Ohio State head coach Ryan Day has done many great things in Columbus, but struggles against archrival Michigan (he’s last four of five against the Wolverines) have been his Achilles heel.
With Saturday’s 13-10 loss to UM, the Buckeyes have gone 1,827 days since last beating Michigan. Making the defeat even more stinging is the fact that the Wolverines were without their two best players, tight end Colston Loveland and cornerback Will Johnson.
Day’s inability to beat the Wolverines has Buckeye fans champing at the bit to fire the sixth-year head coach, and though some others around the program agree, OSU legend Maurice Clarett isn’t one of them despite previously advocating for a coaching change before.
“I’m NOT on the fire Ryan Day train,” Clarett tweeted. “I used to troll because it was the popular thing to say last year but after spending time around the kids and the staff I strongly disagree. The man whooped 2 Top 5 teams in the past 30 days and I didn’t hear a soul say anything.
“There wasn’t Much credit given in proportion to what criticism is given to him/them when they lose. … Lots to point to (in loss to Michigan) but it sure wasn’t RD fault. That’s been the default answer that I helped to contribute to last year but I’m admitting that it was wrong.”
Day is now just 1-4 against Michigan but 47-1 against all other Big Ten opponents. He’s clearly successful at winning within the conference, but he always seems to come up short in OSU’s biggest game of the year.
Plenty of other programs would likely scoop Day up in the blink of an eye if he were to be a free agent given coaches with an 86.8 win percentage don’t become available very often.
Day has double-digit wins in five of his six seasons, and he went 7-1 during the COVID shortened 2020 season.
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