Ryan Day will have to watch from home when Ohio State plays Michigan State on Saturday. He won’t be able to communicate with his assistant coaches or players while the game is happening, and he knows that isn’t going to be easy.
“It’ll probably be the hardest three hours of my life,” Day said during his radio show on Thursday.
Because Day tested positive for COVID-19 last Friday, he’s been physically separated from his staff and players all week, and he won’t be able to make the trip to East Lansing with his team on Saturday. Because NCAA rules prohibit coaches from using virtual technology to communicate with players and coaches from outside the stadium during games, Day won’t be able to call plays or give direction to his team once the game kicks off.
He has been communicating with the team all week through Zoom calls, though, and he’ll be in communication with them up until game time on Saturday. And he’s confident that his assistant coaches, led by associate head coach Larry Johnson, offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson and defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs, will be able to get the job done without him this weekend.
“We’ve had to really plan ahead and be ready to put these contingency plans in place, and we have a very veteran coaching staff, and Larry’s already done a great job of keeping this thing rolling, and he does a really good job in front of the team and motivation,” Day said on Thursday’s show, his only scheduled media appearance of the week. “And then on both sides of the ball, you have veteran guys. Kevin Wilson and Kerry Coombs, Greg Mattison and then on special teams, Matt Barnes, these guys who have been around for awhile. So very, very good support group, so when things like this happen, you can keep it going.”
Johnson will serve as the leader of the staff on Saturday, as he has been named acting head coach until Monday, when Day will be allowed to return. He’ll have the final say on all in-game decisions that are made on Saturday, just as Day typically would.
But that doesn’t mean he’ll be making those decisions alone. He’ll be working in close concert with Wilson and Coombs, and Wilson will be moving down to the field as he leads offensive play calling in Day’s absence on Saturday.
“It’s not gonna be just me,” Johnson said Thursday. “But I feel really good going into the game because we have a great, very experienced coaching staff, so it will be all of us taking a part in trying to get a win in East Lansing on Saturday.”
Wilson, who typically coaches from the press box, said he and Day thought it was important for him to be on the sidelines this weekend so he can communicate more directly with the other coaches on the field as well as with quarterback Justin Fields.
“I think to be able to look at Justin in his eyes and get a feel for what he likes or doesn’t like … I think that was important to Ryan to be down there a little bit,” Wilson said. “It is a little bit calmer in the press box and easier to call, and the view won’t be as good, so I’m gonna have to get some great information from our coaches up top, because it is a different view. But I was down there at Oklahoma half the time, I was at Indiana the whole time, kind of calling the game from the sideline. So I’ve done it a few years.”
Kevin Wilson will coach from the field instead of the press box this week since Ryan Day won't be able to travel to Michigan State.
Day has been able to watch practices remotely this week, with video coordinator George Momirovic delivering video to him “almost in real time,” and he likes what he’s seen from afar. He knows it’s been a tough week for his players after last week’s trip to Illinois had to be canceled on Friday night, but he’s impressed with the way his players have continued to work through the challenges they’ve faced.
“There’s been a lot of ups and downs this season, and the fact that these guys just keep working at it, they keep sticking together, they keep putting great practices together, they keep working toward a final goal of winning a championship, I don’t think they’re getting nearly enough credit for doing that,” Day said. “It has been very, very difficult for them, and the leadership that these guys have shown this week, being down some players, being down some staff, has really been excellent.”
Wilson is also pleased with what he’s seen from the team in person, and he believes this is a week where assistant coaches like himself, Coombs, Johnson and Mattison – all of whom have salaries over $1 million – have to earn their money.
“I think great leaders manage stress. Everybody can always lead when it’s 72 and sunny, but what do you do when things aren’t going well, and I think it starts with Coach Day,” Wilson said. “We got great support here with our support staff, and quite honestly to me, it’s what you get paid for. You get paid for weeks like this. It’s been challenging, but it’s been an outstanding week.”
While Day won’t be making the trip to himself, he said the plan for the rest of the team is to go through its final round of pregame COVID-19 testing at 8 p.m. Friday and then fly up north once the tests are cleared.
We won’t know exactly which players are out this week until Saturday morning, as Ohio State will be waiting to release its status report of unavailable players until then, but Day acknowledged that the Buckeyes will be shorthanded this week. He believes the players who can make the trip will be ready to compete for a win on Saturday, though, because he believes their character is strong.
“It’ll say a lot about our program if we can rally this week after having another disappointing weekend last weekend, and come on the road and go get this win,” Day said.
