Ryan Day lifted an immense weight off his shoulders by leading Ohio State to the national championship.
After losing to Michigan for the fourth straight time in the regular season finale, Day was facing such intense backlash from some Buckeyes fans that he and his family hired a 24-hour private security detail for their house. The threats and taunts got so bad, Day’s wife Nina said she considered moving the family out of Columbus.
Four wins in the College Football Playoff later and Day could breathe and smile easier. That doesn’t mean that everything went smoothly following the 34-23 win over Notre Dame in the national championship game last Monday.
Shortly after the final whistle, Day and two of his players were in a golf cart that crashed into a wall in the bowels of Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The moment provided some levity, and Day likened it to being in “an Austin Powers movie” during his appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on Monday.
Ryan Day is Austin Powers. #RyanDay #collegefootball #CollegeFootballNationalChampionship #ncaafootball #ohiostatebuckeyes #OhioStateFootball pic.twitter.com/G56GXL5V67
— Luke Patyrak (@DynamiteHack300) January 21, 2025
If you’re unfamiliar, in the hit 1997 movie Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Mike Myers’ title character gets a golf cart stuck in a narrow hallway.
“You’re stressed during the game, you finally take a deep breath and so we get on the golf cart to go to the press conference and we are just gunning it through the field,” Day told Fallon. “Just dodging around people. And I’m grabbing on like this and then we took the corner and it hit the wall. And if you look back, Will Howard’s laughing his tail off and so is Cody Simon.
“And I’m looking like, ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me right now.’ It’s just amazing how you come right back down to Earth like 20 minutes after [winning the national title].”
Golf cart crash or not, we’re sure that the last eight days have felt like a never-ending high for Day after all he endured.
While Ohio State decision makers said Day would return in 2025 even before the CFP began, there’s no doubt the sixth-year coach’s seat was scorching hot.
Now, after winning the title, Day could be looking at a contract extension.
There will still be pressure next season, particularly to beat Michigan, but Day has earned some equity with fans for the time being.
Related: Michigan Fan Taunted Ryan Day To His Face In Viral Video