A day after Ohio State’s upset loss to Michigan, athletic director Ross Bjork told The Dispatch that coach Ryan Day has his full support.
Saturday’s 13-10 defeat was OSU’s fourth straight under Day in the rivalry. But Bjork said that while the reasons for the losses will eventually be analyzed, he believes Day is the right coach to lead the program.
“Our full focus right now is on the College Football Playoff and making a strong run,” Bjork said Sunday. “We have a ton to play for. We have a great team made up of talented players and great young men. Coach Day does a great job leading our program. He’s our coach.”
Bjork said the foundation of the program is strong. He noted that the academic performance of the football team this year was the best in school history. It joined Harvard earlier this year as one of only two football programs in Division I, including the Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision, to post perfect multiyear Academic Progress Rate scores. The early national signing day is Wednesday, and Ohio State’s class is ranked in the top three by 247Sports.com
“There’s a ton of stability across the board within the program,” Bjork said. “We’re always in the top five under his leadership. We’re right there. We have great fan support, great donor support.
“There’s going to be plenty of time to dissect what happened in the rivalry game the last couple years. But right now, we have to keep the main thing the main thing, and that’s focus on the values of the program, focus on why we lead the young men, focus on the mission and the playoff.”
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Bjork succeeded Gene Smith as athletic director on July 1 after a period of transition working with Smith. That has been long enough for Bjork to believe in Day.
“Our program is built to last, and coach Day has done that,” he said. “He has put us in a great spot.”
Day has a 66-10 record, but as he has said, beating Michigan is the top priority for an OSU coach. Ohio State dominated its rivalry with Michigan for the first two decades of this century.
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That’s why the losses the past four years have stung particularly hard, especially Saturday’s. Michigan entered the game with a 6-5 record. Ohio State was 10-1 and ranked No. 2. The Buckeyes were 19½-point favorites.
OSU is considered a lock to make the 12-team College Football Playoff and could host a first-round game at Ohio Stadium on Dec. 20 or 21.
“We’re disappointed (with Saturday’s loss), but he’s our coach,” Bjork said. “I’m focused on supporting our players and our coaches and continuing to get to know our fan base and our donor base and leading through this disappointing time.”
Asked if he was concerned that Day had lost the support of the donor and fan base, Bjork replied, “I think there’s going to be a time and a place to analyze that piece of it. But coach acknowledged after the game that he gets it. He gets the reaction. He gets the intensity of this game in particular. He gets the feedback and the pushback.
“Some of the things that happened to him personally are uncalled for. We don’t have to get into that part of it. But we get what we signed up for, so he acknowledges that.”
Bjork said that coaches were back in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Sunday analyzing game video and meeting with recruits. The NCAA transfer portal opens on Dec. 9, so player retention is also a priority.
“He was back to work,” Bjork said of Day. “Coaches are resilient. That’s what they’re built for. And he was back to work, a workmanlike approach.
“Again, there will be time to dissect what happened in the game, but you’ve got to go back to work. When you focus on bigger goals and bigger picture, then you just have to keep working, and that was his spirit when I talked to him today.”
As for all the vitriol directed at Day and whether he’d be swayed by public opinion, Bjork replied with a chuckle, “Let’s go make a run in the playoff. That’s all I’m going to say. Let’s go make a run in the playoff. That’s what we’ve got to do.”
