Ryan Day 'embraces' the burden: Ohio State football better win big, or else | Rob Oller
My kids are onto me.
How? When I repeat myself three or four times in the same conversation, they know I either reallybelieve what I’m saying or am trying to convince myself that what I am saying I really believe.
Kind of like Ryan Day.
Discussing the pressures of his job, how he handles stress, the Ohio State coach spoke this week about the lofty expectations placed upon the football program. A 49-10 win against Rutgers? Not impressive enough. That 77-21 blowout of Toledo? The defense could have been better.
Five times in quick succession Day described Buckeye Nation’s forecasting of OSU expected outcomes as “a good thing.” Four times he said, “We embrace that.” There were multiple references to “It’s part of the job,” and several uses of “that’s just how it goes.”
Does he believe what he says? You make the call.
Take it away, coach.
“I was walking in the Blackwell (before Saturday’s game against Rutgers) and someone grabbed me and said, ‘Coach, good luck in the game today; 63-0, right?’ ” Day began. “I said, ‘OK, eesh, let’s start off trying to get the first first down.’
“But it’s a good thing. It’s a good thing. It’s the pride everyone has in our program. It’s the hard work of so many people here, that expectations are so high. It comes with the job, and that’s a good thing. We look at it as a good thing, that people expect us to win at a certain level, and if we score seven touchdowns in our first nine possessions and are talking about how things were a little clunky, that’s a good thing, because we’re holding ourselves to a very high standard. And I embrace that. And we embrace that.”
High school sweethearts don’t embrace that much.
Day wasn’t finished. Addressing the recent spate of coaching firings, including Wisconsin’s Paul Chryst, who led the Badgers to three top-10 finishes and three Big Ten West titles in seven seasons, Ohio State’s football CEO said he feels pressure to be perfect.
“I feel that every day when I wake up: ‘We’ve got to win them all.’ And that’s not always easy to live that way,” he said. “But it’s just the way it is, so we embrace that, and that’s how it goes. It’s a tough profession.”
Football coaches are loathe to speak what they consider to be the most offensive F-word: Feelings. They hate taking self-inventory, especially in-season. Football’s warrior culture chafes at touchy-feely. Day and Rutgers coach Greg Schiano weren't exactly holding hands near the OSU sideline last week. And neither wanted to talk about it much afterward.
Day is better than some at not stuffing his sentimental side, which makes sense. He passionately supports mental health causes and recently donated $1 million to the The Nina and Ryan Day Resilience Fund in Ohio State’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health. Well done.
But Day also mostly uses broad brush strokes when painting his own emotional self-portrait.
“There’s nothing you can do about (pressure) other than focus and be great right now,” he said. “You gotta wake up running every day or someone’s going to get you. That’s just the way it is.”
College coaches typically are go-getters. Day is no exception. That’s what it takes to succeed at an elite level. It’s just too bad most feel they can't let their hair down, even for a minute. Or at least let some air out of the self-stress balloon.
Day tries, but it’s not easy to turn off when so much is riding on the weekly outcome.
“I think of the five home games in a row with 100,000 in the stadium, an unbelievable crowd," he said. "And the skull session … and seeing the joy in their faces after a win. That’s something we take pride in.”
Is it something he also takes responsibility for? Probably. Is that fair? If you think Day’s $9.5 million annual salary is satisfactory stress-relief compensation. But placing a price tag on mental health is risky business.
“I try to do the best I can when we get away from it on a Thursday night, to try to do something, to think about something else” Day said. “But usually what happens is we end up as a family watching football on TV on Thursday night, so it’s hard to get away from. Or my son comes home from his game. It’s just kind of a way of life. And we love it. We embrace it.”
Good to hear. Nothing beats family time. Day is self-aware enough to realize it.
“You have to find a balance, just like we all do,” he said. “Obviously, mine is a little bit different, but everybody has their own challenges. Mine’s not harder than anybody else’s, it’s just different. We all have to find that balance.”
A good place to start: telling yourself that simply winning Saturday at Michigan State − not demanding OSU dominate by 50 points − is good enough. Keep repeating it. Embrace it. And maybe eventually we'll both believe it.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio State football coach Ryan Day feels pressure to be perfect
