The changing landscape in college football cuts both ways for Ohio State coach Ryan Day. An extended playoff has kept the Buckeyes season alive, but a fourth straight loss to Michigan has fans, and possibly some big money donors, wondering if Day is the right man in Columbus. Ideastream Public Media's sports commentator Terry Pluto shared some thoughts about high expectations and name, image, and likeness money for players.
Pluto said Ohio State has three expectations for head football coaches: Beat Michigan (the last win was in 2019), win the Big Ten Conference (the last one was in 2020) and win a national title (the last time was 2014).
“So, in their mind, it's like the program's faltering, even though they're 10-2,” Pluto said. “Now, it would be utterly ridiculous to fire Ryan Day before the season's over. Other people may just say it's ridiculous, period. But this is big time, big money, college football sports, and rationale and all that doesn't fit in this kind of hyper climate."
Big dollars are behind Ohio State’s program and the college football landscape in general.
In 2022, The Big Ten finalized media rights contracts with CBS, Fox and NBC totaling more than $8 billion over seven years, making it the most lucrative conference rights deal in the history of college athletics.
“That's why the Big Ten is going out and adding teams like UCLA and USC to become a nationwide conference so they could get more for their TV deal,” Pluto said. “Then you have the sports betting. These games are television shows and in some ways they're gambling shows. But again, it's embedded now into the whole television show product and the money that's coming in.”
That means an Ohio State win over Michigan means much more than just pride.
“If you’re Ohio State, there's all this money, this and that, and you want to keep your donations and money coming in for your program, you better get a coach to beat Michigan,” Pluto said.
Then, there are name, image and likeness (NIL) deals. Buckeyes players received "around $20 million" from NIL collectives and brand affiliates over the past year, Ohio State's athletic director Ross Bjork told Yahoo Sports.
“You're hitting up your boosters and your fans for all this cash in the collective so you could go out and get these players," Pluto said. "And my goodness, we better beat Michigan after that. You just hear them saying that."
Then there’s coach Ryan Day’s contract. He signed a seven-year extension in 2022, making him the fifth-highest paid coach in college football. If Ohio State chose to fire Day, the university would owe him $37.28 million as of December 1. He’s set to earn a total of $10.02 million in 2024 if he stays employed through January 2025.
On top of that, Pluto said Day has six assistants that each make at least $1 million a year.
“So if Ryan Day gets fired, a bunch of those guys will get fired, too," Pluto said. "Even though it would cost probably about $50 million to make them go away, my guess is (Ohio State) could raise it if they want,” Pluto said.
Still, Pluto says for fans, what matters most is beating Michigan. And Ohio State lost 13-10 to a Wolverines team that was just 6-5 entering Saturday.
“From the outside, they didn't look prepared," Pluto said. "To me, they looked totally uptight because a lot of times that's when teams make mistakes. It's just like, they're so emotionally tied in knots that we got to get Michigan and get all of this right, you can't even get lined up right.”
Day has a 66-10 record at Ohio State. But Pluto believes it’s probably not enough after four straight losses to Michigan.
“He hasn't won the national title, and he hasn't beat Michigan, and there's all this money out there," Pluto said. "And so, they'll probably want to go get a new coach at the end of the year.
“I did watch the game," Pluto said. "I will say it was not Ryan Day’s finest moment. The coaching staff made some real blunders and that, and I just wonder if they were...they just didn't handle the pressure well, period.”
Pluto believes there is one thing that may save Day’s job: winning the national title.
“Ohio State could still make the college playoffs and what if they get in the college playoffs and happen to win the national title?" Pluto said. "I think Ryan Day is back and he's happy for a while until the next season starts and everybody ask him about the Michigan game."
