Former Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel Provides Thoughts on Ryan Day’s Performance As Leader of the Buckeyes: “I’m a Ryan Day Fan”
The Ohio State football head coach works in a fishbowl. That’s how it was, how it is, and how it always will be.
As the latest in a long line of successful men to hold this position, Ryan Day understands that every decision he makes, both on and off the pitch, is put under the microscope locally and nationally, creating the highest of highs and the lowest of lows for the leader of the Buckeyes.
Day’s early years as head coach were full of highs, as Ohio State won two Big Ten titles, two trips to the college football playoffs and a second-place national finish in 2019 and 2020.
But as Day’s tenure continued, the lows also made an appearance. In 2021 and 2022, the Buckeyes suffered back-to-back losses to Michigan, failed to reach the Big Ten championship, and made only one of two possible trips to the CFP, with this year’s appearance being considered “stepping back in the playoffs” after USC. failed to beat Utah in the Pac-12 Championship.
Because the downs are the most recent experience surrounding Day’s time as head coach of the Buckeyes, some fans of the program have recently expressed dissatisfaction with his performance in the role. However, there are still many who endorse Day and what he built in Columbus, and former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel is one of them.
According to The Canton Repository, Tressel offered a vote of confidence in Day’s leadership during a speech to the Hall of Fame Luncheon Club in Canton, Ohio on Monday. Tressel believes the program is in good hands with Day as head coach.
“I’m a Ryan Day fan,” Tressel said. “I think he has something in him.”
Tressel spoke about Day while expressing his views on the NCAA transfer portal and the benefits of name, image and likeness for players – now common elements of college football that he and the predecessor de Day, Urban Meyer, never had to deal as head coaches at Ohio State. Because of this, Tressel says Day is dragging into a different world than he and Meyer, but it’s a world that Tressel thinks Day is perfectly capable of navigating.
“I’m a Ryan Day fan. I think he has something in him. –Jim Tressel
“People who spend a lot of time complaining (the NCAA transfer portal and NIL) aren’t going to progress,” Tressel said. “People trying to figure out how to do it well are going to be way ahead. … I think Ryan Day is going to be fine. Of course he will lose some players and of course there will be a player or two who will come to him.
“He will never be a guy who runs around and has 19 roster changes. It will recruit and build well within it.
As Tressel continued to take a stance on the transfer portal, he spoke of the value of “fighting through tough times” and dealing with adversity, which Tressel thinks college football players could learn today. today.
The same could also be said for Day, who now looks to 2023 with the same goals he’s always had for the program: beat Michigan in November, win the Big Ten championship in December and hoist a CFP trophy in January.
Tressel thinks Day can do those things in the years to come as Ohio State’s head coach. Now it’s up to Day to prove him right.
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