Skull Session: Ryan Day Holds Himself Accountable for Ohio State’s Loss to Michigan, the Buckeyes’ 2025 Class is Full of Studs and Jim Tressel Discusses When He Recruited LeBron James

By Chase Brown on December 5, 2024 at 5:00 am
Ryan Day
Adam Cairns / USA TODAY Sports
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Welcome to the Skull Session.

Geez ow.

Have a good Thursday.

 AT HIS FEET. Ohio State buried the lede at Ryan Day’s Wednesday press conference. It had to. Otherwise, there would have been no questions about recruiting amid the head coach’s first media session since his fourth consecutive loss in The Game. Even if there were, those questions would have felt out of place. 

So, inside a crowded team room at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, most reporters — outside of Garrick Hodge, Jeremy Birmingham, Mick Walker, etc. — waited to ask the apparent questions while Day celebrated the future arrival of five-star quarterback Tavien St. Clair, five-star cornerback Devin Sanchez and 23 other commitments-turned-signees.

Around the 15 to 20-minute mark, Dave Biddle broke the ice. He looked to Jerry Emig for the all-clear. Emig nodded. The temperature of the room changed as cheer moved to dread. Biddle asked about Ohio State’s loss to Michigan and, more precisely, Day and Chip Kelly’s insistence on running the football when the Buckeyes had mismatches at wide receiver.

“Overall, let me start with the defense. I feel like the defense played excellent. Really, from the Oregon game on, some of those adjustments that were made have been excellent. I thought they played really, really hard in this game. Was everything perfect? No. But I thought they played really good,” he said. “When you look at the offensive side of the ball, it was not a good day. It wasn’t a good day across the board on offense. Some of that had to do with the coaching and some of the game planning that went on. There’s no question that we could have done a better job getting the ball to the perimeter.

“I think one of the key points in the game, though, is when you have five trips to the red zone and you only get 10 points. In those moments there, we had a couple of missed field goals, we had the interception, we had the field goal and we had the touchdown. We hadn’t done that up to that moment. That was a big deal. And then, on special teams, we had some other things we didn’t execute well. We had a couple of kicks that weren’t fielded great down on the 7-yard line, which created some coming-out situations. And then we had the two missed field goals.”

You could see the disappointment on his face, particularly as he held himself accountable for the compounding mistakes that led to Ohio State’s defeat.

“Ultimately, that comes back on me as the head coach,” Day said. “Whether it’s the right guys being in the right spot, the recruiting part of it, the scheme, the coaching — that’s on me. When you look back on it, there are definitely ways we could have gotten the ball to the perimeter. I think we threw it 35 times in the game, which I think is Will (Howard’s) second-most throws. It certainly played into it in the red zone and coming out. … There are definitely ways we could have done a better job. It’s the coach’s job to put the guys in the best position to be successful, and that didn’t always happen on Saturday.”

No, it didn’t. As much as that pains me — and Day far more than me  — Saturday’s outcome cannot be undone. What happened, happened.

“I’m disappointed about this more than anybody. It crushes me,” Day said. “But we’re gonna continue to move and figure out what it is and this obstacle. We have a great way to make this a little bit better by going and winning the whole thing this year. But then we figure out what it is and get it fixed moving forward. That’s it. It’s my job to make sure I’m focused on this team right now and with recruiting to make sure the pieces are ready moving forward.”

This team right now…

It still has one of the most talented rosters in college football.

It still has one of the best coaching staffs in college football.

There’s no reason Ohio State can’t still win it all in 2024.

“We got a lot in front of us. As much as this hurts, we have a chance to play for a national championship,” Day said. “When the dust settles, here we are. We don’t turn around after a day and move on. That’s not gonna happen. But we’ve come in here and had some meetings…

… some player-only meetings? …

Kidding.

Or am I?

“We’re gonna get out on the field (Wednesday) and move around a little bit. It’s almost like the NFL. You know, you think about teams in the Wild Card who get that first win and get some momentum going to win the whole thing. That’s all out in front of us. We have plenty of good enough players to do that. It’s gonna come down to the leaders, pulling everybody together knowing that we’ve got some guys maybe going to the portal and we’ve got a couple of things. But all of those things are gonna happen whether we lost or we won. 

“Here we are, 10-2, frustrated with how the season ended, but everything’s out in front of us. We’ve had good conversations. I think the guys are moving in (a positive) direction. I know we want to know what the next target is, and we’ll get that on Sunday. But it’s a good chance we’re gonna be hosting here. That’s exciting for our guys. I know we’ll rally around this thing and go after it.”

Amen.

Ohio Against the World.

 HERE TO STAY. Day received many difficult questions on Wednesday, many of which related to his future in Columbus.

Does he expect to be Ohio State’s head coach in 2025?

“Yes,” Day answered.

Has he ever considered leaving Ohio State for another position?

“No. No. This is a wonderful place. I got a great job. One of the best jobs in America,” Day answered.

What is his “sales pitch” to people who want him fired?

“I don’t think I need to have a sales pitch. I feel their frustration. I don’t know what else to tell you. There’s no way to defend losing (The Game) four years in a row, but I know this: We’re gonna play really hard in this (playoff) game. We’re gonna swing as hard as we possibly can,” Day answered. “We have a great group of guys. We’re gonna move on to this next challenge. And then we have to go attack it with everything we possibly have. That’s about it. 

“I get the frustration. I know it comes with this job. But also, we’ve won a lot of games around here, too. We’ve lost some key ones, I know, but we’re right there. We have to keep swinging at it. We have to keep cracking it. Sometimes, when you’re really close and you feel frustrated, you just have to push through. That’s what we’re gonna do.”

Does he feel like Ross Bjork and Ohio State’s administration have his back?

“Well, I think everybody’s frustrated, and we know it’s not acceptable. I get that part of it. But I think everybody knows that. We have to go and attack this thing moving forward. That’s what it’s gonna be. We have an opportunity to go to the national championship, and everyone around here has been very supportive. That’s really what it is. I know what the job is. I know where the focus needs to be. There hasn’t been a ton of communication other than that.”

I admire Day for answering those questions, as well as the reporters who asked them. It couldn’t have been comfortable for either side, but that’s the business!

 BUCKEYES THROUGH AND THROUGH. OK. Enough about Day. I have to talk about this 2025 class! Here are all the high school prospects who became Buckeyes on Wednesday (Jarquez Carter is expected to sign on Thursday):

I love this class.

I love their parents, too.

Yeah, it’s talented. But it’s also loyal. In the name, image and likeness era, these prospects could have chased a bag or playing time or something else entirely. Instead, these 25 (+1 for Carter) prospects decided to be Buckeyes.

They believe in The People

They believe in The Tradition

They believe in The Excellence.

They believe!

I hope there are (at least) four Gold Pants, four Big Ten titles and four national titles in their future!

 KING JAMES, THE WIDE RECEIVER? To end the Skull Session, here’s a great story from The Vest, The Senator and The GOAT, Jim Tressel, about his recruitment of LeBron James:

“He was a good receiver,” Tressel told former Cleveland Cavaliers forward Austin Carr. “He was a beast. All you had to do was throw it up there, and he could fly. And he was tough. He had everything.”

Tressel made his recruiting pitch to James inside an office at St. Vincent-St. Mary’s High School.

“LeBron, you’re the guy I came to see,” Tressel said. “I think you should come and play one year of football and one year of basketball … and then go ahead on to the NBA.”

James smiled and responded, “I don’t think so, Coach.”

The rest of the story is history as we know it.

Still, it’s fun to imagine what a 6-foot-9, 250-pound James would have looked like wearing scarlet and gray in the Horseshoe!

 SONG OF THE DAY. "You Can't Always Get What You Want" - Rolling Stones.

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