
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. Share
- 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
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Ohio State coached three of 14 games | 3–0 | Rose Bowl W | |||
| 2019 | Ohio State | 13–1 | 1st | Fiesta Bowl, CFP Semifinal L | 3 | |
| 2020 | Ohio State | 7–1 | 1st | Sugar Bowl, CFP Semifinal W; CFP National Championship L | 2 | |
| 2021 | Ohio State | 11–2 | T–1st | Rose Bowl W | 6 | |
| 2022 | Ohio State | 11–2 | 2nd | Peach Bowl, CFP Semifinal L | 4 | |
| 2023 | Ohio State | 11–2 | 2nd | Cotton Bowl L | 10 | |
| 2024 | Ohio State | 14–2 | 4th | CFP First Round W; Rose Bowl, CFP Quarterfinal W; Cotton Bowl, CFP Semifinal W; CFP National Championship W | 1 | |
| 2025 | Ohio State | 12–2 | T–1st | Cotton Bowl, CFP Quarterfinal L | 5 | |
| 2026 | Ohio State | 6–1 (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
C.J. Stroud
Dwayne Haskins
Justin Fields
Chase Young
Marvin Harrison Jr.
Julian Sayin
Caleb Downs
Seth McLaughlin
Nick Bosa
Jeff Okudah
Carnell Tate
Wyatt Davis
Paris Johnson Jr.Consensus All‑American, 2022
Arvell ReeseConsensus All‑American, 2025
Shaun WadeConsensus All‑American, 2020
Jeremiah SmithConsensus All‑American, 2025
Kayden McDonaldConsensus All‑American, 2025
Sonny StylesNo. 7 pick, 2026
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 game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 45 | 33–12 | 73% |
| Against top-10 teams | 32 | 21–11 | 66% |
| Against rivals | 17 | 13–4 | 76% |
| Conference games | 72 | 66–6 | 92% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 12 | 7–5 | 58% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 20 | 12–8 | 60% |
| At home | 58 | 55–3 | 95% |
| On the road | 37 | 32–5 | 86% |
| At neutral sites | 17 | 11–6 | 65% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 100 | 92–8 | 92% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 12 | 6–6 | 50% |
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
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| James Franklin 2018–2024 | 7–0 | Penn State | 7 | |
| Tom Allen 2018–2023 | 6–0 | Indiana | 6 | |
| Mike Locksley 2019–2026 | 5–0 | Maryland | 5 | |
| Greg Schiano 2020–2025 | 5–0 | Rutgers | 5 | |
| P.J. Fleck 2018–2025 | 4–0 | Minnesota | 4 | |
| Pat Fitzgerald 2018–2022 | 4–0 | Northwestern | 4 | |
| Scott Frost 2018–2021 | 4–0 | Nebraska | 4 | |
| Jim Harbaugh 2018–2022 | 2–2 | Michigan | 4 | |
| Luke Fickell 2019–2025 | 3–0 | Cincinnati, Wisconsin | 3 | |
| Paul Chryst 2019–2022 | 3–0 | Wisconsin | 3 |
Ryan Day’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Indianaseries | 9 | 8–1 |
| Penn Stateseries | 8 | 8–0 |
| Michigan Stateseries | 7 | 7–0 |
| Rutgersseries | 7 | 7–0 |
| Michiganseries | 7 | 3–4 |
| Marylandseries | 6 | 6–0 |
| Northwesternseries | 5 | 5–0 |
| Nebraskaseries | 5 | 5–0 |
National title staffs
Every title staff- Won a national title on Ohio State’s 2024 staff (head coach) · the staff · source
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
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | New Hampshire | Tight ends coach | |
| 2003–04 | Boston College | Graduate assistant | |
| 2005 | Florida | Graduate assistant | |
| 2006 | Temple | Wide receivers coach | |
| 2007–11 | Boston College | Wide receivers coach | |
| 2012 | Temple | Offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| 2013–14 | Boston College | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2015 | Philadelphia Eagles NFL | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 2016 | San Francisco 49ers NFL | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 2017 | Ohio State | Co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| 2018 | Ohio State | Offensive coordinator, quarterbacks coach and acting head coach | |
| 2019–present | Ohio State | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Tom O’BrienBoston College
- Urban MeyerFlorida, Ohio State
- Al GoldenTemple
- Jeff JagodzinskiBoston College
- Frank SpazianiBoston College
- Steve AddazioTemple, Boston College
- Chip KellyPhiladelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers
Assistants who became head coaches
- Greg SchianoRutgers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Kevin WilsonIndiana, Tulsa
- Jeff HafleyBoston College, Miami Dolphins
- Kerry CoombsCincinnati
- Paul RhoadsIowa State
- Todd FitchVanderbilt
- Jim KnowlesCornell
- Brian HartlineSouth Florida
- Chip KellyOregon, UCLA, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers
- Matt PatriciaDetroit Lions
- Arthur SmithAtlanta Falcons
Worked under (7)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom O’Brien | Boston College | 2003–04 | Graduate assistant | |
| Urban Meyer | Florida | 2005 | Graduate assistant | |
| Al Golden | Temple | 2006 | Wide receivers coach | |
| Jeff Jagodzinski | Boston College | 2007–08 | Wide receivers coach | |
| Frank Spaziani | Boston College | 2009–11 | Wide receivers coach | |
| Steve Addazio | Temple | 2012 | Offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach | |
| Steve Addazio | Boston College | 2013–14 | Offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Chip Kelly | Philadelphia Eagles NFL | 2015 | Quarterbacks coach | |
| Chip Kelly | San Francisco 49ers NFL | 2016 | Quarterbacks coach | |
| Urban Meyer | Ohio State | 2017–18 | 2017: co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2018: offensive coordinator |
Coached under him, later head coaches (11)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Greg Schiano | Ohio State, 2018: assistant head coach and defensive coordinator | Rutgers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers | |
| Kevin Wilson | Ohio State, 2018–22: offensive coordinator and tight ends coach | Indiana, Tulsa | |
| Jeff Hafley | Ohio State, 2019: co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs coach | Boston College, Miami Dolphins | |
| Kerry Coombs | Ohio State, 2020–21: defensive coordinator | Cincinnati | |
| Paul Rhoads | Ohio State, 2021: defensive assistant | Iowa State | |
| Todd Fitch | Ohio State, 2021–23: offensive assistant | Vanderbilt | |
| Jim Knowles | Ohio State, 2022–24: defensive coordinator | Cornell | |
| Brian Hartline | Ohio State, 2023, 2025: offensive coordinator; 2024: co-offensive coordinator | South Florida | |
| Chip Kelly | Ohio State, 2024: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Oregon, UCLA, Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers | |
| Matt Patricia | Ohio State, 2025–26: defensive coordinator | Detroit Lions | |
| Arthur Smith | Ohio State, 2026: offensive coordinator | Atlanta Falcons |
Other assistants under him (22)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Alex Grinch | Ohio State, 2018: co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach | |
| Corey Dennis | Ohio State, 2018–19: senior quality control coach; 2020–23: quarterbacks coach | |
| Greg Studrawa | Ohio State, 2018–21: offensive line coach | |
| Keenan Bailey | Ohio 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 Johnson | Ohio State, 2018–26: defensive line coach and assistant head coach | |
| Taver Johnson | Ohio State, 2018: cornerbacks coach; 2025–26: assistant defensive backs coach | |
| Chandler Whitmer | Ohio State, 2019: graduate assistant | |
| Greg Mattison | Ohio State, 2019–20: co-defensive coordinator | |
| Matt Barnes | Ohio State, 2019: special teams coordinator and assistant defensive backs; 2020: special teams coordinator and safeties coach; 2021: defensive backs coach and defensive coordinator | |
| Mike Yurcich | Ohio State, 2019: passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach | |
| Sean Duggan | Ohio State, 2019: graduate assistant | |
| Billy Fessler | Ohio State, 2020–21: graduate assistant; 2024: analyst; 2025–26: quarterbacks coach | |
| Joe Bolden | Ohio State, 2020–21: defensive quality control coach | |
| Ricky Brown | Ohio State, 2021: quality control coach | |
| Justin Frye | Ohio State, 2022–24: offensive line coach | |
| Matt Guerrieri | Ohio State, 2022: senior advisor and senior analyst; 2024: safeties coach; 2025–26: safeties coach and passing game coordinator | |
| Perry Eliano | Ohio State, 2022–23: SAF | |
| Tim Walton | Ohio State, 2022–24: assistant head coach and defensive backs and cornerbacks coach; 2025–26: co-defensive coordinator and defensive backs and cornerbacks coach | |
| Mike Dawson | Ohio State, 2023: student assistant and defensive assistant | |
| Tim Drevno | Ohio State, 2024: quality control coach | |
| Tyler Bowen | Ohio State, 2025–26: offensive line coach | |
| Cortez Hankton | Ohio 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
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Ohio State | co-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.
| Season | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 14 g | 12 of 71 17% | 33% | 42% | 24.8 | +0.23 | |
| 2020 8 g | 9 of 50 18% | 30% | 44% | 26.7 | +0.22 | |
| 2021 13 g | 19 of 68 28% | 47% | 56% | 24.3 | +0.33 | |
| 2022 13 g | 17 of 87 20% | 33% | 49% | 26.8 | +0.23 | |
| 2023 13 g | 18 of 89 20% | 32% | 51% | 26.8 | +0.14 | |
| 2024 14 g | 25 of 85 29% | 58% | 49% | 29.0 | +0.18 | |
| 2025 14 g | 18 of 67 27% | 52% | 49% | 30.7 | +0.23 | |
| 2026 7 g | 16 of 45 36% | 75% | 48% | 27.4 | +0.19 | |
| All 96 g | 134 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.