Reader: Day would be just an average coach in SEC
Editor’s note: Unfortunately, we don’t have room in the print edition for all of the great reader feedback we’re getting. For more of the letters, go to Dispatch.com. Have more comments, questions? Reach out to me at bwhite1@ dispatch.com.
On Ryan Day’s salary
To the editor: Ryan Day would be maybe the third- or fourth-best coach in the SEC. He coaches in the Big Pretend. He needs to win a national championship to deserve that kind of money.
Lee Brent
To Lee: You know those are fightin’ and emailin’ words in these parts, right? But ... maybe, just maybe, it will deflect the conversation slightly to Day’s coaching and away from his salary.
To the editor: As Babe Ruth said when asked why he earned more than the president (Hoover) of the United States, “I had a better year.”
Steve Noffke
To Steve: He did, indeed. Only sort of related, this quote by Hoover about baseball intrigues me when I think of those bemoaning the “kids” wanting more action in the game: “I want more runs in baseball itself. When you were raised on a sandlot, where the scores ran 23 to 61, you yearn for something more than a 5 to 2 score. You know as well as I do that the excitement, temperature and decibels of any big game today rise instantly when there is someone on base. It reaches ecstasy when somebody makes a run.”
To the editor: If OSU paid him less, other schools would offer him more. You want to keep good coaches and not let the competition get him. The goal is a national championship. You don’t do that with average coaches. The best talent goes to the best coaches. Winning teams fill the stadium and the money rolls in.
So what if Ryan Day’s pay is 22 times
greater than the president’s? He’s worth it.
Tom Boyert
Dear Editor: Coach Ryan Day’s salary continues to be discussed. I think that he is not wrong to have an employer paying him a lot of money to do a job that he loves. He has the qualities to succeed in the job. He is swift to take decisive actions in a white-hot environment that demands winning. He is forthright, controlled and personable with media and fans. As a revenue producer, he makes much more money for OSU than what he earns in salary and benefits. We could err to ask coach Day for a personal account of what he does with his take-home pay. Possibly, coach Day makes significant contributions to OSU to support academic programs, and significant cash donations to charities.
I am grateful for my multi-year residency in central Ohio. I am a fourthgeneration graduate of Central Michigan and, like birds of a feather, I demonstrate good loyalty and fervor for all Chippewas. I think I understand the interconnecting issues at hand, and feel that I can believe and trust in the value of coaches like Ryan Day and Jim Mcelwain.
Paul R. Johnson, Worthington
On Woody Hayes’ car
To Brian: I’ve noticed several times in The Dispatch that coach Hayes’ car was a Chevy El Camino. The correct car was a Ford Ranchero. I rode with coach Hayes on our way to the Jai Lai Restaurant for a late lunch. It was late due to his being at the spring game. It was two hours of us talking all things other than football. As coach would often say, “And of this, I am certain.“
Dan Cutillo
To Dan: A cursory glance reveals conflicting testimony as to the great mystery of what Hayes drove. Some, as you do, say it was a Ranchero. In fact, in a 2014 rivals.com article, former player Champ Henson tells of the time Hayes gave him the coach’s Ranchero and $20 to buy something for his ailing mother (which seems, well, to be an NCAA rules violation, but we digress). Also Michael Rosenberg’s book, “War As They Knew It: Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler, and America in a Time of Unrest,” there is a tale of a prospective coach waiting in Hayes’ Ranchero. Solved, right? Well, Joe Menzer’s “Buckeye Madness: The Glorious, Tumultuous, Behind-thescenes Story of Ohio State Football” has a story of Hayes’ El Camino with turf in back, and Jeff Snook’s “Then Tress Said to Troy...: The Best Ohio State Football Stories Ever Told” (why do football books have such long titles, by the way?) tells of the same vehicle, adding that “Most years, he drove an old, beatup El Camino, which is a far cry from the huge car deals that coaches have today.” (That was in 2007, before backup QBS were getting car deals.)
On THE Ohio State
Hi Brian: I saw where, after a threeyear battle, OSU has been granted the right to use “THE” on apparel/merchandise. This must be really important, as it was a lead story on the 6 o’clock news, so I thought I would write a letter to “THE” Dispatch to get your take. You already know, Brian, not every sports fan in this country has endeared themselves to our Buckeyes. My own opinion is that it is simply one more happening for said fans to laugh at us, and/or further reinforce in their minds we have inflated egos. I guess time will tell when our football and basketball teams play road games this coming season.
Rick Higgins, Columbus
To Rick: Surely, THE school and its lawyers know THE grief the university, fans and players will take for this, right? I’m not sure I’m aware of any normal folks saying, “Well, good for them winning that battle.” There must be a lot of cash coming the school’s way for this to have remained a priority.
On golf
To the editor: As more professional golfers leave the PGA , I wonder what those innocent victims of Sept. 11 would think of what is taking place in our country. The name of the new Saudi backed league LIV is shameful to all those who died that day and all the scars left behind. Remember that 15 of the 19 terrorists were citizens of Saudi Arabia. The greed of money somehow will erase those terrible memories of that fateful day.
George Morris, Circleville
Hi Brian: I have never played golf, but I enjoy watching the pros play on TV. I certainly don’t know all the rules, but one I have heard, which I always thought was carved in stone, is “play the ball where it lies.” Often, a player will hit a putt and miss, then walk over and place a marker next to his ball, pick the ball up, fondle it, put it right back down and pick up his marker. Why do they do that? And why are they allowed to?
Also, do you have any idea who I should contact with a suggestion for a new rule? I want to propose that anyone in the gallery who shouts, “IN THE HOLE!” should be immediately ejected from the premises.
Mike Adamkosky, Columbus
To Mike: Yes, players are free to clean their golf balls once they reach the green. It doesn’t seem to help me, though . ... And perhaps the Saudi league will invent such a rule where “Get in the hole !!!! ” yellers are punished in some nice, humane, calm way.