Ryan Day on the Pressure, Expectations and Changes at Ohio State | Big Noon Conversations

Fox Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt talks with Ohio State’s Ryan Day about the expectations and pressure that comes with being the head coach in Columbus. Coach Day discusses why he made the decision to give up play calling and whether Buckeye fans will notice a difference on Offense with Chip Kelly as the OC this upcoming season. Day breaks down why several NFL Draft-eligible players on his team came together to return for one more season and also reveals whether Michigan’s National Championship has provided extra motivation for the Buckeyes to win it all in 2024. The two also discuss Nick Saban’s retirement and adapting to the challenges in the new world of college football with NIL and the Transfer Portal. Joel and Coach wrap up the episode by picking their favorite play calls during Day’s tenure at Ohio State.

Chapters 📚
0:00-1:02 Intro
1:03-1:37 Best part of being the HC of Ohio State
1:38-2:56 Expectations of being the Buckeyes’ HC
2:57-5:56 Day on stepping away from play calling duties
5:57-7:40 Day’s goals for the season
7:41-9:40 Day on players deciding to return
9:41-11:43 importance of depth and veteran leadership
11:44-13:02 Day on the Ohio State and Michigan rivalry
13:03-15:10 Day on Downs, Judkins and Sayin
15:11-18:33 Day on bringing in Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator
18:34-20:16 Day on Nick Saban’s comments post retirement
20:17-23:30 Favorite or best play call
23:31-23:44 Outro

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Ryan Day on the Pressure, Expectations and Changes at Ohio State | Big Noon Conversations

CJ stad says it the best he says pressure is a privilege and that means you’re relevant you know and I’ve realized that more and more every year that this job’s not for the faint of heart yeah you got to make hard decisions most influential people in the sport talking about the sport [Music] globally this time on big noon conversations I talk with with Ryan Day head coach of the Ohio State [Music] Bucky all right we’re joined by the head coach of the Buckeyes Ryan Day coach appreciate your time first of all man uh and you welcome us into your office this is beautiful in here yeah it’s uh we we redid it a few years ago and uh yeah it’s it’s it’s it’s a good place because you know we have our our desk over here but then kind of a living room feel for the guys in this area you bet you bet okay at Le leads me to my and I’ve asked everyone I’ve sat with with this question um start off with what is the best part about being the head coach at Ohio [Music] State I I think it’s the the platform and the opportunity to change people’s lives um you know first off the the players that that we have in the building the coaching staff but also the community Buckeye Nation um you know we have the number one fan base in America and so just the influence that you have and and you know the people that you can help along the way and we all know we have to win games uh that that’s part of it but when it’s all said and done it’s about the impact that you’re having on people you and I talk a lot about the expectations here you know I used to talk about it with Coach Meyer the expectation is to win every game right every single one you play um knowing you as as well as I do I’m sure that you love the expectations because of your competitiveness and it’s probably part of the biggest challenge of being here is that correct yeah it’s say so um CJ stad says it the best he says pressure is a privilege and that means you’re relevant you know and and that that’s kind of the way I’ve always lived my life is that you know you want it on the line and it is on the line every week here it’s on the line every day here that’s just how it goes um and so you know we bring in guys who want it that way we’re bring in players that want it that way because we know how much it means to so many people in the state of Ohio and so um every year you identify the things that you got to enhance every every year you learn from the year before and then you you know the things you have to tweak and change that you got to do that and I think I’ve realized that more and more every year that this job’s not for the faint of heart yeah you got to make hard decisions and um you know for somebody who takes relationships you know very very serious and um you know it you know you got to make some hard hard calls but there’s a lot riding on it and you got to make those hard calls um you put it to me one time a few years ago we were we were talking about not only adjustments midweek but also offseason cuz you you just to your point you have to evaluate and and you talked about your evaluation process being is it the coaches is it the scheme or is it the players and you’ve got to address it once you find where where is it then you have to address it so you made a giant decision you’re one of the best play callers that I’ve ever been around and you decided to step away from that role and bring in an offensive coordinator before we talk about who you brought in right take me through the decision to step away from play calling duties one of the other challenges at Ohio State is you you’re constantly chasing this this one or two% you know in the last couple years it’s been a drive or it’s been a play and well you got to identify the things that are that are working really well and enhance those but then you know identifying and being accurate about the things that you need to improve and then being self-aware enough to make those those decisions and um you know I think as you move up you got to give up and that wasn’t easy for me but I feel like the time is right now um you know with with the transfer portal with you with nil um you there’s more and more energy and time that needs to be focused on the players and in in those areas and and I also think that it’s going to allow me the opportunity to be more present with the team especially later in the season um and so you know that’s one that was one of the decisions that were made but I think that’s that’s the thing that you you’re trying to go from really really good to absolutely great and and I I saw a great interview with with Coach Kay and he said the difference between my great teams and championship teams almost always came down to one play and I was like o that hit me like right between the eyes cuz that’s kind of how it’s been the last couple years and so I you know but to get back to your question yeah I I think that that was the reason I came to that and to your point about the the one play that’s a great line for from coach first of all um I mean you can go back I mean 19 it’s it’s a snap versus Clemson snap versus Georgia vincial National Champion you know you’re in last possession across the 50 on the road against the eventual National Champion uh in Michigan it really has been less than 1% you know here for you it’s half a percent it’s a snap here or there over the course of four 5 years Y and so I I read the I’ve read a lot of books recently and you know one of them good to great and one of the biggest things and that is getting the right people in the right seats yeah on the bus get get get them on the right the right seats and so it started with with our players coming back it started with those guys coming back and then it went to adding a few guys from the portal and then and then it was with the coaches and you know we’re counting on that to make a difference next year um I love that you brought that book up Jim Collins is the author of the book that uh coach referenc good to Great Jim’s actually a resident in Boulder and when I was playing at Colorado unbeknownst to me coach Barnett who I played for Gary Barnett um after a practice he says hey that that gentleman over there wants to see you and I was like you know okay I was a young guy I don’t really know what’s going on so I I walk over and he he he hands me a book and he’s like here read this son calls me son it was Jim Collins and he handed me that book good to great one of the things in that book that I loved was this idea about a hedgehog concept and and focusing in it’s basically like having a a a goal but then making sure that everything that you do is in line with that goal that you don’t step outside of that so I since you brought it up like tell me what your hedgehog concept here is in particular this season yeah we talk a lot about how it’s not going to be the most talented team that wins at the end of the season you know it’s it’s the best team or we call tribe and and and what we’re you know the difference that we’ve recognized is that we we want to be a team that comes together for a common purpose and again it started with those guys that decided to come back and not go into the NFL draft Yeah and then the guys in a recruiting class and the guys came in in the portal and the guys that were coming up in the program and the coaches and you know our goal is to you know win the Rivalry game and then win the national championship and that’s our that’s our purpose that’s that’s all of our Focus for next season and we know next year that it’s going to be a little different yeah it’s going to be a longer run and so we’re building towards that you bring up these guys and now you’ve ref referenced them twice guys like AA abuka trayon Henderson Donovan Jackson Ty Williams JT tuy moolo Al Jack Sawyer Denzel Burke laan Ransom and the list goes on these guys that came back that all have been and and a lot of people thought were going to be in the NFL draft that’s going to you know happen as time we sit down here in a few weeks uh what went into recruiting those guys back or was it an active recruiting for you you know I don’t know if I’d call it recruiting um I think that for all of the guys they wanted to identify what their opportunity was in the NFL um and and we helped them identify what their opportunity was there and we gave them the information you know I’ve never been in a situation where you talk somebody into either decision sure um you know Marvin had to make a decision you know he decided that you know he was going to go take the next step I think it was hard for him by the way you know really yeah I mean not to put his stuff out there but I mean nobody’s been in the building more than him the last month you know and I think CJ would tell you that it was hard for him to leave after three years but we’ve had such talented guys that have left after three years um but we’ve been young yeah and so for these guys to decided to come back and it started Cody Simon jumped in and then Jack Sawyer jumped in and then and then you know I think some of those guys were really on the edge and then they I think they all got together as a group and said and and ultimately that’s what we’re hoping for that they’re coming together for a common purpose they’re not just coming to Ohio State you know for the nil opportunities or for you know to to you know when you come here to you know get the notoriety or whatever it might be they’re coming to reach those goals and that was powerful and you could feel it and you know certainly as the head coach you got to you got to you know show them the vision you know guys if we all decide to come back we could do something special here yeah this is what we could do this is what it’s going to look like this is who we can get in the transfer portal in the modern day of of college football I you know for me I I look at well look at what’s happened in college football and even college basketball to a certain degree because of the transfer portal and because of nil opportunity what you’re starting to see is that teams in both sports are getting older and more veteran and and those teams are having more success at the top end you know it’s no it’s no longer these teams in particular in college basketball that are the one and duns that are succeeding it’s veteran guys last year Michigan was a veteran team and in a lot of ways you know mirrored what you guys are doing they had a ton of guys comeback for a common purpose how important do you think with the expanded playoff it’s going to be to have veterans not only but also depth to go through a season that might be 16 games long yeah because now you’re going to have more games so there’s going to be more scenarios there’s going to be more situations and you know Pro guys they remember they’ve they’ve either been there before because of experience or they have built contingency plans up in their heads for those type of situations but you can’t really replace the experience right and so there going to be games where we’re going to have to win in the two-minute drill there’s going to be you know games that you know we maybe aren’t doing great in the first half but we just got to manage that game and find a way to win that game or maybe we go up early and we got to finish them off or all the different scenarios maybe it’s a bad weather game at Northwestern we had a couple years ago or there’s all these different scenarios that can come into play but when you have older guys who have been through it before they weather the storm easier and so I think that’s critically important uh to having success but also like you said depth and so getting these guys in at midye building depth so that you can have two or three guys at each position is going to be important because you can’t just sign a guy off of waivers yeah and this will be the first time that you know in college football teams are playing 16 or 17 games yeah it’s it’s going to be it’ll be interesting to see how this this all plays out I’m interested because motivation even for the guys that are coming back plays such a a key role and I have made the point um even outside of this is that what makes rivalries in college football so great is they drive each other to Greatness I don’t believe Michigan Goes On The Run that they did unless Ohio state was doing to them what Ohio state was doing to them in the previous eight seasons now I look at this offseason here in Columbus and I’m like man this feels a lot like a drive and a passion that was lit watching your rival win a National Championship is that accurate I don’t think that any year you’re any more or less motivated um you know I think every year every team is a little bit different but you know to say that those games haven’t stung I mean of course they have and those those are bad weeks in Columbus you know when you don’t win that game and and so you know whether it’s the guys deciding to come back you know whether it’s you know being strong about making strong decisions in those moments um yeah I mean I can say that you know you have to figure out what needs to get fixed to win that game and that’s that’s the bottom line and um and then that’s what we did um the transfer portal you guys got a couple I would say three of the biggest prizes in the entire transfer portal quinan Judkins who’s phenomenal running back from Old Miss now Buckeye Caleb DS one of the best defensive players in the country now a buckeye from Alabama and Julian Zan who no one has seen play but there’s a aura about you know what he has done up to this point um and what he potentially could be how much did that give the locker room a jolt of energy when these guys decided to join and say yeah this is our common purpose now as well I think anytime we’re talking about the portal for us it’s been that we’re going to fill a need or a hole okay you know we typically don’t just bring guys in from the portal we brought six guys in and really it was to fill needs you know chip trainum decided to to transfer Kyle mcord decided to transfer we needed to fill those those holes we we felt like we had a hole at safety but also when when coach sa retired you know some of these guys entered the portal and so that was a unique opportunity um but you know I think these guys and it’s happened in recruiting but it also happened in the portal they they see what Ohio state is they see the opportunity um the city of Columbus the brand Ohio state has and it’s exciting and so um you know for all of them you know they they’re going to look at Ohio State and when it’s the right fit um and and the other thing is for our guys like for I’ll take for example Quin Shan when Quin Shan entered the portal the first person I called was trayon Henderson I said Trey you got to give me some feedback on this and he said coach I call you back the next day I said yeah sure he called me right back said coach if it’s best for the team let’s do it I’m good and then I talked to Quin Chan I said tre’s not going to the NFL I said he’s going to be there he says great and they’ve gotten along great they want to be a one to you know combination so like that has to be the right fit there if it doesn’t fit it doesn’t work because the team and the culture is is most important so I think that was a great example of of how you have to make sure you bring the right people in in the right fit I thought I thought maybe one of the arguments for a guy that was playing down in the SEC was like Hey you come up here you can get a nickname from Gus I’m sure he’ll have something for him right I’m sure he will uh so Gus we’re counting on you right um bringing in your your former coach and in a lot of ways you know a guy that you’ve known in this business longer than anybody Chip Kelly is your new offensive coordinator it’s such a unique time he leaves a head coaching position to come here to be your offensive coordinator how did that come about well when when the decision was made to hire an offenseive coordinator I I had uh you know an A List a B list and then kind of a c list and um and Chip was on the a list M um so was Bill O’Brien and um the timing wasn’t right I kind of reached out the chip and said hey you know I know this is kind of a crazy idea but what do you think and you know I I don’t think it was easy for him I think there was lot going on he’s got his team he’s got his staff and so there’s just a lot going on there um but you know he did share with me that you know he was able to coach the quarterbacks in the bowl game and I think it rekindled that love for just coaching football yeah being in the room yeah being in the room being in the room just coaching ball and and so that really fired him up and it had been a while since he had done that like a long time and so you know I thought maybe we had a chance but the timing wasn’t right and we had to make a decision because of recruiting and and so it was great to have an opportunity to hire Bill um but then he had right turn around and had opportunity to go to Boston College because another head coach went to be a coordinator your old coordinator H Jeff Halley right wild business unbelievable yeah and so then I tried him again I called him one more time I said yeah I I got another opportunity to do this and um he said yeah I think I think so I think I’m I’m more interested and then we talked a little bit longer but it was not easy because there was a lot going on there but that being said he really wanted to get back to just coaching football and kind of um you know allows me to to handle some of this other stuff yeah cuz now like you said you move up you know and you have to give up because your responsibilities are bigger now your December is worse than ever in college football with the schedule and the CEO responsibilities there’s no doubt it are we going to notice ably a difference watching the Buckey with Chip Kelly colum plays versus Ryan Day col plays I think so yeah I think so I don’t think it’ll look drastically different uh maybe just to you know someone watching the game but um you’ll see schematically some different things and you know Chip’s history of running the ball speaks for itself and you know we got some really good running backs and you know he’s creative in what he does yeah um you know what we’ve done passing the ball here kind of speaks for itself so doubt I think there’ll be a combination of those things but but the great thing for me was that when I came here I came from his system yeah so you know we we brought in what Urban did and or you know kind of you know molded those things together when we were here those first couple years and then as time has gone on he’s kind of done a little something different at UCLA we did a little something here so now we’re kind of coming back together I guess the the tough part was he came in right before spring started yeah so we just kind of you know got it started got it going put the base things in got some fundamentals down focused on on techniques and those things and I think now over the next couple months we’re really going to dig into what the install looks like going into preseason I mean I I think uh I speak for everyone was like we’re just interested you can’t wait to see see what it looks like you know part of you know maybe why he stepped away or had Jeff halfly stepped away or why you had to give up play calling duties was the structure of what we’ve got going on right in our Sport and the the craziness when coach Sabin retired and then came out with the comments that he did about what it was like trying to handle his team after the loss in the Rose Bowl what were your thoughts well um you know I I I felt I felt that pain because you know I’ve gone through some of those similar things and you know coach sav’s you know past and history and what he’s done is just unbelievable so to hear somebody that’s been through all these different things in college football and these changes in college football MH kind of recognize that as such a big challenge right now you know it gives you some pause you know makes you really think um you know but but I also I’m trying to you know really put perspective on it all because I know it sounds a little deep but the truth is like the order of the entire universe is chaos and that’s kind of the way life is it’s chaotic and I know there’s a lot of chaos right now in college football but the product’s never been better no and so I I think it’s it’s a little bit of a tumultuous time right now but but if we can just kind of steady the boat a little bit and work through this now we’re going to come out the other end and and that’s what we’re looking to do I love that you brought up a boat cuz I sat with chip last year for one of our conversations and his best line and I’m sure he’s given it in here there’s no crying on the yacht doesn’t that sound like right there’s no crying on the Y Yacht um all right I want to finish up with a couple of fun ones okay um I like I said I thought and I will always believe you were a terrific play caller you know you’re Rhythm everything about it do you have a favorite play call or best play call that you can remember in your career uh oh boy let me see uh I think you know just because probably CJ and Jackson was just so on fire in that Rose Bowl yeah um but it was like everything was just working I don’t even think I was looking at the call sheet that because I don’t think you needed to cuz he was so hot that game like let’s go yeah um I think uh one of my favorite plays was in the uh in the Sugar Bowl when Justin took that hit against Clemson against Clemson and we were up a score or two but it was still a big spot in the game and um I ran over to the tent he was in the tent and he had that look in his eye like he was not GNA come out of that game you know he grew up you know he probably I don’t know if he’d say it or not but he grew up right down the street from Trevor Lawrence and they he go back and forth back and forth and we lost against him the year before and this was you know he had that look in his aisles all off season and and so we put him right back in and ran a a roll out pass to the right it was like a it was like a stutter comeback to to Chris olave Y and I felt like if we got him on the run because he’s such a great athlete you know he might be able to throw that to him and just will it in there and he did and after he got done and we threw the touchdown pass he literally just kept running right back into the tent you know I don’t even know what went on in there but I remember that clearly you know because um you know he was just such a tough competitive guy you know and um you know I I think back on on you know Dwayne’s year and you know the Rivalry game that year and some of the stuff that went on that game was I was going to say cuz I I have one that I thought I’ve watched every play that you’ve you’ve called We’ve joked about this you were killing them with Crossing routes and that this is 2018 against Michigan uh with Dwayne and you’re killing them with Crossing routes and your speed was and they were trying to rock the safeties they were trying to so basically they have a single safety and they were trying to run him down to the Crosser across the field and then this guy was going back to the middle y you did it a couple of times and they’re trying to rock him down there and you’re killing them and so you run it again and and I believe it was Terry but I could be Mist it was KJ Hill slams on the brakes and runs like a stop and back out and they still rocked the safeties you threw it to KJ Hill and he ran down the the rail for a touchdown and I was sitting in the booth and I was just like man that was a great play call and and that wasn’t in the game plan it wasn’t no because most teams most teams usually won’t cut it post Snap they were doing that and so we just called the same play but we called it pivot as opposed to the mesh play yeah and um and you know give those guys a lot of credit cuz they were able to put it on the field Without Really practicing that week um but yeah that was a good feeling there man feeling I appreciate your time thank you very much and uh uh we’ll be around we’ll be in the booth all right great see coach yeah thanks