Day received death threats following a loss to Michigan in November, but on Monday night, he won a national title
ATLANTA — As the clock hit zero and a national championship was secured, Ohio State‘s Ryan Day ripped off his headset, grabbed the battery pack on his waist and chucked both through the air in a moment he could only describe as a strange mix of indescribable emotions.
“I looked back,” Day said the morning after the 34-23 win against Notre Dame, “and I forgot I even did that.”
Forgive Day for losing himself in the moment. These last 51 days have been perhaps the toughest and most emotionally draining days for himself, his wife and three kids. The 13-10 loss to Michigan on Nov. 30 — the Buckeyes’ fourth straight defeat in the most heated rivalry in college sports — not only coaxed the media and fans to question whether the coach could lead the Buckeyes to their lofty goal of a national title, but it also sent the vocal minority of passionate Ohio State fans into a frantic, despicable tizzy.
Day received death threats, Ohio State players said this week, and his children were not immune from the negative feedback at school where classmates and teachers spewed criticism. The family was also provided around-the-clock police protection amid the threats, according to The Athletic.
“The weeks between the Team Up North game and the Tennessee game were brutal,” Day’s wife, Christina, told WBNS-TV in the days leading up to the national championship game. “And I was very upset about what was happening to some of our players, to my children. It just wasn’t right. I think Buckeye Nation is an amazing fan base, I really do, and with every fan base is that percentage that takes it too far.”
Day often deflects attention, opting to redirect praise toward his players on the good days as he absorbs criticism whenever the firing line chooses to spit their venom. Hatred? For a coach with a 70-10 record, the second-best winning percentage among every college football coach to ever lead a team in at least 50 games?
“If you define your happiness by the results, then yeah, you can find yourself focusing on those things. I don’t,” Day said Tuesday morning. “I’m just as proud of this team no matter what happened. But now the best thing is, again, you get to hear about these guys for the history of college football, and these guys get to go back to the Woody (Athletic Center) and put their arm around their wife and their kids and say, ‘Look what dad did.'”
Earlier, Day spoke about the criticism and emotional release they experienced finishing the season with five wins against AP top-five teams, the most in college football history. He never mentioned the death threats or how his children sheltered inside their home to avoid the outside noise in the weeks after that loss to Michigan, but you could hear it in his voice.
“When you say, ‘Happy for your family,’ this is the family right here,” he said, motioning to quarterback Will Howard and linebacker Cody Simon, the MVPs from the title game. “But also for my wife and kids, I think for all of these guys now, they can have some peace, and to me that’s important.”
Day and Ohio State could use some peace in Columbus, where anything but a national championship would have been labeled a disappointment. The Buckeyes owned one of the richest rosters in the country, with at least a $20 million NIL payroll, that included perhaps the most talented freshman in modern history: receiver Jeremiah Smith, who scored a touchdown and sealed the win Monday night with a 56-yard catch on third-and-11 in the final minutes.
Day is an outspoken supporter of mental health wellness and launched the Support the Day Fund to help pediatric and mental health in 2019. Almost every press conference and public speaking engagement in which Day appears is framed with a message on perseverance through struggle.
Day was only 8 years old when his father, Raymond, committed suicide. Three years ago, he said he fought a classmate who joked about him not having a father. He used his loss as motivation and became a record-breaking high school quarterback, but he often swallowed the pain.
“I would see somebody run up to their dad and hug them after a game, and it was like, that’s where I think the chip came from,” Day told ESPN in 2021. “OK, you get a dad, but I’m going to beat you on the field.”
Day’s father died Jan. 20, 1988.
Yes, the same date Ohio State won the national title Monday in Atlanta.
The wave of emotions Day must have felt as he hoisted the national championship trophy must have been overwhelming – and, yet, other than chucking his headset and shedding a few tears with his relieved family, Day stood tall and celebrated without putting on a show on the field.
“There are times when you get in early to the Woody (Athletic Center) and you think you’re getting work done and you go and walk past the head coach’s office and he’s already there,” Simon said. “He’s been watching film. His eyes are bloodshot. He puts that extra time in that no one in the world is really putting in.
“When I see stuff like that, there’s no one I’d rather trust than coach Day, and I wholeheartedly believe that he is always and will be the best coach that I’ve ever (had).”
Day often tells kids at events to not harbor their anger and to let it out with a scream. He does it, too. On Monday night, he let it all out — and sent another message that transcends football.
“There were life lessons learned here, and I hope maybe there’s just a couple people out there that are going through a difficult time that keep fighting and keep swinging and they’ll get the thing turned,” Day said.
Not even a $10 million annual contract can mute a month of death threats and emotional anguish on a family. Day also couldn’t hide his appreciation of the challenge and opportunity. He praised Buckeye fans and leaned into his role as coach, focusing again and again on his other family — the kids in the Ohio State locker room.
“To me, that’s all that matters, because that’s why you get into coaching,” he said. “It isn’t to hoist trophies or make big contracts or anything like that. The reason you get into coaching is to help young men reach their dreams and goals, period. At least that’s what I and our staff are in this thing for.
“When that’s your focus, then you wake up and you realize that as awful as some things can happen during the season, you look at those as opportunities, and now you get to tell an unbelievable story behind it. That’s exactly what life is all about.”
Day and Ohio State have found peace, at least for now. The Buckeyes’ celebration will continue into the offseason, but soon spring practices will begin with a new roster in Columbus. Day smirked when a reporter mentioned the pressure he experienced in 2024 would not be as intense next season.
“Try losing the first game and see how that goes at Ohio State,” he said. “We’ll see about that.”
