Ryan Day met Zinter's parents to console them in tunnel after he was carted off the field
This may have already been discussed in another thread and I just missed it (a LOT of threads since yesterday afternoon for some reason 🤔). Either way, for all the (rightful and well-earned) ire directed at Ryan Day from our fanbase, this is still good to see.
Freep link warning (for those who still observe the tradition):
November 26th, 2023 at 9:21 AM ^
Replace "players" with "coaches" and the statement is even more true.
They seem to have finally made a solid hire this time around, but everything you just said fits Dant O'Nio like a glove, which, in turn, tends to belie the point you made about their coaches not teaching douchebag behavior. It's possible that they just had a bunch of guys predisposed to dirty play and Mork didn't discourage it, and it's also possible Mork and Narduzzi were actively coaching it.
November 26th, 2023 at 12:36 PM ^
I Thought the fan interactions were as civil as it’s ever been.
November 26th, 2023 at 7:02 AM ^
Dude is one of the best WRs I've seen in years, and that's even more impressive with how good OSU has been at churning out receivers. He is going to be a hall of fame player unless something crazy happens.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:08 AM ^
Hartline is probably a good coach, but how much "churning" is really going on when most of the recruits at the position are 5-stars?
November 26th, 2023 at 8:17 AM ^
From 2020-2023, OSU had 11 top 100 wide receivers in their recruiting classes. Oddly Marvin Harrison Jr. was not one of them. He was ranked around 160. That offense is a Rolls Royce of 5 star talent.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:21 AM ^
When they showed him sit on the ground after Moore's INT, I said aloud "good game, Marvin, I hope you have a great career in the League, but I never want you to play against Michigan ever again". My wife wondered what was going on...
November 26th, 2023 at 7:06 AM ^
A surprising non douche moment from an extremely douche guy.
November 26th, 2023 at 9:41 AM ^
You can be a class act AND soft.
November 26th, 2023 at 7:14 AM ^
It’s human nature to see people we know about but don’t actually know as 2-dimensional. It’s nice to see compassion on Day’s part. I also felt the mutual respect the teams had for each other from my (extremely narrow) seat in the stands.
November 26th, 2023 at 7:20 AM ^
Well he still hired a PI firm to try to discredit all of these kids' achievements over the past 3 years.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:16 AM ^
Yes, but reading some of the comments here you would think meeting Zinter's parents erases all of the harm he caused this program. Funny how the narrative suddenly changes after he does one good deed.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:36 AM ^
I'm sure I'll get downvoted, but he didn't really cause the harm he only uncovered it. The harm was all self-inflicted by Stalions (hopefully only Stalions).
Yea it was still a shitty thing to do. But at the end of the day if there was nothing shady going on it wouldn't have mattered.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:51 AM ^
I'm genuinely asking, do we actually know for sure he did that? I know the suspicion is extremely high — and maybe well-founded — but I hadn't yet seen conclusive evidence that he was personally involved, or that Ohio State was.
Not that I'd be surprised ...
November 26th, 2023 at 11:10 AM ^
Thinking this as well. Didn’t see this post before commenting below.
November 26th, 2023 at 7:22 AM ^
You can say what you want about Ryan Day and his actions regarding our program but he's a stand-up guy that cares about his players, has them play clean, and he is a big outspoken supporter of mental health. That was a class act
I don't like Ryan Day the OSU head coach but I respect the person
November 26th, 2023 at 7:31 AM ^
"Respect?" That's a bridge too far for the guy who was probably more than a little involved in hiring the PI firm. I'll just refer to him as not entirely irredeemable. Kind of like making the trains run on time,
November 26th, 2023 at 7:55 AM ^
Every coach cares about their players and the vast majority of coaches have their players play clean. Supporting mental health seems like something a human should do.
Ryan Day is a crybaby that had a PI firm Investigate the program he couldn’t beat. He then cried to the Big 10 behind closed doors about a silly rule violation. He gives himself excuses before he loses with shitty vague references about what’s been going on at Michigan the last 2 years.
He is a douche and an asshat.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:16 AM ^
Stand-up guy?
November 26th, 2023 at 7:25 AM ^
he's a pos but this is a real nice act by him.
November 26th, 2023 at 7:58 AM ^
Hats off to him.
November 26th, 2023 at 7:58 AM ^
Class act from Ryan Day.
November 26th, 2023 at 7:59 AM ^
Good on Day. This rivalry is all about respect, unlike MSU…
November 26th, 2023 at 7:59 AM ^
Even douchebags can do nice things.
Everything isn't black and white in this world. We turn everything into cartoon heroes vs. villains, good vs. evil. Especially in sports.
I love Harbaugh, but sometimes he's a total dick.
Ryan Day is generally a total dick, but even the Grinch was nice to Cindy Lou before he robbed her house.
I hate Urban Meyer, but there were spots in that Swamp Kings doc, or sometimes when he's breaking down film on BTN, where he's not so bad.
People love their kids, or their pets, more than anything, but there's certainly instances where they make you madder than anything in the world (I don't have kids, but I'd imagine this is true).
So cool, Ryan Day was human for a second. He's also lost 3 straight to Michigan and fed excuses to his fanbase and to the media, he hired his bro to dig up dirt on his rival, he whines and complains more than Harbaugh, but the media (and refs) only focus on Harbaugh's sideline behavior. He's just a smug piece of shit...who happened to do something really nice and classy.
All things can be true.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:14 AM ^
Also, two things.
1. I wonder if Day saw and heard the injury. JJ said Zak was screaming and Trevor Keegan was yelling while holding Zak's foot.
I don't know about you, but experiencing something like that would rock me to my core.
...and 2. I wonder if Day regrets any of this. Did he know that it would get *THIS* out of hand? I'm sure it sounded like a great idea at the time. You get caught up in the rivalry. But I wonder if in a million years he thought it would turn into what it has turned into. It's obviously far worse for Harbaugh, but Day seems a little fatigued by it as well.
I'm projecting in a major way, I could be completely wrong. In fact, I'm *PROBABLY* completely wrong. But Day seemed less angry after this game and more tired. Defeated. Even beyond the tunnel walk that everyone saw, everything just felt like a guy who didn't want to do it anymore. At least not right now.
I'm sure this time off will recharge him and his hatred for Michigan. But if an NFL team called today, he seemed like a guy who would listen. Like a guy who, in this moment, is "done with this." Not because it's too much to handle or because you can't win, but it's like "what's the point?"
Defeated Day is an interesting Day. Like I said, he's got plenty of time to recharge now...he'll be back, Just for Men beard darker than ever. We'll be waiting.
November 26th, 2023 at 9:04 AM ^
Iron Man award to Keegan for going through that and coming back to put in a strong performance.
Hit send too soon. It isn't hard for me to imagine someone getting in Day's ear about signs. He should have as good an understanding of it as anyone but is mentally fragile enough in that position to believe it. Once it started it took on a life of it's own thanks to the media and coaches who can't win the game on the field.
November 26th, 2023 at 11:07 AM ^
He was defeated and tired because he pulled every stop out under the sun including a full investigation with a PI firm to uproot Michigan football.
Even with that, even without their head coach, he failed. You would feel defeated and tired too when you tried everything humanly possible and still lost.
November 26th, 2023 at 9:24 AM ^
He also gave Michigan's signs to its opponents.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:06 AM ^
Did he apologize for all the holding?
November 26th, 2023 at 8:06 AM ^
So he’s not the worst person ever. Congrats - this is normal Human behavior. But, he was happy to thrown UM and everything they accomplished under the bus. Imagine instead if he had said “the sign stealing thing is a big nothingburger”. I have lost all respect for him and doing one normal thing doesn’t make him some great guy.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:10 AM ^
Ryan Day is not a monster. The dude has kids and 85 players of his own. Some human compassion isn’t out of the ordinary (unless you are Urban). When Bo died, Tressel was effusive in his comments about him and came up to attend a memorial. I think, personality-wise, Day is trying to be someone he’s not with this “tough” BS. I also think he’s spoiled. He doesn’t seem like the ideal fit for OSU. That killer instinct is missing, that relentlessness that Urban had. Day seems more like an NFL coach, or a Conference Formerly Known as the PAC-12 coach. That said, I don’t think he’s a bad person. Also, to the “It’s just a game” crowd—pickup basketball is just a game. College football is a billion dollar industry.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:35 AM ^
Good people don't lie about someone else cheating. They don't hire PI firms to find something about others (we ALL have something). They don't feed a growing national hate for others. They don't conspire against others to generate their downfall.
Day did all of those things.
Nobody wants to see people hurt - especially when the cart comes on the field. Nobody. That he genuinely felt bad about Zinter's injury is what people do - all people, good and bad (evil doesn't care; evil is Hitler). Good on him for doing what people do.
And good on his team for showing the concern, sympathy, and respect for an opponent that was trying to give them the business. As others have said, this rivalry is great because both sides have a grudging respect for each other. They hit hard, they shove after the whistle, they celebrate everything that goes their way. But they do not dole out cheap shots. That's something I've never worried about in this game. Unlike the MSU game...
November 26th, 2023 at 8:10 AM ^
That was nice of him.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:17 AM ^
Not sure if it was mentioned but on Corum's TD on the very next play after Zinter's injury he gave a 6-5 for Zinter's jersey #.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:57 AM ^
Corum did that, yes. Directly into the camera lense and the entire world saw it.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:17 AM ^
The source is an Ohio State radio broadcast, so I am not sure it is legit until other sources mention it too. If true, then it was a great human gesture from Ryan Day.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:30 AM ^
Goddamn it. I love to hate Ryan Day for so many reasons but when you hear people who know him like Joel Klatt talk about him being a really good guy whose players love him and a guy he’s be willing to let his kids play for, then you see something like this, I have to give the guy respect. Kids clearly want to go play for him and as much as I think he’s a whiny bitch, this kind of stuff sets things right with me. I hope he has a long tenure at Ohio State so we can keep owning his ass but I’m gonna choose to view him in a little different light moving forward because this counts for a lot with me and it should for others too.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:32 AM ^
Wait, who actually saw this happen, in the 3rd quarter, in the tunnel. So, so skeptical on reporting anymore. Jaded.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:34 AM ^
Very nice gesture. Good for Coach Day.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:40 AM ^
Was probably Connor dressed up as Day.
Day was just asking if Jim was leaving for the NFL
November 26th, 2023 at 8:42 AM ^
I love Ryan Day. I hope he stays at OSU forever. He's a great man. Give him a lifetime contract.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:47 AM ^
Nah, fuck him. If he cared so much about the players, he wouldn't be doing shady shit to try and ruin their program.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:47 AM ^
We can both dislike Ryan Day and also give him credit for a classy move in this specific situation. It’s fine.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:52 AM ^
Exactly this.
We want to cast judgment in black and white terms and that's just silly.
On one hand Day has done plenty of things that make him look like a complete ass. He's talked a lot and there's the whole investigation business.
On the other, you have things like this, and he has reportedly gone way above and beyond on mental health stuff with his players. The details escape me at the moment, but it was very classy.
I don't particulaly care for Ryan Day but to label him as some kind of malevolent bastard is just too much. He's not Urban Meyer.
November 26th, 2023 at 8:52 AM ^
Good, I hope day stays as coach for another ten years
November 26th, 2023 at 8:56 AM ^
Ryan Day is not Mark Dantonio or Mel Tucker. He seems like a decent guy and before SignGate, I was supportive of the guy based on him overcoming the adversity of losing his dad to suicide. The last month has made me look at him a bit differently, but I am not surprised that he made that gesture.
Even with everything that's happened in the last month, UM/OSU is still a far healthier rivalry than UM/MSU.
November 26th, 2023 at 9:07 AM ^
Who would have thought this post would turn into a Ryan Day lovefest
November 26th, 2023 at 9:09 AM ^
*allegedly
That said, people say Day is a nice guy. And he did toss his player out of the game last year after the head butt.
I can totally see Day being a genuinely decent, if somewhat naive and entitled, human being who is being corrupted by the toxic environment and win-at-all-costs pressure of OSU.
November 26th, 2023 at 9:12 AM ^
it was the Zinters who were consoling Ryan Day
I have to give a tip of the hat to OSU and the way they played. They played their asses off, they played clean without showboating and weren't dirty. Fortunately we also played our asses off and got the epic victory. It came down to us having a better QB.
November 26th, 2023 at 9:16 AM ^
The game was remarkably clean despite the intense emotions going in. Day seems to me to be a basically a decent human being. I do think the pressure of this job is really getting to him which is probably why he should leave OSU for mental health reasons.
I am still intensely angry over the snitching. But if CS wasn’t doing it there would be nothing to snitch about. CS is ultimately who we should be most angry at for this.
November 26th, 2023 at 9:19 AM ^
I think Day is legitimately a good person.
He's just a softer than dogshit football coach and a crybaby whiner.