While there were many prompted moments of applause during Ross Bjork’s introductory press conference as Ohio State’s soon-to-be athletic director on Wednesday, only one came up unprompted.
It arose after Bjork finished answering a question about Ryan Day. Bjork expressed no shortage of confidence in the Buckeyes’ football coach.
“This guy right here, Coach Day,” Bjork said, pointing to Day in the audience. “He’s gonna get it done and it’s gonna be a lot of fun when we win those championships.”
From those and other comments Bjork made about the New Hampshire native, it's clear that he's arriving at Ohio State with full belief in Day to lead the Buckeyes' football team forward.
With five years now complete in his Columbus tenure, there’s been some noise surrounding Day this offseason.
Now off three consecutive losses to Michigan – each of which led to the Buckeyes missing the Big Ten Championship Game – Day enters what could be a pivotal 2024 campaign for him and the program’s future.
Still, Day holds a 56-8 record at Ohio State with three College Football Playoff appearances and one national title game appearance. Bjork likened Day to former New Mexico State head coach Jerry Kill, who won 10 games with the Lobos in 2023. In Bjork's words, “If you can coach, you can coach.”
“Brilliant mind in the game of football,” Bjork said of Day. “High-level leader. Knows what championship football looks like, knows how to put all of those pieces together. We get it. The Game matters. So he and I talked about that and the best thing that I can do is lock arms with him.”
“He’s gonna get it done and it’s gonna be a lot of fun when we win those championships.”– Ross Bjork on Ryan Day
Day has already set about making changes to position Ohio State the best he can for next season. He’s parted ways with safeties coach Perry Eliano and special teams coordinator Parker Fleming, hiring former Indiana co-defensive coordinator Matt Guerrieri to take over Eliano’s role.
Ohio State has also added four players from the transfer portal, including its likely starting quarterback in Will Howard and two-time All-SEC running back Quinshon Judkins.
Even though he doesn’t fully take over for Gene Smith as athletic director until July, Bjork wants to support Day in whatever way he can as the Buckeyes prepare for 2024 this offseason. He'll start as a senior advisor under Smith in March.
“He’s the coach, he’s the strategist, he has to build the roster,” Bjork said. “It’s my job to say, ‘What are the infrastructure pieces, what are the culture pieces that I can help you with?’ And then let him go to work. And by all accounts, those things are all coming together. I know he and Gene have been locking arms on key changes and I’m here to help in whatever I can do in that realm while they make those decisions.”
Another way Bjork hopes to support Day is by giving him the resources to acquire the best possible assistant coaches.
“(The coach) makes the decision on who the right person is and then it’s the AD’s job to say, ‘Okay, what does the contract look like? What’s the budget? What’s the salary? What are the parameters of the contract?’” Bjork said. “That’s where the AD comes in. But if it’s somebody that we want, it’s somebody that we can get and you can pay for it, then let's give the infrastructure and the resources to the coach because we want to compete at the highest level.”
Day, who spoke to reporters for about a minute following Wednesday’s press conference, holds a mutual respect with Bjork and thinks they share a similar vision on the future of Ohio State’s program.
“Just really excited to be moving forward and excited about the future,” Day said. “Just short conversations (with Bjork) but very impressed.”
Bjork was also asked Wednesday about Chris Holtmann, the Buckeyes’ seventh-year men’s basketball coach. Ohio State is currently reeling from a three-game losing streak and a 12-game road skid, with Michigan snapping its own five-game losing streak against the team two days ago.
“He seems like a great guy, he seems like he’s doing a great job,” Bjork said of Holtmann. “Obviously don’t like losing that game on Monday. So we’ve talked about, how does he build chemistry and culture on the stretch run? You’ve got two-and-a half months left in the regular season or so. I know he’s looking to finish strong.”
Despite his clear backing of Day and overall support of Holtmann, Bjork didn’t shy away from what the goal should be at Ohio State.
“You want to win championships,” Bjork said. “This is not for the faint of heart. Be not afraid. So we will not be afraid of embracing that. The coaches understand the magnitude of all of that. So they have to have the wherewithal, they have to have the chops to deal in that environment, to understand the dynamics. But that’s Ohio State and that should be the standard.”
Should the performance of either team force Bjork to consider making a coaching change, Bjork will rely on the knowledge of the programs he hopes to gain from his time working alongside Smith to ensure a seamless transition.
“People always look at it like, ‘That’s not your coach’ – it’s the institution that comes first,” Bjork said. “So I’m gonna lean in on Gene over these next five to six months. I’m gonna understand the dynamics and the culture. The No. 1 thing that I can do is get to know the people because that teaches you about the culture.
“So I’ll learn a lot from Gene and then eventually, it’s me. I’ll formulate my decisions. And there’s lots of ways to evaluate coaches. What I’ll do first is get to know them. Are there any barriers to success? What are the challenges right now? Is there momentum in the program? So we’ll just sit down and learn.”
