Ryan Day, head coach at Ohio State
Photo: Bobak Ha’Eri, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Ryan Day

Ryan Day went 88–⁠13 as a head coach, 2018–⁠2026, at Ohio State. His 2024 Ohio State team claims the national title. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 5–⁠1); by them his record is 87–⁠13.

Record
88–⁠13 career
Seasons
9
Schools
1
National titles
1 claimed: 2024
Born
Mar 12, 1979
Best season
2024 14–⁠2, No. 1

Season by season

Wins and losses each seasonfinal AP rank above★ national titleline: the team’s Elo at season’s end, best 1885 in 2024
SeasonSchoolRecordConference finishBowlAP final
2018Ohio State coached three of 14 games3–⁠0Rose Bowl W
2019Ohio State13–⁠11stFiesta Bowl, CFP Semifinal L3
2020Ohio State7–⁠11stSugar Bowl, CFP Semifinal W; CFP National Championship L2
2021Ohio State11–⁠2T–1stRose Bowl W6
2022Ohio State11–⁠22ndPeach Bowl, CFP Semifinal L4
2023Ohio State11–⁠22ndCotton Bowl L10
2024Ohio State14–⁠24thCFP First Round W; Rose Bowl, CFP Quarterfinal W; Cotton Bowl, CFP Semifinal W; CFP National Championship W1
2025Ohio State12–⁠2T–1stCotton Bowl, CFP Quarterfinal L5
2026Ohio State6–⁠1 (Wikipedia: 5–⁠1)

Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table.

Players he coached

8 more

Garrett Wilson (No. 10 pick, 2022); Damon Arnette (No. 19 pick, 2020); Chris Olave (No. 11 pick, 2022); Jaxon Smith-Njigba (No. 20 pick, 2023); Donovan Jackson (No. 24 pick, 2025); Tyleik Williams (No. 28 pick, 2025); Emeka Egbuka (No. 19 pick, 2025); Josh Simmons (No. 32 pick, 2025).

18 of the 26 players from his seasons with a Heisman top-five finish, a national award, consensus All-America honors or a first-round pick. Photos: Wikimedia Commons, free licenses; credits on each player’s page.

How his teams did

Kind of gameGamesRecord
Against ranked teams4533–⁠12
Against top-10 teams3221–⁠11
Against rivals1713–⁠4
Conference games7266–⁠6
Bowls and playoffs127–⁠5
Decided by 8 points or fewer2012–⁠8
At home5855–⁠3
On the road3732–⁠5
At neutral sites1711–⁠6
As our Elo’s favorite10092–⁠8
As our Elo’s underdog126–⁠6

His own 112 games on file, 2018–⁠2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.

Against other head coaches

CoachRecordTheir schoolsGames
James Franklin 2018–⁠20247–⁠0Penn State7
Tom Allen 2018–⁠20236–⁠0Indiana6
Mike Locksley 2019–⁠20265–⁠0Maryland5
Greg Schiano 2020–⁠20255–⁠0Rutgers5
P.J. Fleck 2018–⁠20254–⁠0Minnesota4
Pat Fitzgerald 2018–⁠20224–⁠0Northwestern4
Scott Frost 2018–⁠20214–⁠0Nebraska4
Jim Harbaugh 2018–⁠20222–⁠2Michigan4
Luke Fickell 2019–⁠20253–⁠0Cincinnati, Wisconsin3
Paul Chryst 2019–⁠20223–⁠0Wisconsin3

Ryan Day’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.

Most-faced opponents

OpponentGamesRecord
Indianaseries98–⁠1
Penn Stateseries88–⁠0
Michigan Stateseries77–⁠0
Rutgersseries77–⁠0
Michiganseries73–⁠4
Marylandseries66–⁠0
Northwesternseries55–⁠0
Nebraskaseries55–⁠0

National title staffs

Every title staff

The champions’ staffs from 1990 on, as the schools listed them that season: Staff lists: Drew Hoover’s how-many-rings (MIT), from the schools’ media guides and staff pages. Roles as the source words them.

How he was hired

  • Hired by Ohio State for the 2019 season from Ohio State, where he was offensive coordinator. He had a prior connection to the school.

Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.

Career

YearsTeamJob
2002New HampshireTight ends coach
2003–⁠04Boston CollegeGraduate assistant
2005FloridaGraduate assistant
2006TempleWide receivers coach
2007–⁠11Boston CollegeWide receivers coach
2012TempleOffensive coordinator and wide receivers coach
2013–⁠14Boston CollegeOffensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach
2015Philadelphia Eagles NFLQuarterbacks coach
2016San Francisco 49ers NFLQuarterbacks coach
2017Ohio StateCo-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach
2018Ohio StateOffensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and acting head coach
2019–presentOhio StateHead coach

Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.

Coaching tree

Worked under

Ryan Day

Assistants who became head coaches

Worked under (7)
Head coachTeamYearsHis job
Tom O’BrienBoston College2003–⁠04Graduate assistant
Urban MeyerFlorida2005Graduate assistant
Al GoldenTemple2006Wide receivers coach
Jeff JagodzinskiBoston College2007–⁠08Wide receivers coach
Frank SpazianiBoston College2009–⁠11Wide receivers coach
Steve AddazioTemple2012Offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach
Steve AddazioBoston College2013–⁠14Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach
Chip KellyPhiladelphia Eagles NFL2015Quarterbacks coach
Chip KellySan Francisco 49ers NFL2016Quarterbacks coach
Urban MeyerOhio State2017–⁠182017: co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2018: offensive coordinator
Coached under him, later head coaches (11)
CoachWith himHead coach at
Greg SchianoOhio State, 2018: assistant head coach and defensive coordinatorRutgers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Kevin WilsonOhio State, 2018–⁠22: offensive coordinator and tight ends coachIndiana, Tulsa
Jeff HafleyOhio State, 2019: co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coachBoston College, Miami Dolphins
Kerry CoombsOhio State, 2020–⁠21: defensive coordinatorCincinnati
Paul RhoadsOhio State, 2021: defensive assistantIowa State
Todd FitchOhio State, 2021–⁠23: offensive assistantVanderbilt
Jim KnowlesOhio State, 2022–⁠24: defensive coordinatorCornell
Brian HartlineOhio State, 2023, 2025: offensive coordinator; 2024: co-offensive coordinatorSouth Florida
Chip KellyOhio State, 2024: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coachOregon, UCLA, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers
Matt PatriciaOhio State, 2025–⁠26: defensive coordinatorDetroit Lions
Arthur SmithOhio State, 2026: offensive coordinatorAtlanta Falcons
Other assistants under him (22)
CoachWith him
Alex GrinchOhio State, 2018: co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach
Corey DennisOhio State, 2018–⁠19: senior quality control coach; 2020–⁠23: quarterbacks coach
Greg StudrawaOhio State, 2018–⁠21: offensive line coach
Keenan BaileyOhio State, 2018: offensive intern; 2019–⁠21: offensive quality control coach; 2022: offensive quality control coach and special assistant to head coach; 2023–⁠24: tight ends coach; 2025–⁠26: co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach
Larry JohnsonOhio State, 2018–⁠26: defensive line coach and assistant head coach
Taver JohnsonOhio State, 2018: cornerbacks coach; 2025–⁠26: assistant defensive backs coach
Chandler WhitmerOhio State, 2019: graduate assistant
Greg MattisonOhio State, 2019–⁠20: co-defensive coordinator
Matt BarnesOhio State, 2019: special teams coordinator and assistant defensive backs; 2020: special teams coordinator and safeties coach; 2021: defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator
Mike YurcichOhio State, 2019: passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach
Sean DugganOhio State, 2019: graduate assistant
Billy FesslerOhio State, 2020–⁠21: graduate assistant; 2024: analyst; 2025–⁠26: quarterbacks coach
Joe BoldenOhio State, 2020–⁠21: defensive quality control coach
Ricky BrownOhio State, 2021: quality control coach
Justin FryeOhio State, 2022–⁠24: offensive line coach
Matt GuerrieriOhio State, 2022: senior advisor and senior analyst; 2024: safeties coach; 2025–⁠26: safeties coach and passing game coordinator
Perry ElianoOhio State, 2022–⁠23: SAF
Tim WaltonOhio State, 2022–⁠24: assistant head coach and defensive backs and cornerbacks coach; 2025–⁠26: co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs and cornerbacks coach
Mike DawsonOhio State, 2023: student assistant and defensive assistant
Tim DrevnoOhio State, 2024: quality control coach
Tyler BowenOhio State, 2025–⁠26: offensive line coach
Cortez HanktonOhio State, 2026: wide receivers coach

From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.

Pay

YearSchoolJobContract pay
2017Ohio Stateco-offensive coordinatorbonuses up to $153,000$400,000 USA Today

USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–⁠17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.

Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.

How he coached

Day’s teams went for it on 24% of fourth downs and on 43% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 49% of plays and took 27.1 seconds a play, 2019–⁠2026.

SeasonWent for it on fourthWhen the model said goPass rateSeconds a playEPA a play
2019 14 g12 of 71 17%33%42%24.8+0.23
2020 8 g9 of 50 18%30%44%26.7+0.22
2021 13 g19 of 68 28%47%56%24.3+0.33
2022 13 g17 of 87 20%33%49%26.8+0.23
2023 13 g18 of 89 20%32%51%26.8+0.14
2024 14 g25 of 85 29%58%49%29.0+0.18
2025 14 g18 of 67 27%52%49%30.7+0.23
2026 7 g16 of 45 36%75%48%27.4+0.19
All 96 g134 of 562 24%43%49%27.1+0.22

His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.