ATLANTA — Chip Kelly was talking last weekend about his friend of nearly 30 years, emphasizing the importance of family for Ohio State coach Ryan Day.
“Every decision he makes,” said Kelly, Ohio State’s offensive coordinator, “Revolves around his family.”
It is here where we introduce Nina Day, Ryan Day’s wife of 19 years — and why the coach with the highest active winning percentage should walk away from Ohio State after Monday night’s 34-23 victory over Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff national championship game.
Get out, and get away from the toxic Ohio State fan base ― and everything that comes with it. When a job begins to suck the joy from life, it’s time to get out.
No matter how many tens of millions it pays, or how intoxicating the idea of winning it all at the biggest, baddest program in college football. No matter how important it seems.
Because nothing means more than the girl he met four decades ago in Manchester, New Hampshire, when they were both 6 ― and have since traveled life together, in one form or another, since those elementary school days.
If ever there were a doubt that Day could execute the ultimate walk-off and leave Ohio State after winning it all, consider Nina’s recent interview last week with WBNS-TV in Columbus — where she reflected on life since late November, after another loss to bitter rival Michigan.
Since they had to put an armed guard outside the family home for protection.
“The weeks between the Michigan and (CFP) Tennessee game were brutal,” Nina told WBNS. “I was very upset by what was happening to some of our players, my children. It just wasn’t right.”
It was then that Nina explained a family ritual during the season, one that – more than anything – underscores the severity of what the family has dealt with since Ryan was named head coach in December 2018.
“Before he leaves (for games),” Nina said, “He says, ‘No matter what, we always have each other.’”
As he walked off the field at Mercedes Benz Stadium, pushing through the crowd and protected by security, Day passed from the field to the tunnel and shook a triumphant fist to cheering Ohio State fans.
The same Ohio State fans who, two months ago, were chanting, ‘F– you, Ryan Day’ to the uber-successful Buckeyes coach as he walked off the field at Ohio Stadium, another brutal loss to Michigan in tow.
‘This game can bring you to the highest of highs and the lowest of lows,’ Day said after the confetti fell Monday night and the remarkable turnaround was complete.
Rarely have the tables turned so quickly, with so much at stake.
‘It can bring you to your knees,’ he added.
It can bring a family to a breaking point.
Never, under any circumstance, should the coach at any university leave his home, his safe solitude from high-level stress, and reassure his family that – no matter what – they always have each other because some lunatic fan base isn’t happy that Michigan has the upper hand in a rivalry.
Forget about what Day said in November about the rivalry, how he compared the game to war. How there are casualties and consequences for the loser.
That’s a desperate man tossing chum to a rabid fan base, a group of unreasonable and unapologetic fans doling out the unthinkable to young men playing a game.
A game, everyone.
The Day family has three children under the age of 16, three kids who clearly have been impacted by the 24/7, 365 nonsense of ‘Ohio Against The World.’ Or whatever strange soliloquy the scarlet and gray mob spout these days.
This is the same fan base that once protected former coach Urban Meyer, and his history of poor personal decisions, at all cost. All because he was 7-0 vs. That Team Up North.
Meanwhile, the wife of the coach who just lost for the fourth consecutive time to Xichigan (they refuse to use the “M” in Columbus), told WBNS that she had to see a therapist because of the absolute insanity surrounding the program.
And when Nina Day was done pouring her heart out on local television – what coach’s wife in their right mind would publicly pour their heart out unless it had truly hit a breaking point? – the bobblehead anchors on local Columbus television applauded her for perseverance through “tough times.”
Tough times? Tough times?! What world are we living in?
I have some advice for Ryan Day, 45, who earns $10 million annually to be the caretaker of this zoo: leave.
Now.
Walk away with your pride, your dignity and your wife’s and family’s safety and security. Drop the mic after reaching the mountaintop of college football, and leave with no regrets.
He has an athletic director (Ross Bjork) who will fight for and with him, and he can name his salary. But is it really worth it?
What looked strange and bizarre at the end of the Michigan game is now coming into focus. Day looked dazed and confused that day, standing and watching his players fight Michigan players at midfield in the aftermath ― and doing nothing about it.
He must have been imagining just how bad it would get with the wacko fan base. The same fan base that nearly 15 years ago, forced Kirk Herbstreit – ESPN’s college football analyst and a former Ohio State quarterback – to move his family from Columbus to Nashville to escape the madness.
A beloved alum, the definition of ambassador for the university and all it holds sacred, Herbstreit walked away because he feared for his family’s safety. Now Day, after winning the school’s first national title since 2014, should do the same.
Walk away and coach somewhere else, or don’t coach at all.
Take a job in the NFL, where he spent time with the Eagles (2015) and 49ers (2016) as quarterbacks coach, before arriving at Ohio State as Meyer’s offensive coordinator. Leave for the (mostly) sane professional process of the NFL, where the Saints, Cowboys, Jaguars, Raiders and Jets are looking for new direction.
Where the league that values the vertical passing game – Day has developed some of the best quarterbacks and receivers for the NFL draft – would embrace his elite track record.
A record that, prior to the 2023 season at Ohio State with first-year starting quarterback Kyle McCord, had produced quarterbacks who averaged 41 touchdown passes per season.
A record that saw quarterbacks Dwayne Haskins, Justin Fields and C.J. Stroud selected in the first round, and wide receivers Terry McLaurin, Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Marvin Harrison Jr. join the elite of the league.
More than anything, Day should walk away from the nonstop circus inside the Ohio State bubble. It’s not worth it mentally, physically and emotionally.
“When you go through difficult times,’ Nina Day told the Ohio State cheer squad at WBNS, “you hold on tight to the ones you love.”
And you do what’s right for them, and protect them.
No matter what.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.