Over six-plus seasons as the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, head coach Ryan Day has accumulated a 66-10 record. At first glance, any fanbase would sign up for a .868 winning percentage over a half-decade-long span, but four losses in a row to the hated Michigan Wolverines and the inability to bring a National Championship back to Columbus have landed Ryan Day on a seat about as hot as you can get in what is typically a chilly Buckeye state this time of the year.

However, Ross Bjork, Ohio State's athletics director as of July 1st, 2024 recently came out and offered a public defense of Day after the Michigan loss, saying, “Coach Day does a great job leading our program. He's our coach.” On Thursday, Bjork went even further during an appearance on 97.1 The Fan’s “Morning Juice” with Bobby Carpenter, saying that Day would be the head coach for Ohio State's season-opener next August.

“Absolutely,” Bjork answered. “Coach Day and I have just hit it off so well. I’ve been really, really impressed. Every single time I’ve talked to him, I’ve learned something. He’s innovative. He recruits at the highest level. He’s got a great staff. There’s always tweaks. There was tweaks after last year, right? You’re always going to tweak things. You’re always going to make adjustments. You’re always going to make improvements.”

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There's clearly room for improvement for the Buckeyes, but there's very little time to make those adjustments before they're back on the field for an opening round matchup in the College Football Playoff against the Tennessee Volunteers. Assuming the Buckeyes, who are 7.5 point favorites against the Vols, get the job done in Columbus on December 21st, they'd then be in line to face the Oregon Ducks for the second time this season. Earlier this year, Oregon survived in Eugene by the final score of 32-31.

The path through the College Football Playoff toward the program's first National Championship since 2014 will be treacherous, and Ross Bjork made sure to stress to Buckeye nation that getting too fixated on the ‘championship or bust' mindset could be detrimental to the program.

“If you get fixated on the end result and not have the process fully baked every time, you’re going to lose. The mindset’s going to lose because you’re only fixated on one thing. And so what we have to do is this whole ‘championship or bust’ mentality, you want that as the goal, but it has to be about the process.”