Urban Meyer defends Ryan Day's Lou Holtz rant, says any critic of OSU coach is 'an idiot'

Ryan Day made headlines last week for his passionate defense of Ohio State after former Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz said the Buckeyes lacked toughness.

Now, the unexpected feud has everyone in the Ohio State world weighing in, including former Buckeye coach and Day's former boss, Urban Meyer. On "Urban's Take with Tim May" on Thursday, Meyer talked at length about the game and his former protégé.

“My admiration and respect for Ryan Day is immense. We hired him,” Meyer said. “I hear things once in a while, and once again, I get it, because you’re getting paid a lot of money, you’re at the ultimate place. I told you the job description now, Gene handed it to me, Gene Smith. And it said, ‘Win every game you play.' ... At Florida no one ever said that to me, but I actually had a sheet of paper that said, ‘Win every game you play.' ... I’m not sure how many schools can say that. Alabama would be one, and I don’t know.

“So the reality is the pressure is immense. It’s your choice to be the coach at Ohio State, and a player. With that comes enormous scrutiny. So that’s fine. But also he’s a human being.”

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Meyer, who had an 83-9 record at Ohio State and went undefeated against Michigan, lived up to those lofty expectations.

Day is 49-6 as head coach of the Buckeyes, but a third of his losses have come in the past two years against Michigan. That has led to questions from some, including Holtz, about his capability in the role, despite his overall stellar overall record.

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After the Buckeyes got stuffed on a fourth-and-inches call on what could have been their final drive against Notre Dame, Ohio State's defense forced the Fighting Irish to punt and put the OSU offense back on the field. First-year starting quarterback Kyle McCord led the Buckeyes' 65-yard drive to score the game-winning touchdown in the final seconds.

Some outside the program mocked Day for fighting back against Holtz. But Meyer stood steadfastly by his hand-picked successor:

“If someone criticizes Ryan Day for fighting for his team and fighting for himself, dude, you’re an idiot,” Meyer said. “I hate to be so prompt, but I get so angry sometimes when someone’s going to criticize Ryan Day for saying what’s on his heart, but media or some other buffoon can say — I’m not saying coach Holtz is a buffoon, I love Coach Holtz — that’s between those two.

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"Let Ryan Day say what he wants to say and move on. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. But do you understand Ryan Day, they just won a game that — his life would be different if they lost that game. And someone sticks a microphone in his face, probably four minutes after it happened. He is allowed to say what he wants to say. And you respect that, because he did it.”

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Urban Meyer says any critic of Ryan Day's Lou Holtz rant is 'an idiot'