It took just a few hours into his first day as Ohio State’s new president before William “Ted” Carter was asked to comment on the job security of the head football coach for the Buckeyes. In his first media availability of his tenure on Monday, the school’s 17th president told reporters that while he recognizes the weight three straight losses to Michigan holds over the school and football program, he feels head coach Ryan Day will remain at his position for the foreseeable future, as the coach has built a program that is among college football’s elites.
“I have a great respect for the biggest rivalries that exist in the country,” Carter told reporters Monday. “As somebody that ran the Naval Academy, the Army vs. Navy game is as big a rivalry, only second to the Ohio State vs. Michigan rivalry. I think Ryan Day would also say that our goals are to win the Big Ten and win the national championship every year. We didn’t meet that.
“But Ryan Day runs a fantastic program. He’s our coach, I’m proud that he’s our coach and he will continue to be our coach.”
The former Navy graduate and “Top Gun” pilot Carter, who came to Ohio State after serving as Nebraska’s president for just over three years, enters office in Columbus weeks after Day’s program dropped its last two games of the season against the Wolverines on Nov. 25 and Missouri on Dec. 29 in the Cotton Bowl, a difficult sequence for the team that has put mounting pressure and criticism on the coach before the 2024 season. Despite the three consecutive three losses to Michigan and a 1-6 record against top-five College Football Playoff rankings opponents, Day still owns a 56-8 overall record in five seasons, and has secured two Big Ten Championships and three CFP appearances since he took over in 2019.
Carter, who offered “no comment” when asked if Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh should be fired following Michigan’s sign-stealing scandal, also told the media on Monday that he and the administration are making progress towards finding a new athletic director that will replace Gene Smith, who is set to retire on June 30, 2024.
“Acting president Peter Mohler did a great job of putting a search advisory team together,” Carter said. “We are going to be getting into more details and you’ll hear more about it soon.”
There have been no confirmed reports of any candidates to replace Smith. However, Eleven Warriors reported that Carter and the university have begun the process of finding and interviewing finalists for the position, with the interviews slated to begin on campus later this month.
