Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith still has full confidence in football coach Ryan Day despite back-to-back losses to rival Michigan.
Smith told ESPN’s Heather Dinich that while his standards are high, he believes that Day is the best man for the job.
“My standards are high. Our team standards are high,” Smith said. “So we talk about how do we get better and how do we make sure we are able to win the championships that we aspire to win? We look at each individual contest that got in the way of that, and we’re trying to figure out what’s the strategy to mitigate that. When we lose, it’s highly disappointing, but I break things down and look at things objectively, and we have good conversations about what we need to do better.”
Despite the social media outcry after losses, Smith said the criticism of Day is “not that bad,” as he says the fan concern seems to be confined to social media rather than emails to his inbox or voicemails left on his phone.
Day knows the importance of winning the Michigan game at the end of the season and understands it comes with the territory of being the coach of the Buckeyes.
“The rivalry game’s obviously very, very important,” Day told ESPN. “When you look at those games, and you see these single plays that really cost us the game. When you’re talking about on defense, giving up explosive plays, certainly that’s very, very important. That’s how games can go sideways. And so we have to identify that, get that fixed, and that hurt us in the Georgia game as well. That was something we talked about a lot in the offseason, or we’re continually talking about now in the spring, but I really like the team that we have coming back.”
Day’s approach to play calling on offense is one aspect of his job duties that may change as he looks to continue evolving as the Buckeyes coach. He has been giving offensive coordinator Brian Hartline more responsibility during spring practice so that Day can dedicate more focus to the defense and special teams. If all goes well, Hartline may have more of an active role in play calling this fall.
“His thought process about possibly giving up play calling, he shared that with me without me ever asking that question,” Smith told ESPN. “When we hired him, I told him, ‘You’ve got to stay in your wheelhouse and call plays. There’ll be a natural point in time in your career where that changes.’ So that’s not for me to decide … that’s for him to decide,” Smith said.
There’s no doubt the talent is there for Ohio State to beat Michigan, as the Buckeyes continue to recruit at an elite level. It all comes down to getting over the hurdle of knocking off the Wolverines, who are looking to win their third straight game in the rivalry affair when the teams face off in Michigan Stadium in November.
