IF NFL CALLS ...
Without a pay raise at Ohio State, would Ryan Day consider an open pro job?
Since the NFL’S regular season ended Sunday, five teams have fired their coaches. Others could follow.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day is among the names floated as a candidate for those jobs. Given that he has coached in the NFL and uses a pro-style offense at Ohio State, that’s not a surprise.
Here’s what might be: Don’t be shocked if Day seriously considers an offer if he gets one.
It’s not that Day is itching to leave.
“I’m obviously honored to be the head coach here, and I love it here,” Day said during a news conference Dec. 5.
That answer was in response to a question about Day’s contract. Michigan State’s Mel Tucker and Penn State’s James Franklin had recently agreed to lucrative contract extensions. Tucker’s deal will earn him $9.5 million per year for 10 years. Franklin has a 10-year contract worth a minimum of $70 million and potentially $10 million more.
In addition, LSU lured Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly to Baton Rouge for the same terms as Tucker. USC enticed Lincoln Riley to leave Oklahoma for a contract reportedly worth $110 million.
Day made $6.5 million in 2021 and is scheduled to make $7.6 million this year as part of a contract extension signed in 2020 that ends in 2026.
Based on the market, Day is underpaid. Last year, his salary ranked ninth nationally, according to the USA Today coaching database. The only coach who's taken his team to a College Football Playoff with a lower salary is Michigan's Jim Harbaugh, and that's because his $8 million compensation was halved after a disastrous 2020 season.
When he was named to succeed Urban Meyer, Day signed a contract that paid him $4.5 million in his first year. Only next season will Day match what Meyer made in 2018.
With a 34-4 record, Day has been a clear success as head coach, with a national title the only void on his resume. The Buckeyes won the Big Ten and made the College Football Playoff his first two seasons, advancing to the CFP title game a year ago.
His winning percentage of 88.6 is fourth all-time behind Oklahoma's Barry Switzer, Meyer and Miami's Dennis Erickson among Power 5 conference coaches in their first three seasons.
Tucker's career record in three seasons at Colorado and Michigan State is 18-14. Franklin's record at Vanderbilt and Penn State is 91-49.
Sources indicate to The Dispatch that Ohio State has shown little urgency to increase Day's salary to market value. Athletic director Gene Smith did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Day also declined to comment.
Coaches know how their salaries stack up with others. Like employees in any business, they're bound to feel unappreciated if they believe they're underpaid, even if being “underpaid” as a head coach these days still leaves them incredibly wealthy.
To be sure, Day inherited an enviable situation at Ohio State as a first-time head coach. Harbaugh referenced that after the Wolverines' victory over the Buckeyes in November.
“Sometimes there are people standing on third base that think they hit a triple, but they didn't,” Harbaugh said.
But while Ohio State is undeniably among the top jobs in college football, it is not an easy one, especially after a loss.
“This is a great place to be,” Day said in that Dec. 5 press conference. “We have great kids. But I've got to tell you, it was a tough week this week.”
Columbus is a fishbowl. The expectation to win every game is unrelenting. A loss to Michigan is considered cataclysmic.
“No matter where you coach, if you lose, it's hard,” former Ohio State coach John Cooper said. “But here it's really hard because, first of all, you're expected to win. And secondly, you live in a small area, and everybody here is Buckeye fans.
“If you coach at UCLA, they want to win at UCLA, too. But your neighbors are probably not UCLA fans (or) they're not die-hards.”
Smith has consistently praised the job Day has done as the Buckeyes' coach. But from Ohio State's perspective, perhaps giving Day a significant raise after losing to its archrival for the first time in a decade might not be ideal timing.
Also, the athletic department, which is self-sustaining and funds 36 varsity sports, is still recovering from the approximate $50 million in lost revenue from the spectactor-less 2020 season. But in an athletic department with a budget that exceeds $200 million, a raise of $2 million to get Day to market value is not significant.
The risk of not doing so could be significant. There's no guarantee an NFL team would want to hire Day. It's certainly no guarantee that he would accept an offer.
But it is conceivable. A month ago, Day's agent, Trace Armstrong, felt compelled to deny a report that he had begun talks with the Chicago Bears about a front-office role, with Day possibly a part of a package deal.
Day is not Meyer, who had no NFL experience and flopped this season with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Day was a quarterbacks coach in the NFL for two years under Chip Kelly with Philadelphia and San Francisco.
Though Day has said often that he wants to remain at Ohio State, it's also true that changes in the college football landscape have made the NFL more desirable in comparison for many coaches.
Name, image and likeness rights and the ability to transfer without sitting out a year have given college players more freedom. Those changes have made the job more complicated for coaches. Day has likened it to being in the middle of a tornado. Roster retention and management is a constant struggle, particularly at quarterback.
That position is Day's forte. Since Day arrived at Ohio State, Dwayne Haskins and Justin Fields developed into first-round draft picks, the first for an OSU quarterback since 1982. C.J. Stroud is on the path to becoming one as well.
One potential factor if Ohio State is reluctant to re-work Day's contract is the expectation that the Buckeyes could hire Luke Fickell as a replacement. The former Buckeyes player and coach, who served as OSU'S interim head coach in 2011, has had phenomenal success at Cincinnati. The Bearcats this season became the first non-power 5 program to make the College Football Playoff. If the Ohio State job were to open, it's hard to imagine the Columbus native turning it down.
But that wouldn't necessarily result in as seamless a transition as some might think. Fickell has excelled at UC by recruiting overlooked players and developing them. His system is far different than Ohio State's under Day. Would Stroud and other star players consider transferring if Day left?
In a college football world where instability reigns, giving Day a marketvalue contract would likely assure the Buckeyes stability. Otherwise, they could risk losing him.
One of Smith's closest friends in the business is Joe Castiglione, his counterpart at Oklahoma. Not only did Oklahoma lose Riley, but both of the Sooners' top quarterbacks entered the transfer portal. Ten OU players have entered the portal.
The Sooners have regularly competed for a CFP spot. New coach Brent Venables will have to scramble to keep the Sooners in that position. Next year's OU team is out of the top 10 in most early 2022 projections.
Ohio State might have to decide if facing a similar situation is a risk worth taking.
Bill Rabinowitz covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Contact him at brabinowitz@dispatch.com or on Twitter @brdispatch.