What Is a Typical Day Like for Ohio State Football Coach Ryan Day?
Like many of you, Ohio State head football coach Ryan Day is working from home these days.
With the OSU campus shut down, and the football facilities along with it, Day is running the Ohio State football program from his home office.
In speaking with reporters via teleconference on Wednesday, Day admitted that this was the first he had actually gotten to use his home office. He is certainly making up for lost time now, however.
Running a football program when things are going well isn’t easy to do, but Day and Ohio State certainly found a process that has worked for them. That process was scrapped 12 days ago, however, when the University closed down all buildings and sent everyone home.
So Day and his staff and his players have had to put an entirely new process in place.
Each morning for the Day family, that process starts with breakfast, then they all get to work on their respective assignments. Day’s wife Nina is helping with the kids’ schoolwork, while Day is taking care of the filmwork. Then comes lunch, followed by some exercise (AKA recess?), then back to work before calling it a day.
But it’s also a little bit more involved than that.
“It kind of depends on the day, but for the most part, it’s waking up and watching film,” Day said of his typical day. “Use the morning to try to watch, whether it’s our spring cut ups, studying an NFL team, watch an upcoming opponent. It is a great opportunity to study film. So that’s kind of the morning, and then I’ll quickly get into recruiting. Try to get as many guys as we can on the phone and find out what’s going on in the recruiting world, through text messaging and having those guys call in.”
With no traveling going on or official visits or, you know, practicing to take up time right now, Day and his staff are also finding time to evaluate recruits. Generally, that’s recruiting director Mark Pantoni’s world, and he has a full staff of people who are well out in front of scouting America’s best prospects. And now they have some help.
“This is a great opportunity for our staff to spend a lot of time evaluating film, which typically Mark and his staff do a great job of that,” Day said. “We get to watch some highlights, but now we’re kind of diving into some profile tapes and some game tapes, which is really valuable.”
Then there is also the maintenance of the players and their well-being. Day mentioned several times on the conference call that players today are accustomed to receiving constant feedback, so the coaches are working to make sure they are providing that. He is also routinely checking in with those above him in order to stay abreast of what is going on with the OSU athletic department.
“[We’re] trying to do the best we can to just get with our staff and figure out what’s going on. If there’s any issues that are going on,” he said. “Communicate with Gene Smith regularly. Communicate with [Deputy Director of Sports] Diana Sabau regularly. [Football Ops] Brian Voltalini, [Player Development]Ryan Stamper, just constantly communicating with them throughout the day, trying to figure out where the issues are and where we need to go next.”
Then, of course, there is the person that Day calls most — strength coach Mickey Marotti. Day said he and Marotti are on the phone two or three times per day. Players have been sent workout guidelines with the hope — and trust — that they will eventually return as close to their current state as possible.
“So, a lot of phone calls,” Day said of his routine. “A lot of FaceTiming. And then a lot of watching film.”
Entire article:
https://theozone.net/2020/03/typical-day-like-ohio-state-football-coach-ryan-day/
