Ohio State football coach Ryan Day says he is not looking for the next job.
Day told Eleven Warriors he wants to remain with the Buckeyes for at least another decade, and he does not see an opening elsewhere that would pull him away.
“We want to continue to do this for a long time… we all want to do this for another 10 years,” Day said.
“It’d be hard for someone to convince me there’s a better job in the country. Yeah, sure, it comes with expectations, and it comes with a lot of pressure. Everybody says that, and people say, ‘Oh, you’ve got a tough job.’ Yeah, but I have a great job.”
That message lands at the start of a new season, after a stretch that included both heavy criticism and a national title.
Day joined the Ohio State staff in 2017 and became the full-time head coach in January 2019. He has won 82 games and lost 12 in that role.
The Michigan series once threatened to define him. A four-game losing streak to the Wolverines had fans calling for change. Last November, Ohio State beat Michigan 27-9 in Ann Arbor and snapped that run.
Winning the national championship changed the conversation around him. So did that result in The Game.
Day has been saying for months that the job still means more to him now than it did when he first arrived.
“It’s more of an honor today than it ever has been for me to stand up here after 10 years at Ohio State, eight years now as the head coach, to represent our program, to represent The Ohio State University, represent the great state of Ohio and all of our fans,” Day said at Big Ten Media Days. “It’s a very, very special place, and I understand that more and more every year.”
Those comments line up with what he told Eleven Warriors. He talks about the pressure as real, not something to deny. He also talks about the work as something he still wants to keep doing.
Ohio State opens Saturday at 12:30 p.m. ET against Ball State. The Buckeyes are heavy favorites in that game.
Julian Sayin, Jeremiah Smith and Bo Jackson are among the players expected to get early work before a much harder test. Texas and quarterback Arch Manning visit the following week.
Kent State comes to Columbus on Sept. 19. Big Ten play starts Sept. 26 against Illinois.
The schedule is familiar for a program that expects to contend every year. The coach’s comments are the part fans have been waiting to hear.
Day has already done most of what a Buckeyes coach is asked to do. He has not said he is finished.He has said the opposite. He wants another 10 years in the same place, with the same expectations, and he does not sound interested in being talked out of it.
