Thinking about it this morning, I just wanted to layout how Day compared to his predecessors. Now obviously Tressel and Meyer had some longevity, so I only included the first 5 years. For this reason, I did not include Day's 3 game stretch in 2018. He was the head coach, but it was Meyer's program. A lot more goes into the game than simply being in charge on the sidelines, and I wanted to see how their programs as a whole stack up. Anyways, here's the stats.
| Tressel | Meyer | Day | |
| Record | 50-13 (.794) | 62-6 (.912) | 53-7 (.883) |
| Record vs Top 25 | 21-8 (.724) | 16-4 (.800) | 17-7 (.708) |
| Record vs Top 10 | 6-2 (.750) | 8-3 (.727) | 8-6 (.571) |
| Record vs Top 5 | 2-2 (.500) | 3-1 (.750) | 2-6 (.250) |
| Big Ten Championships | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| National Championships | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Record vs. TTUN | 4-1 | 5-0 | 1-3 |
Now, just some important reminders to consider when looking at this data.
-Tressel inherited a dumpster fire from Cooper. Some good talent on the roster, but the team culture was horrible, and the Qb room was almost empty. Getting to 8-5 for the 2001 season was considered successful.
-Meyer's first team in 2012 was ineligible for the postseason. They would've qualified for the Big Ten Championship game at a minimum, and possibly the last BCS National Title game.
-The 2020 season was a mess with Covid and conference's horrible decision making, which impacted Day's 2nd team in several ways, most notably resulting in costing Day a likely win against TTUN.
-Day's record against TTUN has an asterisk next to it due to the TTUN cheating scandal.
Make of this what you will. Day is a great coach, and an even better person. His resume has had some bad luck from Covid and the cheating scandal. But you also can't get around the fact that it feels like he had underachieved compared to Tressel and Meyer. I think that firing Day would be a stupid decision and it won't happen this year, so some people probably need to back off the ledge. Yet, I think that next year is a big year for Day. It's time to put up or shut up in 2024. Obviously expectations here are high. They always have been, then Tressel and Meyer took those expectations to new heights. Is that entirely fair to Day? Maybe not, but it is what it is. Beating TTUN and winning National Championships are at the top of the list here, followed by winning the Big Ten. Barring some big time luck to get us into the playoffs this year, we won't have accomplished any of those goals since 2020. The Ohio State University has everything a football program could want, so it's time to make it happen. I truly hope that he does.
