Everything Ryan Day said from the podium at Big Ten Media Days

Wednesday marked Day 2 of Big Ten Media Days from Chicago.

The Ohio State Buckeyes took the stage, meeting with media members. Here is everything that OSU head coach had to say during his televised “podium” press conference, via the official ASAP Sports transcript:

RYAN DAY: Good afternoon, everybody. It’s more of an honor today than it ever has been for me to stand up here after 10 years at Ohio State, eight years now as the head coach, to represent our program, to represent The Ohio State University, represent the great state of Ohio and all of our fans. It’s a very, very special place. I understand that more and more every year.

I want to thank Tony for his leadership. Tony is somebody who is a very hard worker. Anybody that’s worked with Tony will quickly learn how hard he works. His leadership has put us in a great position here in the Big Ten. People will talk about the SEC and the Big Ten. Certainly we won the last three national championships here in the Big Ten. To me it’s about where are we at this year, what are we putting on the field this year, and then where are we going into the future.

As college football changes and college athletics changes, I think the Big Ten is very, very well-positioned for a lot of reasons. One of them is because of Tony’s leadership.

Another one is because of the 18 member institutions, their locations throughout the country, their brands, their fan bases. It’s clear to see we have big momentum, and a big part of that is because of Tony.

I think our coaches within the Big Ten is as strong as I’ve seen since I’ve been in the Big Ten. When you sit in the meetings, and Tony is in there, he listens. We go in there, we vent, talk about a lot of things, it’s part of the job with all the changes. He can’t fix everything, but he’s listening and he’ll do what he can when he leaves to get those things addressed.

They’re 17 guys in that room. When you look all the way up and down, the entire conference, this is as strong as it’s been. Got a lot of respect for the guys in that room.

I want to thank our new president, Ravi Bellamkonda, his leadership already in a short period of time has been excellent. Anybody who gets around Ravi quickly understands he has a high level of intelligence, he can identify problems quickly and get them addressed and start working people towards a solution.

He may have said early on that he’s going to learn more about athletics, but he learns quickly, knows more than he puts on. We are in great hands right now at Ohio State with him there. He spoke yesterday and talked about the momentum at Ohio State. He’s exactly right.

I want to thank the board and cabinet at Ohio State for what they do and their support for what we do. We have nothing if we don’t have talent acquisition. It starts with our coaching staff. With their support we’ve put together what I think, I’m obviously biased, I think it’s the best coaching staff in America. It starts with our coordinators, then to Mick and Mark and everybody in the building.

But also to have the resources to go recruit the best players in the country. That has to continue at Ohio State. Because of the board, because of the commitment of our cabinet and administration, we’re able to do that, have continued to do that.

I want to thank Ross Bjork for his leadership in terms of challenging us on a daily basis to continue to adapt, continue to innovate. Yesterday was a great example of that. We signed a huge deal with JPMorganChase on our patch deal which goes to show you the adaptation and innovation of our athletic department. That’s headed up by Ross.

I want to thank our families of everybody in the building, the staff members, the coaches, the wives, the children. We have over 60 children under the age of 15 in our building with all the staff members. Obviously their wives. Once we get to work here, we go into pre-season camp, they don’t get to see their fathers a lot, they don’t get to see their husbands a lot. It’s hard because it goes from the summer where they’re getting in the way and around the family a bunch for a few weeks, to working late hours. I want to thank them for their support in allowing their husbands to do what they love.

I want to thank my family. Starts with Nina, she’s the rock. Anybody will tell you if you want to be a great coach in this profession, somebody asked me, give me some advice on how to become a coach in college football, the one thing I would say is find a great partner. Nina has been that for me. She is the rock of our family. She allows me to do what I need to do.

Proud of my son R.J. who is now in the Big Ten family. He committed to Northwestern this summer. Couldn’t be prouder of what he’s done. He’s obsessed with football. He’s in great hands with David and his group. What a unique experience that was going through that process. Excited to see his senior year and proud of where he’s going.

Then my two daughters, Grace and Nia. Funny to think, they don’t remember anywhere else. They’ve been attacking basketball, attacking the classroom. They’re true Buckeyes because they grew up and love Ohio.

I want to thank our coaches for all of their work as we get into the season. Also with Coach Mick. They guys understand what it means to be at Ohio State, what it means to be a Buckeye, they poured into our players. We have great stability in our program. That’s because of our coaches. You look at a guy like Mick Marotti, Nick Pantoni, Larry Johnson, these guys have been at Ohio State for 15 years. That stability is critical. That shows their loyalty, how much they love Ohio State, but also the commitment we have to them.

Most importantly our players. Every coach is going come up here and say they’ve had a great summer. I’ve never had a coach come up for media say and say, we haven’t had a very good summer.

What matters is what we’re going to do with that. What Mick Marotti and his staff do in the summer is the backbone of our program. Our players also know all that matters is what we put on the field. Once we get to work here next week and get on the field for pre-season camp next week, it’s an important pre-season camp, the season we have ahead of us is going to be a monster. We’re fired up about that.

The three guys we have, Jeremiah Smith, somebody who in two years has already made an amazing impact on the game of college football. What he’s meant to the game on the field but also off the field is tremendous. He has a chance to leave a legacy behind. He knows that. He has a generation of young players that look up to him, who he is. He’s a household name. Had a great off-season. He’s taken the step into a leadership role. It’s great to watch him find his voice.

Julian Sayin, in now year three with us, year two as a starter, has a different look in his eye. I said before he had great success last year. Won his first start ever, home against Texas, top five matchup. Won our rivalry game in the sideway snow. Came up short at the end of the year. We all did. When you look in his eye now, you see a different person, a different body. He’s worked hard, gotten stronger. He’s found his voice even more. I think he’s poised for a great season.

Then Jaylen McClain who is our returning safety, somebody that we’re counting object to replace not just some of the stuff that Caleb did last year but what he did off the field. Jaylen has had an excellent off-season, taken a lot of ownership and responsibility with a lot of new faces on defense.

I think this is a time where we use the term ‘VUCA’ which is a military term, which means volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous. In order to attack those times, you have to make decisions quickly. You have to be decisive, you have to then identify what’s gone right, what’s gone wrong, then continue to adapt over time, not throw up your hands and get frustrated.

I think we’ve done that. I’m excited about where this season is going. Now we’re back to what matters most and that’s football. As much change as has gone across the off-season, we’re back to what matters the most and that’s playing the game. Appreciate you guys.

Whatever questions you have, fire away.

Q. Wanted to ask you about with the development you’ve seen in Julian Sayin from last year into this season as far as developing more chemistry with Jeremiah and Chris and the rest of the offense.

RYAN DAY: I think for Julian, you look for some traits that are extraordinary about him. I think the first thing you recognize is his accuracy. What you don’t see, but I see, is his intelligence level. He can handle high levels of information. He’s highly, highly motivated.

He’s really embraced this leadership role. So I think when you combine that with our offensive line, the experience we have coming back, Carson Hinzman, Luke Montgomery and Austin Siereveld, these guys all started during that Playoff run two years ago and are national champs. They’re now back.

Then you combine that with other guys in the room like Josh Padilla, Phillip Daniels, Ian Moore, we’re as experienced and as deep as we’ve ever been since I’ve been at Ohio State.

Combine that with a quarterback who has the experience now. I mean, this is only the third time since I’ve been at Ohio State that we’ve had the same quarterback come back for a second year. That’s a big deal.

I think he’s liked the challenge of some of the things that Arthur is bringing to the table. When you go from coaching Aaron Rodgers to a college quarterback, you can certainly imagine what that has been like for Arthur. Man, Julian keeps up. It’s been fun to watch.

Excited to see where this goes this year with him.

Q. Going into last season you’re coming off of the national championship, you win 12 straight, then you drop the last two games of the season to two tough opponents. What do you take from last year to make sure you can finish stronger this season?

RYAN DAY: You take a lot of things. Every year you look at the things that have gone well, then you look at the things that came up short.

I think when you’re chasing small margins like you are, you have to identify the things that need to get fixed and fix them.

The easy thing is to do nothing or overreact. Where the real work is identifying what needs to get fixed and then make that change. I won’t get into all those things.

Yeah, there’s a lot of things that needed to get addressed and will continue to get addressed. Sometimes you don’t know if those decisions were right until you get to the end of the season.

This year, based on the way our schedule looks and the way it’s laid out, we’re going to get some early feedback in these games. We’re going to have to play well down the stretch in the fourth quarter. But when you have guys like Julian and the offensive line, Jaylen McClain, guys that have now been through that before, Jeremiah is a big part of that, Brandon Inniss, Bennett Christian. Kenyatta Jackson, another guy who has been around our program for a long time. Payton Pierce is going to have to step up in a big way. They were all part of that. They saw the championship run. They saw us coming up short last year. All that will play into this season.

Then we have a lot of guys who are coming in for the first time that need to prove themselves. That’s good, too. Everybody should have the approach they have to prove themselves every day. We say that all the time, if you start proving yourself, you’re going to stop to improve. We have to have that approach every day at practice, have to get better fast, then figure out of the journey of where this team goes.

Every year is different. I’d like to sit here and tell you that last year is similar to this year because of X, Y, and Z, and that will be the solution but it’s not the same because it is a different group of guys. There are things in place that we’ve identified that we always want to improve on.

Q. You play Indiana and Curt Cignetti in 2024 and 2025. What was the biggest difference in those Cignetti teams from ’24 to ’25, what do you expect in the game on October 17th this year?

RYAN DAY: It’s going to be a great environment. We haven’t played since Coach Cignetti has been at Indiana. The atmosphere there has changed. It’s really ramped up there. That will be another game on the road that we’re going to have to prepare for and play well.

But you got to give them a lot of credit. It starts with the quarterback and how he played last season. I don’t think enough people give enough credit to that defense and how well they played. We look back on the game that we played in the Big Ten championship, look at some of those key situational things that we should have done a much better job with. We take ownership of that. We had to get that better.

They won in those situations. If we win those situations, the outcome’s different. But that’s football. That’s where we’ve got to be better, and make sure we’re ready next time when those opportunities come up that we make the plays.