Call it the coaching version of “passing the torch.”
Inside an emotional Ohio State locker room following the 28-23 win over Washington, Urban Meyer handed his whistle over to Ryan Day.
The symbolic transition of power was made official at midnight eastern. He’s not “Acting Head Coach” or “Head-Coach-To-Be” any more.
Welcome to the Ryan Day era.
Day inherits a program coming off a 13-1 season, one of the most dominating wins over Michigan in series history, a Big Ten title, and a Rose Bowl championship.
He also inherits a set of expectations that starts with the baseline “be at least as good as one of the greatest coaches in college football history.”
On New Year’s Eve, Meyer somewhat jokingly outlined the challenge ahead for Day.
“Here’s your job. You beat the rival. Every other game you have to win as well. Every player has to get drafted in the first two rounds. No off-the-field issues, and never lose to that rival. And, by the way, your classroom, you’re dealing with 31 ACTs on the average. And I looked at him and I said: Go get it, tiger.”
Day knows all of that. He’s been inside the program for two years, seen two wins over Michigan, two Big Ten championships, and two wins in New Year’s Six bowls. He also knows well that the expectations surrounding the program are bigger than that. Two years in a row, Day has also been inside the program as it got bad news on Selection Sunday, missing out on the College Football Playoff.
The magnitude of his new position probably hasn’t totally settled in Day’s mind yet. After he was introduced as the team’s next head coach on December 4, Day immediately had to hit the road to lock down the Buckeyes’ 2019 recruiting class.
Overall, his first weeks were frantic, but successful. He kept most of the existing class in place and added a couple defensive linemen, including 5-star end Zach Harrison.
But that means he hasn’t been standing in the head coach’s office at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center thinking about what it would mean when his name was on the door, instead of Meyer’s.
For a while, it looked like he would have a chance to soak it all in at the end of the game. But a 28-3 laugher turned into a 28-23 nail-biter.
“Because the game was hanging on there at the end, I never quite had that moment,” Day said. “I thought maybe I would. We were just hanging on there at the end to win. I wanted to make sure we won the game. But then afterward, being on the field was special.”
In the locker room following the game, after Meyer symbolically handed over his whistle, Day addressed the team.
“When I stepped into that role in August, we had a group of players and a group of coaches who had to step up their game. Remember in that first meeting, we said we said we all have to raise our game up, and everybody in this group did. And we wouldn’t be standing here today if everybody in this room didn’t step up. We wouldn’t be there today if the culture that Urban Meyer built here wasn’t the way it was,” he said.
“And so now we’re going to keep moving this culture forward with the group here. And the reason why we can do that is because we can stand on the shoulders of the guys who have come before, the coaches that have come before, the administrators that have come before and the players. The seniors who are leaving here have left a legacy, and I’m proud to be charging this forward. I’m proud to be part of this group. And let’s go get ’em. Go Bucks.”