Gene Smith Grateful for Ryan Day's Leadership, Ohio State Coach with Heavy Heart
Calling plays and coaching football games isn't easy - I don't want to downplay that. But it's perhaps the easiest part of Ryan Day's job as the head coach at The Ohio State University.
There are very few jobs in America that are under as much scrutiny, with as much pressure to succeed as the seat that Ryan Day occupies. Expectations are borderline unrealistic - win every game and win the national championship, recruit the best high school stars in the country to join your program, reload and do it all over again, while consistently turning your best players into top-flight NFL stars. You have to be willing to share the credit during good times, but shoulder the blame when things go poorly.
Oh yeah - and do it for a university with the most passionate fan base in America. And follow a coach who never once lost a game to The Team Up North.
Not to mention the personal sacrifices you have to make to do that job well.
Think your up for the job?
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The fact is, most people aren't capable of it. It takes a special kind of person to excel under such circumstances. And yet, I have never once heard Ryan Day express anything other than gratitude for the opportunity to lead this program, most recently this week before his CoVID diagnosis when he was reflecting on Thanksgiving.
If you want to effectively lead a group of people in any walk of life, you can't ask the group to do something you aren't willing to do yourself. It's part of what makes Day so beloved in the Ohio State locker room. He's the voice leading the charge, but he's right in the thick of the fight against CoVID along with the rest of the team. It's part of why learning of his contracting the virus has hit him so hard.
"I'm resting comfortably," Day said. "I have an extremely heavy heart though. The sacrifices that have been made by so many. The anxiety of months and months and months of every day getting test results back to make sure that the entire program is safe ... and then to experience it this week, Thanksgiving week, I can't sit here and tell ya it's anything other than really, really hard. But like I told the team, it's just another opportunity to get through some adversity, work through adversity and learn more about yourselves. That's the only way that I can really describe and put a positive spin on it right now ... it's going to make us tougher, stronger. I really believe that."
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Gene Smith also holds one of the most challenging jobs in the country, which is made easier by attracting the kinds of high quality, high character people that leads Ohio State's 37 varsity sports. He counts Ryan Day's leadership among his blessings.
"I just want to thank Ryan," Smith said today in a news conference. "I can't begin to share with you how hard his job is. I can't. I think most of you who are with him every week periodically, you get it. But I can't tell you how hard his job is, particularly now. It's beyond describing ... we have a great leader in him."
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