Buckeyes AD backing Coach Day: ‘He’s my CEO’
COLUMBUS, Ohio — In spite of back-to-back losses to rival Michigan, Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith reiterated his confidence in coach Ryan Day, telling ESPN on Tuesday that “he’s my CEO” and that they’ve talked about everything from personnel to playcalling and what they “need to do better.”
“My standards are high; our team standards are high,” Smith said in a wide-ranging interview in his office. “So we talk about how do we get better and how do we make sure we are able to win the championships that we aspire to win? We look at each individual contest that got in the way of that, and we’re trying to figure out what’s the strategy to mitigate that. When we lose, it’s highly disappointing, but I break things down and look at things objectively, and we have good conversations about what we need to do better.”
After Ohio State’s stunning 45-23 home loss to Michigan this past season, Wolverines defensive back Mike Sainristil planted a huge maize and blue flag in the block “O” in the middle of the Ohio Stadium turf. Fans were quick to criticize Day, although Smith said more of it comes at them through social media now than through his inbox or voicemail.
“It’s really not that bad,” he said.
The players have heard it, star receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. said.
“We love the coaches, so we want to go out there and protect them and do our best for them, more so than ourselves,” Harrison Jr. said. “Sometimes we’re just going out there and playing for them so they look good. I think that’s what kind of drives us a little bit from an offense and defense players’ perspective. Just going out there playing for your coaches because you’re seeing the stuff that’s said about our coaches, and we see them every day and we love them so much because of what they do for us, so if it anything it makes us play harder.”
According to ESPN Stats & Information research, Ohio State hasn’t lost three straight to Michigan since 1995-97. Under Day, the Buckeyes are 1-2 against the Wolverines and 44-4 against every other opponent, with three of those four losses coming in the College Football Playoff. Day is 32-0 against all other Big Ten teams, including in the conference championship game. There is a giant countdown clock in a hallway of the Les Wexner Football Complex as part of a display titled “The Greatest Rivalry,” and another one in the weight room, ticking down the days and minutes until Ohio State faces Michigan again — on Nov. 25 in Ann Arbor for the regular-season finale. The Buckeyes’ focus this spring has been on finding a starting quarterback to replace C.J. Stroud and improving a defense that allowed 16 plays of at least 20 yards over the final two games of last season (six against Michigan and 10 against Georgia).
“The rivalry game’s obviously very, very important,” Day told ESPN. “When you look at those games, and you see these single plays that really cost us the game. When you’re talking about on defense, giving up explosive plays, certainly that’s very, very important. That’s how games can go sideways. And so we have to identify that, get that fixed, and that hurt us in the Georgia game as well. That was something we talked about a lot in the offseason, or we’re continually talking about now in the spring, but I really like the team that we have coming back.”
As part of the offseason self-evaluation process, Day said he is considering relinquishing some of the playcalling duties to offensive coordinator Brian Hartline — a topic he broached with Smith this offseason. Day has given more responsibility to Hartline this spring in part so he can roam the field and spend more time with the defense, but it’s unclear how much that will continue this fall.
“His thought process about possibly giving up playcalling, he shared that with me without me ever asking that question,” Smith said. “When we hired him, I told him, ‘You’ve got to stay in your wheelhouse and call plays. There’ll be a natural point in time in your career where that changes.’ So that’s not for me to decide; that’s for him to decide.” Smith said it was the same process with personnel decisions.
“You know, we literally go down every person — not just the coaches, but the support staff — and say, ‘OK, is our mix right? Do we have the right person here?'” Smith said. “We may talk about a deficiency here and how do we strengthen that, so we, it’s a collaborative process, but I don’t make the decision. I hired him to make those decisions.”
And to beat Michigan.
“When you look at the roster, all you want to do is identify, OK, does this look like the teams we’ve had in the past?” Day said. “Do we have enough talent to reach our goals year after year? And the answer is yes. We definitely have it.”
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Adam Rittenberg, ESPN Senior Writer
Wisconsin fired offensive coordinator Phil Longo on Sunday, a day after the Badgers’ 16-13 home loss to No. 1 Oregon.
In a statement, Badgers coach Luke Fickell thanked Longo for his two seasons with the program, while adding, “We are not where we need to be and believe this decision is in the best interest of the team.”
Wisconsin ranks 97th nationally in scoring and 102nd in passing while operating an Air Raid-style offense that Longo brought with him from North Carolina and other stops.
The Badgers, who lost starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to a season-ending injury Sept. 14, had only three points and 88 yards in the second half against Oregon, which rallied from a 13-6 deficit entering the fourth quarter.
Wisconsin ranked 101st nationally in scoring in Longo’s 23 games as coordinator and failed to eclipse 13 points on its current three-game losing streak. Quarterback Braedyn Locke had only 96 passing yards against the Ducks.
Fickell did not immediately announce an interim coordinator for Wisconsin’s final regular-season games against Nebraska and Minnesota.
Fickell had long targeted Longo for a coordinator role, going back to his time as Cincinnati’s coach. Longo, 56, oversaw productive offenses at Ole Miss, North Carolina, Sam Houston State and other spots but never consistently got traction at a Wisconsin program that had operated dramatically differently on offense before his arrival.
“This team still has a lot in front of us and I am committed to doing everything we can to close out this season with success,” Fickell said in his statement.
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Eli Lederman, ESPN Staff Writer
Four-star quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. has committed to Florida, he told ESPN on Sunday, joining the Gators’ 2025 class four days after pulling his pledge from Florida State.
Jones, a four-year starter at Florida’s Mandarin High School, is ESPN’s No. 9 dual-threat passer in the Class of 2025. After multiple trips to Florida throughout his recruitment, Jones returned to campus Saturday, taking an official visit with the Gators during the program’s 27-16 win over LSU. A day later, Jones stands as the lone quarterback pledge in a 2025 Florida class that includes five pledges from the ESPN 300.
“I pretty much saw everything I needed to see when I visited last spring — I just love everything around the campus,” Jones told ESPN. “And then hanging out with the guys yesterday, seeing the camaraderie with each other, that really just sealed it for me.”
Jones was the longest-tenured member of Mike Norvell’s 2025 class at Florida State before his decommitment from the Seminoles on Thursday morning.
Jones’ exit came days after Norvell announced the firings of three assistant coaches on Nov. 10, including offensive coordinator and offensive line coach Alex Atkins. Jones was the first Florida State commit to pull his pledge in the wake of the staff shakeup but marked the Seminoles sixth decommitment since the start of the regular season, joining five ESPN 300 recruits who have left Norvell’s recruiting class across the program’s 1-9 start.
Jones’ commitment follows a key late-season victory for Billy Napier on Saturday and marks the Gators’ first recruiting win since athletic director Scott Strickland announced on Nov. 7 that Florida would stick with the third-year coach beyond the 2024 season.
Uncertainty over Napier’s future had weighed down Florida’s recruiting efforts in the 2025 class as the Gators began November with the No. 39 class in ESPN’s latest team rankings for the cycle. But Jones’ pledge comes as a boost for Florida one day after the Gators hosted a handful of high-profile flip targets, including five-star offensive tackle Solomon Thomas (Florida State pledge) and four-star wide receiver Jaime Ffrench (Texas pledge).
When Jones signs with Florida, he’ll arrive on campus flanked by fellow in-state offensive talents in four-star wide receivers Vernell Brown III (No. 44 in the ESPN 300) and Naeshaun Montgomery (No. 115), as well as four-star running back Waltez Clark (No. 223). Florida is also set to sign a pair of in-state defenders from the 2025 ESPN 300 between four-star defensive end Jalen Wiggins (No. 68) and four-star cornerback Ben Hanks Jr. (No. 121).
With Jones’ commitment, Florida has another jolt to its momentum on the recruiting trail as the Gators seek to chart a strong finish in the 2025 cycle next month. More imminently, Florida will host No. 11 Ole Miss on Saturday.
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