Ohio State coach Ryan Day calls last 2 weeks ‘exhausting’

On Dec. 4, Ryan Day was named Ohio State’s head coach-in-waiting.

Awesome. Great. Fantastic.

Any of those words could have came to Day’s mind two weeks ago. However, since then, chaos has ensued. Aside from all the media craziness that came from the announcement, the Big Ten Championship took place on Dec. 1.

Day had to have some emotions about that win, as well as the College Football Playoff committee announcing that Ohio State wasn’t good enough to be in the final 4. Then, it was announced that the Buckeyes would play Washington in the Rose Bowl.

It would be Day’s final time at Ohio State working the sidelines as anything but the head coach. Then, a couple weeks later, the Class of 2019’s Early Signing Period started. The recruiting headache had to be non-stop for Day in those weeks leading up to it.

After all, this was going to be Day’s freshman class stepping in, despite many of the recruits thinking they would be coached by Urban Meyer.

When asked about this hectic two week span, Day initially had one word for it:

“Exhausting,” Day said. “It started that first day when we hit the road after the Big Ten Championship game, and it didn’t stop until now. It’s been a whirlwind. Obviously any time something like this happens, you have to make sure you’re building relationships with the guys that you’ve recruited but also maybe some of the guys that you didn’t have your hands on, especially some guys on defense, getting to know their families, and then also reaching out to some of the guys on the team during this transition and getting to know their parents some more.

“But a ton of phone calls. I felt like I had two phones to my ear for the last two weeks, but a tribute to obviously what the staff has done here and the relationships that have been built over the last few years.”

Kevin Cunningham

Kevin covers Big Ten football for Saturday Tradition.