Evaluating Ryan Day as a coach

I do think it is a little unfair to judge coaches based on their performance in top 5 games, which are obviously the hardest to win and also provide the smallest sample size.

It's in a way similar to Harbaugh being 0-5 at one point vs Ohio State and saying, "well he's good, but he can't win the big one," when those are the hardest games to win.

Day did inherit a better situation that Harbaugh obviously, and I think Harbaugh is a better coach, but just like Harbaugh, Day has caught some rough breaks in close games in those top 5 matchups too.

Day obviously does have some weaknesses, especially in game management. But I think overall he is proven to be a good coach. If the pressure of beating Michigan forced him out of Columbus I would celebrate, unlike some people, because I don't think Ohio State's next coach will be better.

Then again, we're talking about the school that moved pretty seamlessly from Tressel to Meyer to Day, so maybe they would pull of another miracle. But you'd think, like every other major power, they're due for a "oops we hired the wrong guy" and 5+ years of trying to recover from that at some point.

Harbaugh is so far up this guy's ass that he's now a serious problem for future games against us.  He can't function normally on the sideline.  That's why they performed so much better against Georgia.    

He has that seizure penguin dance that the team really digs..... the one where he bounces around with a whistle in his mouth.....

there's that.

Use a 10 foot pole.

Ryan Day is a great coach, and not too bad a human being. 
 

5 stars on their own can only do so much. Solution...pay more money for more mercenaries and blissfully ignore reality.

I don't think too much of Day.  He's basically James Franklin, but with slightly better players, and his poor game management goes only in one direction (risk aversion) while Franklin bizarrely alternates between risk aversion and wild gambling. 

Day recruits well enough, and the Big Ten is bad enough, that he's all but assured of 10-11 wins per season.  In the few games where his coaching can actually make a difference, we've seen his body of work.

As a Michigan fan, I think he's fantastic for them.

Day is a good coach. And the M fan base obsession with proving he's a bad coach is a little odd. Michigan beat a really good OSU team, number 2-3 by every computer ranking. They have barely lost for years on end and were a field goal away from winning it. It's okay to respect your rivals and appreciate a good win. It doesn't make me feel better to prove Day is a bad coach and that OSU is a bad program. I actually prefer feeling like Michigan beat a damn good team. 

Day "blew the game" against Georgia?!?!? His kicker missed a within-range last-second field goal, against the consensus best team in America, while Michigan was getting beat by fucking TCU! 

If Day "blew that game" ... what did Harbaugh do against Georgia the year before, when we got destroyed?

(I'm not saying at all that Harbaugh is to blame. I'm making the point that blaming Day for losing to Georgia is flat-out stupid).

This is insane. As is the "anybody could do what Day did with those players," analysis. Is it so fucking hard to say Day is a good coach? He may not be Urban Meyer, but fuck, an 88% career winning percentage? You're literally saying that any coach in America would have an 88% career winning percentage after four years?!?

I'm a Michigan fan. I frankly cheer against Ohio State in every single game they play. And I'd rather have Harbaugh, 10 times out of 10 (even though I wrongly believed he had lost the team after 2020). But damn, you can't simultaneously say that beating OSU demonstrates how good we are, and that OSU sucks because they lose to us. 

That's such stupid zero-sum thinking that it's crazy. Remember when everyone was pointing out what Harbaugh's winning percentage against top ten teams was, especially on the road? Remember when he was 0-5 against Ohio State? Oh-and-five?? (And no, those weren't all with Brady Hoke players).

I dunno, man. All the hatred and mockery seems over the top. Good natured teasing of your opponents is legit, but the personal insults, the vitriol, and the irrational hatred is too much. It's a football game, played by 20 year olds, and it's not possible to tie. One team has to win and one team has to lose. Sometimes, particularly when one team has a particularly good collection of players, that can happen several times in a row. But they can both be good teams. They can even both have good coaches. What's wrong with that?

He's James Franklin with hair

I do think the softness of his program shows in big games in subtle moments.  His "toughness" speech at Notre Dame was one of the most pathetic moments I can remember from a coach.

We'll see what happens but I think this little attempt to come after Harbaugh and Michigan through 'signgate' is going to really hurt him long run.  I don't think he'll ever have a job as good as he has it at Ohio State.

He would be better off being a NFL offensive coordinator because playcalling and gameplanning are his primary strengths. For his mental health he needs to leave OSU because it’s quite clear the pressure is getting to him.

Personally I think it is more helpful to look at the individual aspects of being a head coach, rather than just his overall W-L record.

1) Recruiting: does he evaluate talent well and bring in the right players;

2) Development: does he hire the right position coach and ensure players quickly become productive and steadily improve toward their talent ceilings;

3) Scheme/game planning: does he adjust his schemes and game plans to capitalize on the talent available on the present roster;

4) In-game: does he make good adjustments and situational decisions as necessary to maximize his team's chances of winning games;

5) Culture & Leadership: does he build and foster a winning culture within the program that enables sustained long-term success? Does he keep the team focused and key moments or times of adversity?

I think Day is between okay and pretty good in most of these areas, but you can find fault with several of them. I'm not sure he's excellent in any single area (perhaps recruiting but my neighbor's cat could sign a top-5 recruiting class at OSU, perhaps development but WR is not the only position on the football field). 

Ryan Day is a good coach, and as much as we all clown him I think most of us would be happy if he got fired yesterday.

To the good: 

- Nearly immaculate in winning the games he should win.

- You do have to give him credit for being pro-active with some hires.  He recognized right quick that the defense was a huge trouble spot in 2021 and Jim Knowles was a solid hire - for all that we rightly meme on jUst fiVe pLaYs - really turned them around in 2023 and made us work for our yards.  There was just only so much he could do with absolute scrubs like Cam Brown and 2022 Ransom. 

- Players seem to like him and does the CEO aspect fairly well

- Elite at recruiting offensive skill positions.

- Mostly good as an offensive tactician (see next segment)

- No reason to suspect that he killed five hookers and stashed their corpses in a culvert feeding the Olentangy.

To the bad:

- Day is an excellent playcaller... until he isn't.  Sherrone Moore had to coach the biggest game of his life and the biggest game of this century on two weeks' notice and didn't blink.  The only game theory decision I will neg him for was not calling something more aggressive and hi-ceilinged on 3rd and 6 on the last drive, but even that is defensible.  Ryan Day shrunk from the moment at least twice in similar high-leverage moments.

- It's good that the players like him, but he's not able to get the max out of them.  With their talent level, that's still pretty damn good and better at doing more with more than Jimbo Fisher, but he's just A-tier at developing talent and not S-tier like we are.

- He's been just....okay at recruiting guys in the trenches

- In spite of his excellent record, he is at heart a bitch-made softie who let Harbaugh who had been 0-5 vs OSU set up shop rent-free in his head, and it trickles down to everything he's done since, which culminated most embarassingly in asking fkn Lou Holtz to validate his toughness and the cringiest mosh pit hype ritual ever:

 

Basically..he was born on 3rd base but he didn't hit a triple and hasn't scored

To be fair, doesn't damn near every team have a poor record vs the top 5?  

Right now, Ohio St. can't beat Michigan and Georgia.  That's nothing to be upset about.  Not many teams can beat them either.  

If the fans get what they want and get rid of Day, who replaces him?  Be careful what you wish for.  

Buckeyes are comparing Day to Meyer.  The one major difference, IMO, was the strength of the B1G conference and, specifically, Michigan - during Meyer’s tenure.

IIRC, there were a number of Michigan teams that “went down to the wire” with the Buckeyes - if it was a spot, a penalty that wasn’t called, a poorly timed turnover, etc.

Day is a good coach - solid offensive mind.  But, the Buckeyes are losing because of their recent lines.  Neither line is quite as strong as they were 5+ years ago.  They struggle running the ball.

I’m very happy with Michigan - our players and staff - development- and most importantly CULTURE.

it’s often been said - what would you prefer, a 3/4* player who busts their behind, or an entitled 5*?  Look at how effectively the OSU WR corps blocks downfield.   That just one of many differences between the teams.

At this point he's a recruiter.  Nothing they do on the field shows any particular coaching acumen.  Maybe he does belong in the NFL where he can focus on his supposedly brilliant offensive skills

The culture at tOSU gives off the vibe that the program is just a display window for some of the NFL's future talent.  I don't see any nastiness over there anymore, nor do they ever look like they are having fun playing together during the game, but rather just punching into a job.

You would of thought that after we killed them in front of their fans and planted the flag in 2022 that the Buckeyes would have been looking for some pre-game disrespekt and scuffles with us, but instead they had a dance-off on the sidelines amongst themselves. 

TL;DR: No Audacity, no Unmitigated Gall.

This is really good data. From what I have seen when we play them year to year, there is not a lot of "special" play designs created for the the big games. I can think of 5-6 plays we have ran on offense that were clever and countered our tendencies, and were pivotal in sustaining a drive and/or getting into scoring position. OSU doesn't seem to have this, and probably doesn't because they believe their talent and execution alone can make the difference.

Additionally, as has been mentioned, this is an NFL factory we are playing. A lot of their guys go there with expectation that they will be showcased for scouts and have an opportunity to put up big numbers. No knock on them, in a world that profits at their expense I honestly think this is the appropriate approach, but you can see the difference in that attitude on plays such as Marvin not trying to break-up the pass or tackle Will Johnson.

And based on the stories from the NFL about Urban Meyer, I would bet a pretty penny that he probably bullied his players at OSU into playing more aggressive.