Former Alabama quarterback leaves no doubt how he feels about Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day
Former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback/current ESPN analyst Greg McElroy made it clear this week how he feels about Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day. McElroy is a big, big fan. And he's been a big fan since Day was filling in for Urban Meyer as the interim head coach at Ohio State in 2018. […]
Former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback/current ESPN analyst Greg McElroy made it clear this week how he feels about Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day.
McElroy is a big, big fan.
And he's been a big fan since Day was filling in for Urban Meyer as the interim head coach at Ohio State in 2018.
“To be honest with you, Ryan Day has been one of my favorite people in the sport since I met him for the first time when he was filling in in an interim role for Urban Meyer," said McElroy. “He was the head coach there for a three-game sequence and we actually were on the call for his first-ever game as a head coach against Oregon State. It was a tremendous offensive performance. The defensive performance left a little to be desired, but the takeaway that I had that afternoon watching them win that game was this guy is going to do some special things here in college football.”
“I didn’t, at that point, anticipate Urban Meyer not being at Ohio State in the near future," continued McElory. "But I knew that wherever Ryan Day ended up, he would find success. He has tremendous resources and tremendous pressure. The pressure that he felt to deliver this year was immense. They had the best roster. They had a senior-laden group that had circled this opportunity. A lot of guys came back, including eight on the defensive side that were all seniors trying to become the first national champion in Columbus in a 10-year span. They were able to capture that. But it was not easy. After the Michigan game, it would have been easy for these guys to start to turn on one another, start to point fingers, start to make excuses. But what did they do? They took accountability, they took ownership. And they said it will not happen again. That deserves to be commended.”
McElroy played for some of Nick Saban's best teams at Alabama, so he knows what an elite head coach looks like. That's why it's not a surprise that McElroy recognized those elite traits in Day nearly seven years ago despite his status, at the time, as an under-the-radar assistant coach turned interim head coach.
It took Day a bit to break through and win a national championship, but it was always inevitable that he'd find a way. Now the big question is how many more championships can he add to his resumé?
Nothing is ever guaranteed in sports, but it certainly feels like Day isn't done bringing championships back to Columbus.
