Ryan Day has established himself as one of the best coaches in the Big Ten conference with his work at Ohio State, but is he the best coach in the conference? According to The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman, he is no longer the top coach in the conference.
Feldman’s rankings place Day sixth in the country, two spots lower than he was ahead of the 2022 season. What is interesting is that Day now ranks behind both Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh (No. 4) and Penn State’s James Franklin (No. 5).
Feldman cites Franklin’s work at Vanderbilt and the fact that he had to take over a much tougher situation than Day as reasons for his higher ranking. He also points out Harbaugh’s success in revamping Michigan football with 25 wins in the past two seasons and two-straight Big Ten championships.
But despite trailing these two other Big Ten coaches, Ryan Day has still had an impressive run at Ohio State. Since taking over in 2019, Day has led the Buckeyes to 42 wins in 48 games and an average of the sixth-best recruiting class in the country per 247Sports composite team rankings. He has also won eight of 13 games against AP top-10 opponents and has beaten Penn State four times since 2019.
Looking ahead to the 2023 season, Ohio State will face a tough slate of opponents. This includes road games at Indiana, Notre Dame, Purdue, Wisconsin, and Michigan. It will also include a matchup against Penn State at home. With such a challenging schedule, it will be interesting to see how Day and the Buckeyes fare.
Day has already established himself as one of the best coaches in the Big Ten, and with a successful 2023 season, he may end up climbing back up the rankings. Until then, all eyes will be on him and Ohio State to see if they can make a deep run in the College Football Playoff.
