Ryan Day Ranked By ESPN As No. 2 Coach In Country Behind Georgia’s Kirby Smart 

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day is fresh off winning his first-ever national championship and slaying four college football titans in the College Football Playoff, but that historic run wasn’t enough to make him the top dog in his profession, at least according to those who cover college football at ESPN

In a May 16 article that asked ESPN’s college football reporters to rank the 10 best coaches in football, Day was placed at No. 2 behind Kirby Smart of Georgia, who took the No. 1 spot with ease by earning 11 of 12 first-place votes. 

Smart received 119 points in the survey — which awarded 10 points to coaches who were voted for first place, nine for second place and so on — which was 22 more than Day, who finished with 97. 

ESPN did not note if Day received a first-place vote, but they did say that three people put the Buckeyes’ coach at No. 4, which was the lowest anyone ranked him in the survey. ESPN senior writer Andrea Adelson, whose college football coverage focuses primarily on the ACC, said that she put Day at No. 4 in large part due to his 1-4 record against archrival Michigan. 

“There are a couple of reasons I did not rank Day higher. I think he should be docked for having a poor record against Michigan, the most important game on the schedule every year,” Adelson said. “He is 1-4 against the Wolverines and lost last season as a prohibitive favorite. The corresponding outrage from the fan base only died down after Ohio State won the national championship. 

“That leads me to my second point. You might be thinking the national title is reason enough to have Day ranked higher. But in any other season, that Michigan loss would have ended the Buckeyes’ season. They got a second chance only because of the newly expanded 12-team playoff. For those reasons, I have Day at No. 4.” 

Day — who has compiled a 70-10 record, four College Football Playoff appearances, two Big Ten titles and the previously mentioned national championship in his first seven years with the program — is ahead of Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, who was No. 3 on the list with 87 points. He was ranked no lower than sixth on any ballot. 

Trailing Swinney was Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman at No. 4 (64 points), Texas’ Steve Sarkisian at No. 5 (62), Oregon’s Dan Lanning at No. 6 (57), Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer at No. 7 (33), Penn State’s James Franklin at No. 8 (26), Utah’s Kyle Whittingham at No. 9 (24) and Iowa State’s Matt Campbell at No. 10 (15).