also, I just think being able to jump from position to position and sitting down on some of the position meetings and talking about what the expectation of the job description for that week was. I think we really got into a great rhythm in the Playoff with that. I would go through, and everyone’s got a job to do, but really identifying what that job was. During position meetings, I’m able to jump around from meeting to meeting and have quick conversations with everybody and then bring everybody together, where when I was in the quarterback meeting room and just going through those types of things, it takes away from that part of it,” Day said.

“And when we say, ‘Do your job,’ my job as the head coach is to do that. To bring everybody together. Look along the horizon and see what’s coming because the soldiers are in front. They’re fighting. You’ve got to be looking at the horizon to see what’s coming next. I think that allowed me to do that.”

In the end, Ohio State went on a massive run in the College Football Playoff, winning four games in a row to win a national championship. It was a situation that Ryan Day wouldn’t ever want to miss out on.

“I enjoyed winning a national championship. There were really great moments just connecting with the guys. Good moments, bad moments, all of the above,” Day said. “It’s like being a part of a family. Being a brother, being a dad, being an uncle, being a colleague. I think that allowed me to do that and bounce around, but I felt like in the Playoff I was able to spend more time on the football because there was no school and we had time together, and that was my favorite part of the year for sure.”

The playcalling at Ohio State is set for another change in 2025. Chip Kelly left to be the Las Vegas Raiders offensive coordinator. Now, Ryan Day is on the look for a third playcaller in as many seasons.