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Ohio State

Joel Klatt defends Ryan Day from ‘garbage’ narrative on job security

Barkley-Truaxby:Barkley Truax•01/22/25•

BarkleyTruax

NCAA Football: CFP National Championship-Ohio State at Notre Dame
Jan 20, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day celebrates after a play against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the second half the CFP National Championship college football game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Ohio State‘s fourth consecutive loss to Michigan heading into the postseason caused the Buckeyes to miss out on the Big Ten Championship and a first-round College Football Playoff bye. This led many to question what the future holds for head coach Ryan Day with the Buckeyes.

Now that the Buckeyes are national champions, those narratives have ceased. Fox Sports analyst Joel Klatt, who has come to the defense of Day in the past, explained why those storylines were “garbage” in the first place.

“Ryan Day is one of the great coaches in college football. I’ve said that for a long time,” Klatt said. “And I know that the narrative surrounding Ryan Day is always, ‘Oh, he’s coaching for his job.’ I think that’s garbage. He’s one of the great coaches in the sport, and now one of three guys that have actually won the national championship that is currently coaching in college football — Kirby Smart, Dabo Sweeney and now, Ryan Day — winning a national championship.

“I don’t know that there’s another program … that has higher expectations of their coach than Ohio State. This has been talked about over the last few weeks at length. Ryan Day is expected to win every single game he plays. … That’s just the standard, and anything below that, there’s speculation on his job.”

At 70-10 overall, Day’s 85.7% winning percentage tops all active coaches in college football today. Almost half of those losses have been to Michigan, which, until this season, was followed by disappointment in the College Football Playoff or playing in an unattached bowl game.

Fans have left each of those seasons with a bad taste in their mouth, which has led to some of Day’s criticism.

Now, Day is a national championship-winning head coach, and the criticism has subsided. In turn, this brings a certain excitement that surrounds the Buckeyes program heading into the offseason that hasn’t been felt in Columbus since 2014. At the same time, Day’s critics have been silenced.

“And I will just tell you this. Ryan Day is a really classy guy,” Klatt continued. “He’s got great character. He operates with integrity. … I’m happy for him. It just is what it is. This guy does it the right way, and I’m happy that he was able to go out there and fulfill what I know was his desire for his team.”