The mantra among college football coaches, from the days of Fielding Yost to the lucky dozen who have guided teams to the 12-team 2024 College Football Playoff, is time-tested and 100 percent true.

The day a coach is hired is the first step toward the day he will be fired.

Sure, there is the occasional outlier. Nick Saban managed to never receive a pink slip in his 28 years prowling a college sideline at Toledo, Michigan State, LSU and Alabama. Kirk Ferentz has made it 3 early years at Maine and now 25 years at Iowa without once being called into his AD’s office and asked to shut the door. Steve Spurrier coached 26 seasons at Duke, Florida and South Carolina without being fired once.

But almost without fail, coaches are hired to be fired. Heck, even winning a national championship – which used to basically mint a coach at their school for life (unless they got into NCAA or off-the-field trouble of some kind) – went out the window when coaches like Larry Coker at Miami and Gene Chizik at Auburn were shown the door while wearing a gaudy title ring.

That said, it is impossible to even think the following thought with a straight face – even though it is wafting around mahogany tops and brass taps throughout greater Columbus: Some Ohio State fans want Ryan Day fired.

Yes, you read that correctly… fans of a team that has won 63 games in his 6 full-time seasons want to show their coach the door. Ryan Day has won 86.8% of his games – never losing more than 2 in a single season – as Ohio State’s coach, yet a portion of his fanbase want him gone.

The Buckeyes moving beyond Day is an absolutely, positively preposterous thought. Which is precisely why it could happen.

Why?

The stable mind looks at Day’s resume in Columbus and wonders what the heck the problem is. But then again, stable minds and Buckeyes fans eager to win every game don’t often collide – especially when things go sideways.

Which is what has happened for Day and Ohio State, specifically emanating from “that team up north.” Michigan is Ohio State’s arch-rival, so evil that those in Ohio actually try to eliminate the letter “M” from the English language the week the teams play each other.

Ohio State’s results in “The Game” have been less than favorable by a country mile under Day – 1-5, to be precise. The only victory Day has led the Buckeyes to over the Wolverines was back in 2019, a 56-27 victory in Ann Arbor.

Losing 5 of 6 to Michigan, including the past 4 in a row, has caused a mini uproar around Day. And that’s understandable, as John Cooper similarly lost his job at Ohio State after 13 seasons because he was 2-10-1 against TTUN. Then again, Cooper won only 70.2% of his games at Ohio State – a far cry from Day’s stellar mark so far entering the Playoff.

Criticism of Day has also reached a pivot point this season because of the reported amount of money the Buckeyes have invested in Name, Image and Likeness. Day’s squad this season had a reported NIL compensation budget of around $20 million via the school’s brand affiliates and collectives.

There are 2 ways to look at the return on investment for that $20 million, which is pretty much where the Day debate forks away from reality. On one hand, spending that kind of money on a roster that made the College Football Playoff and earned a first-round home game is a shrewd deal. On the other hand, shoot, Day’s Buckeyes laid an egg in The Game against unranked Michigan at home … delivering another season of ignominy and disrespect onto all who don Scarlet and Grey.

Put more accurately, that second sentiment sounds more like this: “We paid all that money to lose to the Wolverines again?!? Fire everybody!”

But c’mon, Ryan Day is no John Cooper – at least not yet, anyway. Day navigated the Buckeyes to the 2020 National Championship Game, and thumped 2 top-5 teams this season to help earn that No. 8 seed in the upcoming Playoff. That means Ohio State will welcome 9th-seeded Tennessee to The Horseshoe on Dec. 21 – with weather predicted to be right around freezing come the 8 pm kickoff time.

Ryan Day is a good-to-great coach who took over the impending mess that Urban Meyer was leaving in Columbus and continued the glory (albeit without enough success so far against Michigan) and winning apace. To consider moving off him – without even factoring in the question of who the heck you’d hire that is better as Day’s replacement – would be right near the zenith of insanity.

Which is precisely why it could happen …