Ohio State’s head coach Ryan Day brought home his first National Championship on Monday night with a 34-23 win over Notre Dame, making him the third active head coach in college football to win a title, joining Georgia’s Kirby Smart and Clemson’s Dabo Swinney who have won twice.

Day’s first six seasons in Columbus have been a rollercoaster, and much of that has to do with being unable to beat their biggest rival, Michigan, the past four years. Michigan had some great teams the last three years before this season, and the 2023 squad even won the title. Still, Ohio State fans demanded wins over the Wolverines like previous head coaches Urban Meyer and Jim Tressel, who had a combined record of 16-1 against Michigan.

The three most significant goals for any Ohio State head coach are to beat Michigan, win the Big Ten, and win the National Championship. The Buckeyes were coming off three seasons of accomplishing zero of them.

2024 was the year the 45-year-old coach was going to get over the hump of losing to Michigan, finally get back to Indianapolis and win the Big Ten and then bring home the school’s first National Championship in a decade.

November 30th, 2024, was the nightmare Day didn’t think he would ever have, which was losing to Michigan once again for the fourth straight season; but this time, it was different because it was at home and to a team with six wins going into the matchup.

Once again, Ohio State failed to beat their arch-rival and win the Big Ten, and the only thing that was going to save the six-year head coach was a trip to Atlanta for a shot to win it all, and he did exactly that.

The Buckeyes put together one of the best runs you will ever see in the sport’s history, beating Tennessee, Oregon, Texas, and then Notre Dame to claim the program’s ninth title, and none of that seemed possible on the last day of November.

Many Ohio State fans wanted Day fired after the Michigan loss, and they only wanted him back on the sidelines in 2025 if he won it all, but for some reason, everyone is now supposed to owe Ryan Day an apology.

Ohio State Fans Knew What This Team Could Do

There is no denying the excellent run Day just went on, but Buckeye fans had all the right to demand better from their head coach, who couldn’t beat Michigan, which is one of the most essential things an Ohio State head coach has to do.

Ohio State fans were feeling empty because they saw this team’s potential and all the NFL talent not being used to their best ability, so questioning the coaching after they failed to reach two of their biggest goals for a fourth straight season seemed appropriate.

Nobody thought Day and the Buckeyes were going to go on this crazy run and win it all after what they did on the field on November 30th, and that’s why Ohio State fans get so angry when they see Ohio State drop games they’re not supposed to.

Ryan Day

Day is a great head coach, and we experienced this the past four games; everyone knew this team’s potential, and when they finally clicked, it was over for the rest of college football.

So when college football analysts say that the Ohio State fans who wanted Day fired after the Michigan loss owe him an apology, they don’t because this was supposed to be what this team could do all season. They wanted better, and Day would be the first person to agree that what happened on the field two months ago was unacceptable.

Winning the National Championship should give Day some time with Ohio State fans because they know what he can now do, and not many coaches can pull off the run he just made.