Two straight losses in The Game haven't shaken Gene Smith's confidence in Ryan Day as the leader of the Ohio State football program.
In an interview with ESPN on Tuesday, the Ohio State athletic director expressed his unwavering support for his head football coach despite failing to beat Michigan, capture a Big Ten championship or win a game in the College Football Playoff in either of the past two seasons.
“He's my CEO,” Smith said of Day during a conversation with ESPN's Heather Dinich.
However, Smith acknowledged that he has frequent conversations with Day about how the Buckeye football program can make the necessary changes that will allow it to achieve its lofty goals year in and year out.
"My standards are high, our team standards are high," Smith said in the interview. "So we talk about how do we get better and how do we make sure we are able to win the championships that we aspire to win? We look at each individual contest that got in the way of that, and we're trying to figure out what's the strategy to mitigate that. When we lose, it's highly disappointing, but I break things down, and look at things objectively, and we have good conversations about what we need to do better."
One such change is the potential for Day to turn over play-calling duties to new offensive coordinator Brian Hartline. The Buckeyes have experimented with Hartline as the offensive play-caller during the spring, but Day said he won't come to a final decision on who calls the plays until the season draws nearer.
Smith said that conversation came about without him having to probe Day on the matter.
"His thought process about possibly giving up play-calling, he shared that with me without me ever asking that question," Smith said. "When we hired him, I told him, 'You've got to stay in your wheelhouse and call plays. There'll be a natural point in time in your career where that changes.' So that's not for me to decide, that's for him to decide."
Smith said Day also remains the chief decision-maker when it comes to personnel decisions within the program, from assistant coaches to support staffers.
"You know, we literally go down every person – not just the coaches, but the support staff –and say, 'OK, is our mix right? Do we have the right person here?'" Smith said. "We may talk about a deficiency here and how do we strengthen that, so it's a collaborative process, but I don't make the decision. I hired him to make those decisions."
Should Ohio State lose to the Wolverines again this season, it would be the Buckeyes' first string of three straight rivalry defeats since 1995, '96 and '97. But Smith has faith that Day will turn things around in The Game.
