The empty office spaces next to Ryan Day’s in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center perhaps prove the old saying, “It’s lonely at the top.”
A college football national championship brought more than fame and a likely well-paid contract extension to Ryan Day’s door, it was the ultimate fulfilment for a man who handled torrents of disappointment, external pressure, criticism and even ugliness. But it also brought a picking apart of the coaching staff that helped push him to the mountaintop.
Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly is off to be offensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders as defensive coordinator Jim Knowles is bolting for Penn State. It’s a development that’s only shocking in the sense that it’s a shock to Ohio State’s system – Day anticipated such events the day after the Buckeyes won the national title.
“I just think there should be great opportunity for all these guys,” Day said of his coaching staff on Jan. 21. “We'll work hard to make sure that they have an opportunity here at Ohio State, but if they have opportunities to go other places and do other things, then that's part of the reward of winning a championship.”
Day’s hiring abilities will be tested this offseason as he replaces both of those coaches and offensive line coach Justin Frye, who took a job as the Arizona Cardinals’ offensive line coach. It’s not Day's first rodeo in what will be his seventh season as Ohio State’s head man. But it will be the first time he makes such critical decisions after a national title.
There’s a comfort and a caution that comes with sitting upon a lonely throne. The comfort is the warmth of the gold-plated CFP national title trophy that will sit forever in the WHAC and the banner that will hang forever in the Horseshoe. At a place with less patience than a hungry toddler, such an afterglow could make the viewing public more willing to wait for things to click again in Columbus.
No doubt Day will be urgent in getting his team ready to compete for a national championship again in 2025, even as just three starters return from his 2024 defense and four from his original offensive starting lineup prior to the team’s injury-related shuffles on the offensive line. But the pressures of job security and unachieved ambitions – at least outside the Michigan game – is lifted from the program.
That’s the comfort a national title provides, the maneuverability to bring in new coordinators with a slew of new faces in key roles and have the patience for everyone to coalesce, especially as a really good Texas team rides into Columbus with revenge on its mind to open the season. One spring and summer after a two-loss Ohio State squad took home a national title, a loss in that game wouldn't sting as bad, not in the 12-team CFP era. Ohio State won the far more important game in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 10.
Coaches moving on to better opportunities is simply a sign of greatness at elite college football programs. Georgia lost defensive coordinator Dan Lanning after its 2021 national championship and offensive coordinator Todd Monken after it repeated as national champs in 2022. Alabama OC Steve Sarkisian took Texas’ head coaching job after the Crimson Tide’s title in 2020.
Where the caution enters after a national championship run is in being OK with the status quo. Especially as Day has embraced his CEO role and left play calling in the past – a move that clearly worked for Ohio State in 2024 – getting his coordinator hires right is critical.
One only has to look at the year following the Buckeyes’ previous national title to see where bad coordinator hires hurt them severely. Offensive coordinator Tom Herman left to become head coach at Houston after Ohio State took the 2014 college football crown. Urban Meyer tried to recreate him in the aggregate (that’s a Moneyball reference) by promoting offensive line coach Ed Warinner to OC and hiring Nebraska’s Tim Beck to be co-OC.
Both men were out of Columbus within two seasons. A super-talented 2015 Ohio State squad returning most of the biggest pieces from its title-winning team saw its offense implode in a 17-14 loss to Michigan State at home, costing the team its chances at a repeat. In 2016 the Buckeyes were a substandard 31st nationally in total offense and got shut out in the CFP semifinals against Clemson, 31-0, their second loss of that season.
Ohio State safeties coach Matt Guerrieri is a candidate to replace defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.
The right hire may well be an internal one for Day. But it shouldn’t be an internal hire just to maintain said status quo. The appeal of that is understood when Caleb Downs returns on defense and Jeremiah Smith on offense, but Ezekiel Elliott, Michael Thomas, both quarterbacks and more returned for Ohio State’s offense in 2015 and they fell short in the same system as 2014, just run by different people.
Safeties coach Matt Guerrieri is worth a look at defensive coordinator, co-offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Brian Hartline is worth a look to handle play calling for the first time. But they need to emerge as the best options as Day looks everywhere.
It sure feels nicer to do that while basking in the joy of a title run, though.
