The Joel Klatt Show: A College Football Podcast - Ryan Day on the Pressure, Expectations and Changes at Ohio State | Big Noon Conversations

Episode Date: July 8, 2024

FOX Sports’ lead college football analyst Joel Klatt talks with Ohio State’s Ryan Day about the expectations and pressure that comes with being the head coach in Columbus. Coach Day discusses why he made the decision to give up play calling and whether Buckeye fans will notice a difference on Offense with Chip Kelly as the OC this upcoming season. Day breaks down why several NFL Draft-eligible players on his team came together to return for one more season and also reveals whether Michigan’s National Championship has provided extra motivation for the Buckeyes to win it all in 2024. The two also discuss Nick Saban’s retirement and adapting to the challenges in the new world of college football with NIL and the Transfer Portal. Joel and Coach wrap up the episode by picking their favorite play calls during Day’s tenure at Ohio State. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

C.J. Stroud says it the best. He says pressure is a privilege. And that means you're relevant. And I've realized that more and more every year that this job's not for the faint of heart. You've got to make hard decisions. Most influential people in the sport talking about the sport globally.

This time on Big Noon Conversations, I talk with Ryan Day, head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes. All right, we're joined by the head coach of the Buckeyes, Ryan Day. Appreciate your time, first of all, man. And you welcome us into your office. This is beautiful in here. Yeah, we redid it a few years ago.

And yeah, it's a good place because, you know, we have our desk over here, but then kind of a living room feel for the guys in this area. You bet. You bet. Okay, it leads me to my, and I've asked everyone I've sat with this question, start off with, what is the best part about being the head coach at Ohio State? I think it's the, the, the, and the opportunity to change people's lives.

First off, the players that we have in the building, the coaching staff, but also the community, Buckeye Nation, we have the number one fan base in America. And so just the influence that you have and the people that you can help along the way. And we all know we have to win games. That's part of it. But when it's all said and done, it's about the impact that you're having on people. You and I talk a lot about the expectations here. I used to talk about it with Coach Meyer.

The expectation is to win every game. Every single one you play. Knowing you as well as I do, I'm sure that you love the expectations because of your competitiveness, and it's probably part of the biggest challenge of being here. Is that correct? Yeah, I'd say so. C.J. Stroud says it the best. He says pressure is a privilege, and that means you're relevant.

And that's kind of the way I've always. lived my life is that, you know, you want it all on the line, and it is on the line every week here. It's on the line every day here. That's just how it goes. And so, you know, we bring in guys who want it that way. We're bringing players that want it that way, because we know how much it means to so many people in the state of Ohio. And so every year you identify the things that you got to enhance. Every year you learn from the year before. And then, you know, the things you have to tweak and change that you got to do that. And I think I've realized that more and more every year that This job's not for the faint of heart.

You've got to make hard decisions. And, you know, for somebody who takes relationships, you know, very, very serious, and, you know, you've got to make some hard calls. But there's a lot riding on it, and you've got to make those hard calls. You put it to me one time a few years ago. We were talking about not only adjustments midweek, but also off-season. Because just to your point, you have to evaluate. And you talked about your evaluation.

process being is it the coaches, is it the scheme, or is it the players? And you've got to address it. Once you find where is it, then you have to address it. So you made a giant decision. You're one of the best play callers that I've ever been around. And you decided to step away from that role and bring in an offensive coordinator. Before we talk about who you brought in, take me through the decision to step away from play calling duties. One of the other challenges that Ohio State is you're constantly chasing this, this one or two percent, you know, in the last couple of years it's been a drive or it's been a play. And you've got to identify the things that are working really well and enhance those. But then, you know, identifying and

being accurate about the things that you need to improve and then being self-aware enough to make those decisions. And, you know, I think as you move up, you got to give up. And that wasn't easy for me. But I feel like the time is right now. you know, with the transfer portal, with NIL, there's more and more energy and time that needs to be focused on the players in those areas. And I also think that it's going to allow me

the opportunity to be more present with the team, especially later in the season. And so, you know, that was one of the decisions that were made. But I think that's the thing that you're trying to go from really, really good to absolutely great. And I saw a good, great interview with Coach K.

And he said, the difference to you, my great teams and championship teams almost always came down to one play. And I was like, ooh, I hit me like right between the eyes. Because that's kind of how it's been the last couple of years. And so, you know, but to get back to your question, yeah, I think that that was the reason I came to that. And to your point about the one play, that's a great line from Coach Kui, first of all. I mean, you can go back.

I mean, 19, it's a snap versus Clemson. Snap versus Georgia. eventual national champion, you know, you're in last possession across the 50, on the road against the eventual national champion in Michigan. It really has been less than 1% here for you. It's half a percent. It's a snap here or there over the course of four or five years. And so I read the, I've read a lot of books recently, and, you know, one of them good to great. And one of the biggest things in that is getting the right people in the right seats. Yeah, on the bus.

Get them on the right seats. And so it started with our players coming back. It started with those guys coming back. And then it went to adding a few guys from the portal. And then it was with the coaches. And we're counting on that to make a difference next year. I love that you brought that book up. Jim Collins is the author of the book that Coach referenced, Good to Great.

Jim's actually a resident in Boulder. And when I was playing at Colorado, unbeknownst to me, Coach Barnett, who I played for, Gary Barnett, after a practice, he says, hey, that gentleman over there wants to see you. And I was like, you know, okay, I was a young guy. I don't really know what's going on, so I walk over, and he hands me a book. And he's like, here, read this, son, calls me son. It was Jim Collins, and he handed me that book, Good to Great. One of the things in that book that I loved was this idea about a half.

Hedgehog concept and focusing in. It's basically like having a goal, but then making sure that everything that you do is in line with that goal, that you don't step outside of that. So since you brought it up, tell me what your Hedgehog concept here is, in particular this season. Yeah, we talk a lot about how it's not going to be the most talented team that wins at the end of the season. You know, it's it's the best team where we call tribe and what we're, you know, the difference that we've recognized is that we want to be a team that comes together for a common purpose. And again, it started with those guys that decided to come back and not go into the NFL draft. Yeah. And then the guys in a recruiting class and the guys came in in the portal

and the guys that were coming up in the program and the coaches. And, you know, our goal is to, you know, win the rivalry game and then win the national championship. And that's our, that's our purpose. That's all of our focus for next season. And we know next year that it's going to be a little different. Yeah. It's going to be a longer run. And so we're building towards that. You bring up these guys, and I've referenced

them twice. Guys like Amecca Abuka, Travion Henderson, Donovan Jackson, Tileak Williams, J.T. Tuimolo, Jack Sawyer, Denzel Burke, Lathan Ransom, and the list goes on. These guys that came back, that

all could have been, and a lot of people thought we're going to be in the NFL draft that's going to, you know, happen as the time we sit down here in a few weeks. What went into recruiting those guys back, or was it an active recruiting for you? No, I don't know if I'd call it recruiting. I think that for all of the guys, they wanted to identify what their opportunity was in the NFL. And we helped them identify what their opportunity was there. And we gave them the information. You know, I've never been in a situation where you talk somebody into either decision. Sure. You know, Marvin had to make a decision. You know, he decided that, you know, he was going to go take the

next time. I think it was hard for him, by the way, you know. Really? Yeah. I mean, not to put his stuff out there, but, I mean, nobody's been in the building more than him the last month. You know, and I think CJ would tell you that it was hard for him to leave after three years. but we've had such talented guys that have left after three years, but we've been young. And so for these guys to decide to come back, and it started Cody Simon jumped in, and then Jack Sawyer jumped in.

And then, you know, I think some of those guys were really on the edge. And then I think they all got together as a group and said, and ultimately that's what we're hoping for, that they're coming together for a common purpose. They're not just coming to Ohio State, you know, for the NIL opportunities or for, you know, when you come here to, you know, get the notoriety or whatever it might be, they're coming to reach those goals.

And that was powerful, and you could feel it. And, you know, certainly as the head coach, you've got to show them the vision. You know, guys, if we all decide to come back, we could do something special. Yeah, this is what we could do. This is what it's going to look like. That's it. This is who we can get in the transfer portal in the modern day of college football. You know, for me, I look at, well, look at the,

what's happened in college football and even college basketball to a certain degree because of the transfer portal and because of NIL opportunities what you're starting to see is that teams in both sports are getting older and more veteran and and those teams are having more success at the top end you know it's no it's no longer these teams in particular in college basketball that are the one and duns that are succeeding it's veteran guys last year Michigan was a veteran team and in a lot of ways you know mirrored what you guys are doing they had a ton of guys come back for a common purpose. How important do you think with the expanded playoff it's going to be to have veterans not only but also depth to go through a season that might be 16 games long?

Yeah. Because now you're going to have more games. So there's going to be more scenarios. There's going to be more situations. And, you know, pro guys, they remember they've either been there before because of experience or they have built contingency plans up in their heads for those type of situations, but you can't really replace the experience. Right. And so they're going to be games where we're going to have to win in the two-minute drill. There's going to be, you know, games that, you know, we maybe aren't doing great in the first half, but we just got to manage that game and find a way to win that game. Or maybe we go up early and we got to finish them off or all the different scenarios. Maybe it's a bad weather game. In Northwestern we had a couple years ago, or there's all

these different scenarios that can come into play. But when you have older guys who have been through it before, they weather the storm easier. And so I think that's critically important. And so I think that's critically important to having success, but also, like you said, depth. And so getting these guys in at mid-year, building depth so that you can have two or three guys at each position is going to be important because you can't just sign a guy off of waivers. And this will be the first time that, you know, in college football, teams are playing 16 or 17 games. Yeah, it's going to be, it'll be interesting to see how this all plays out. I'm interested because motivation, even for the guys that are coming back, plays such a key role.

and I have made the point, even outside of this, is that what makes rivalries in college football so great is they drive each other to greatness. I don't believe Michigan goes on the run that they did unless Ohio State was doing to them, what Ohio State was doing to them in the previous eight seasons. Now I look at this offseason here in Columbus, and I'm like, man, this feels a lot like a lot like a, drive and a passion that was lit watching your rival win a national championship. Is that accurate? I don't think that any year you're any more or less motivated. You know, I think every year, every team is a little bit different. But, you know, to say that those games haven't stung, I mean, of course they have.

And those are bad weeks in Columbus, you know, when you don't win that game. And so, you know, whether it's the guys deciding to come back, you know, whether it's, you know, being strong about making strong decisions in those moments. Yeah, I mean, I can say that, you know, you have to figure out what needs to get fixed to win that game. And that's the bottom line. And then that's what we did.

The Transfer Portal. You guys got a couple, I would say, three of the biggest prizes in the entire Transfer Portal. Quinn John Judkins, who's phenomenal running back from Ole Miss, now a Buckeye. Caleb Downs, one of the best defensive players in the country, now a Buckeye from Alabama. and Julian San, who no one has seen play,

but there's an aura about, you know, what he has done up to this point and what he potentially could be. How much did that give the locker room a jolt of energy when these guys decided to join and say, yeah, this is our common purpose now as well? I think anytime we're talking about the portal for us, it's been that we're going to fill a need or a hole.

Okay. You know, we typically don't just bring guys in from the portal. We brought six guys in, really, it was to fill needs. Okay. Chip Trainum decided to transfer. Kyle McCord decided to transfer. We needed to fill those holes. We felt like we had a hole at safety.

But also, when Coach Saban retired, you know, some of these guys entered the portal, and so that was a unique opportunity. But, you know, I think these guys, and it's happened in recruiting, but it also happened in the portal, they see. what Ohio State is, they see the opportunity, the city of Columbus, the brand Ohio State has, and it's exciting. And so, you know, for all of them, you know, they're going to look at Ohio State

and when it's the right fit. And the other thing is for our guys, like I'll take it, for example, Quinn Sean, when Quinn Sean entered the portal, the first person I called was Trevee on Henderson. I said, Trey, you got to give me some feedback on this. And he said, Coach, I call you back the next day. I said, yeah, sure. He called me right back, said, coach, if it's best for the team, let's do it. I'm good.

And then I talked to Quinn Chy. I said, Trey's not going to the NFL. I said, he's going to be there. He says, great. And they've gotten along great. They wanted to be a one-two, you know, combination. So, like, that has to be the right fit there. If it doesn't fit, it doesn't work because the team and the culture is most important.

So I think that was a great example of how you have to make sure you bring the right people in and the right fit. I thought maybe one of the arguments for a guy that was playing down in the SEC was like, hey, you come up here, you can get a nickname from God. I'm sure he'll have something for him. Right. I'm sure he will. So Gus, we're counting on you. Right. Bringing in your former coach and in a lot of ways, you know, a guy that you've known in this business, longer than anybody, Chip Kelly is your new offensive coordinator.

It's such a unique time. He leaves a head coaching position to come here to be your offensive coordinator. How did that come about? So when the decision was made to hire an offense coordinator, I had an A list, a B list, and then kind of a C list. And Chip was on the A list. So was Bill O'Brien. And the timing wasn't right. I kind of reached out the Chip and said, hey, I know this is kind of a crazy idea, but what do you think?

And I don't think it was easy for him. I think there was a lot going on. He's got his team. He's got his staff. And so there's just a lot going on there. But he did share with me that he was able to coach the quarterbacks in the bowl game. And I think it rekindled that love for just coaching football. Yeah. Being in the room.

Yeah, being in the room. Being in the room, just coaching ball. And so that really fired him up. And it had been a while since he had done that, like a long time. And so, you know, I thought maybe we had a chance, but the timing wasn't right. And we had to make a decision because of recruiting. And so it was great to have an opportunity to hire Bill. But then he had turned around and had an opportunity to go to Boston College.

because another head coach went to be a coordinator, your old coordinator, Jeff Halfley, wild business. Unbelievable. And so then I tried him again. I called him more time. I said, yeah, I got an opportunity to do this. And he says, yeah, I think so. I think I'm more interested.

And then we talked a little bit longer. But it was not easy because there was a lot going on there. But that being said, he really wanted to get back to just coaching football. It allows me to handle some of this other stuff. Yeah, because like you said, you move up, you know, You have to give up because your responsibilities are bigger now. Your December is worse than ever in college football with the schedule and the CEO responsibilities. There's no doubt.

Are we going to notice tangibly a difference watching the Buckeyes with Chip Kelly Collin plays versus Ryan Day column plays? I think so. Yeah, I think so. I don't think it'll look drastically different. Maybe just to, you know, someone watching the game. but you'll see schematically some different things. And, you know, Chip's history of running the ball speaks for itself. And, you know, we've got some really good running backs.

And, you know, he's creative and what he does. You know, what we've done passing the ball here kind of speaks for itself. So I think there will be a combination of those things. But the great thing for me was that when I came here, I came from his system. Yeah. So, you know, we brought in what Urban did and, you know, kind of, you know, molded those things together when we were here those first couple years. And then as time has gone on, he's kind of done a little something. something different at UCLA, we did a little something here.

So now we're kind of coming back together. I guess the tough part was he came in right before spring started. Yeah. So we just kind of got it started, got it going, put the base things in, got some fundamentals down, focused on techniques and those things. And I think now of the next couple of months, we're really going to dig into what the install looks like going into preseason. I mean, I think I speak for everyone.

It was like, we're just interested. You can't wait to see what it looks like. You know, part of maybe why he stepped away or Jeff Halfley stepped away or why you had to give up play calling duties was the structure of what we've got going on in our sport and the craziness. When Coach Saban retired and then came out with the comments that he did about what it was like trying to handle his team after the loss in the Rose Bowl, what were your thoughts? Well, you know, I felt that pain because, you know, I've gone through some of those similar things. And, you know, Coach Saban's, you know, past and history and what he's done is just unbelievable. So to hear somebody that's been through all these different things in college football and these changes in college football, kind of recognize that as such a big challenge right now, you know, it gives you some pause, you know, makes you really think. But I also am trying to really put perspective on it all because I know it sounds a little deep.

But the truth is like the order of the entire universe is chaos. And that's kind of the way life is. It's chaotic. And I know there's a lot of chaos right now in college football, but the product's never been better. No. And so I think it's a little bit of a tumultuous time right now. But if we can just kind of steady the boat a little bit and work through this, then we're going to come out the other end. And that's what we're looking to do.

I love that you brought up a boat because I sat with Chip last year for one of our conversations and his best line, and I'm sure he's given it in here. There's no crying on the yacht. Doesn't that sound like Chip? Right. No crying on the yacht. All right. I want to finish up with a couple of fun ones. Okay.

Like I said, I thought, and I will always believe, you were a terrific play caller. You know, your rhythm, everything about it. Do you have a favorite play call or best play call that you can remember in your career? Oh, boy. Let me see. I think, you know, it was just because probably CJ and Jackson was just so on fire in that Rose Bowl. Yeah. But it was like everything was just working.

I don't even think I was looking at the call sheet that day because I don't think you needed to because he was so hot that game. It's just like, let's go. Yeah. I think one of my favorite plays was in the Sugar Bowl when Justin took that hit. Against Clemson. Against Clemson. And we were up a score or two, but it was still a big spot in the game. I ran over to the tent.

He was in the tent, and he had that look in his eye. Like, he was not got to come out of that game. You know, he grew up. I don't know if he'd say it or not. But he grew up right down the street from Trevor Lawrence, and then you go back and forth, back and forth. And we lost against him the year before. And this was, you know, he had that look in his aisles all offseason.

And so we put him right back in and ran a rollout pass to the right. It was like a stutter comeback to Chris Olive. Yep. And I felt like if we got him on the run because he's such a great athlete, you know, he might be able to throw that to him and just will it in there. And he did. And after he got done and we threw the touchdown pass, he literally just kept running right back into the tent.

And I don't even know what went on in there. But I remember that clearly, you know, because he was just such a tough, competitive guy, you know. And, you know, I think back on, you know, Dwayne's year and, you know, the rivalry game that year and some of the stuff that went on that game was. I was going to say, because I have one that I thought. Yeah. I've watched every play that you've called, we've joked about this. You were killing them with crossing routes. And this is 2018 against Michigan.

with Duane and you're killing them with crossing routes and your speed was and they were trying to rock the safeties. They were trying to. So basically they have a single safety and they were trying to run him down to the crosser across the field. And then this guy was going back to the middle. You did it a couple of times and they're trying to rock them down there and you're killing them. And so you run it again and I believe it was Terry, but I could be mistaken. It was KJ. Hill. Slams on the brakes and runs like a stop and back out. and they still rocked the safeties.

You threw it to KJ Hill and he ran down the rail for a touchdown. And I was sitting in the booth and I was just like, man, that was a great play call. And that wasn't in the game plan. It wasn't. No, because most teams usually won't cut it post-nap. They were doing that.

And so we just called the same play, but we called it pivot as opposed to the mesh play. Yeah. And give those guys a lot of credit because they were able to put it on the field without really practicing that week. But yeah, that was a good feeling there. My man. I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.

We'll be around. We'll be in the booth. Thanks, good to see. Thanks, coach. Thanks.