Two Ohio State football coaches came together to promote the importance of fatherhood in an event at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center last week.
Former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel and current Ohio State coach Ryan Day were both at the home of Ohio State football last Monday for the All Pro Dad Experience, an event that combined football skills and drills with family bonding exercises to promote the value of fathers spending time with and being role models for their children. The sold-out event brought more than 1,400 fathers, children and other family members to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center, breaking the attendance record for the All Pro Dad Experience, which partners with college football and NFL teams throughout the country. Current and former Ohio State football players also served as coaches at the event.
The event started as the result of a partnership between All Pro Dad, a fatherhood program co-founded by former NFL head coach Tony Dungy, and the Ohio Department of Children and Youth. Tressel, who is now the Lieutenant Governor of Ohio, reached out to Day to ask if he’d be willing to host the event at the WHAC, and Day was eager to help even though the event came amid a busy stretch for Ohio State recruiting.
“This is a busy time for college athletics with all these official visits and the portal and this and that and summer workouts. And when we called him, we said, ‘Hey, we'd like to have it here,’ he said, ‘OK, we'll make sure the facility's available … and I'll make sure I'm there,’” Tressel told reporters at the event. “He knows shooting to be an all-pro dad is about as important as it gets.”
Day, who has one son and two daughters, said being a great father has been his most important goal from his young age. Having lost his own father when he was only nine years old, Day understands just how important it is for children to have strong role models, crediting his grandfather, his uncles, his father-in-law and his football coaches with filling the void that his father’s death left in his life.
“Growing up I didn't have a father, but a lot of people stepped in that gap. A lot of people did. And I actually looked at it like an opportunity, because I was able to choose the attributes in a bunch of men in my community that I wanted to emulate down the road,” Day said during his speech at the event. “And then from there I wanted to become a good dad for my son RJ, for my daughters. I wanted to be a good husband. I wanted to show my kids what it looks like to be a good dad, what it looks like to be a good husband, what love looks like … Because there's nothing more important than that. It's the best thing that we can do.
“The lessons that we're teaching our youth right now, we're teaching our sons and we're teaching our daughters, they are going to bring that with them the rest of their life. We get caught up in our day-to-day. We all do. But there's nothing more important than that.”
Tressel, like Day, always valued more than just winning games during his own coaching career. While he did plenty of winning as Ohio State’s coach, going 106-23 over 10 seasons including a 9-1 record vs. Michigan and an undefeated national championship season in 2002, Tressel says his proudest accomplishment from his coaching career is seeing the men his former players became off the field.
“That was your number one goal,” Tressel said. “People ask all the time, ‘What was your greatest victory?’ and your greatest victory is watching what your guys do later. What kind of dads they become. What kind of co-workers they become. What kind of citizens they become. And what kind of spouses do they become. That's where your victories are. And you don't apologize for wanting to win games, that's darn important as well, but not quite as important as them becoming all-pro dads.”
“There's nothing more important than that. It's the best thing that we can do.”– Ryan Day on the importance of being a good father
Tressel is proud to see Day bringing the same values to Ohio State today, as evidenced by his involvement in the All Pro Dad Experience.
“Coach Day has his priorities in order,” Tressel said. “His faith is very important to him, his family is very important to him, what he can do for the community and who he represents is very important to him. Of course, his players are very important to him, but when he can carve out a minute to help someone, he's always available.”
