It's not that complicated. OSU football seeks greatness. To be great, one has to be great in big moments. Big moments require leaders who can get into a flow state. The flow state is where everything slows down, and one can select from a variety of options and execute on those. Anyone who's been great in anything, but especially in athletics, knows that the flow state is where greatness is born. Now, on to Day. 

In the biggest moments, he freezes, he's stuck, he's not at ease, and thus he isn't able to access and apply his considerable talents to the moment. This takes two forms. First, as an O expert, he can't meet the pressure of the moment in a cool manner and the players reflect his style. Just consider the opportunities that have been there in so many big games. The last three against TTUN, GA, Oregon, Missouri. His teams got tight, played tight, played not to loose. This is a type of O that may get lucky and win, (Think ND last year) but most of the time it's a style that's going to fail. Consider taking this style up to AA next November. Does anyone really expect a different outcome?  Secondly, as the Head Coach, the leader of the team, the culture he's created follows this tight style in big moment. These magnificent athletes are young men who are following their HC. The super saturation in the culture results in a team thats all in. This team was all in, for sure. This is the result. We could have gotten lucky and won, but does anyone really believe this is the recipe for success in the long term? Does anyone really believe this is the recipe for a NC? 

And it is for this reason that Day needs to be replaced. In the final analysis it's really not about 5 stars. Those help. Ultimately, it's the personality of the coach in the biggest moments that makes the difference. Just think of the heroes that emerged under Bruce, Tress, Urban. Many of these were 3 stars, no names, who went on to make the big play in the biggest moments, and that makes all the difference. With the way we recruit, it's simply getting a coach who has that calm style under pressure that will take this team, this culture, to the next level. This is the condition that must be met for this team to compete for and win titles, Big10 and NC.

Now it is not an easy task to find this type of coach. Most coaches choke under pressure. Hell, Urban, Tress, Bruce, choked a number of times.  But they didn't choke all the time, or 90% of the time. They didn't just win one because they got lucky. This is not a search for perfection, but rather, a search for the right personality.  Such a search is a difficult undertaking, and needs to be done carefully, thoughtfully, and I think it's likely to take time to find the right person. Someone from OH, who has played in The Game and won it, whose won at high levels, whose won under the most adverse conditions. Someone who can articulate this and live it, create a culture from it. It's not a search for perfection, rather, it's a search for greatness. 

Let the search begin. 
 

Mod Edit:  closing. At least 5 other related threads.