Ohio State is coming off its first national championship since 2014, and the Buckeyes moved swiftly to sign head coach Ryan Day to a long-term extension coming off that victory.

On Thursday, Ohio State announced the extension with 3 years added to Day’s existing contract. The deal keeps the head coach in Columbus through the 2031 season with a bump in his annual compensation up to $12.5 million, a move that makes Day the 2nd-highest paid coach in college football behind Georgia’s Kirby Smart.

In a recent interview, Buckeyes AD Ross Bjork discussed the new deal and what led to the finalization. While the perception might be that Day is being rewarded for his national championship, Bjork says his thoughts were also about the stability of the program moving forward.

“In today’s world, the stability of coaching and the stability of leadership is so critical. Obviously, college athletics is going through a transformational process and when you have the right leadership, when you have consistency, when you have the right person at the helm, you want to secure that, you want to secure the future,” Bjork explained in an interview with WBNS 10TV. “And given what we just went through… given the way Coach Day runs the program on a day-to-day basis. People may only see game day, but this is a 365, 24/7 job that he leads, and he just does it the right way. So we wanted to not only reward success but make sure we’re stable for a long time because he runs the program the right way. It was important we got this done in this time frame.”

Asked about the impact of the players on Day’s new contract, Bjork did not beat around the bush. The AD pointed to the brotherhood within the Buckeyes as a major impact on Day’s ability to build the program, pointing to the “infamous” players-only meeting that the players wanted Day to attend.

“I saw that really from the first moment I stepped foot on campus, going around spring practice last year and throughout the summer,” Bjork said about the culture of the program. “And then you see adversity strikes — what happens? These guys bonded together, but it wasn’t just because of adversity, this is a long-term bond these guys have.”

While the task of repeating is undeniably difficult, the outlook for the Buckeyes coming off a national championship is strong yet again. DraftKings has Ohio State at +500 to repeat, the best odds to win the national championship entering next season and just ahead of Texas at +550 and Georgia at +600. Be sure to use the DraftKings promo code Ohio for the best offers.