The Ohio State Buckeyes have been near the top of the college football world for decades. There’s no other program that’s been able to stack success like Ohio State has decade after decade. 

Ryan Day as the head coach in Columbus is a big part of the success continuing from the Urban Meyer era. Day has been able to level up the program in some ways while being very competitive in the new era of NIL and the expanded College Football Playoff. 

Day is entering season No. 9 at Ohio State and it’s fair to wonder when he’ll leap to the NFL, if he does. 

Ryan Day and NFL talk isn’t going away anytime soon 

The Cover 3 podcast recently talked about college football coaches who could make a jump to the NFL, and of course, Day was brought up. Danny Kannell raised the point on what it might take for Day to leave Ohio State.  

“If Ryan Day were to win a second championship, I could see him say, ‘What else can I do here?’” Kannel stated. 

“Does Day want to stay at Ohio State for the next 15 years and try to win five or want to take that next jump in his career?” Kannel asked about the other way it could play out.

Day has one national title two seasons ago in the first year of the 12-team expanded College Football Playoff. Ohio State made it to the national title game in 2020 when they lost to Alabama, and they were a play away from getting back to the big game in 2022 when they lost to Georgia. Ohio State is well-positioned to continue to get a crack at winning it all year in and year out. 

Ryan Day making the leap to the NFL feels like it’s going to happen at some point 

I believe that the 47-year-old Ohio State head coach will eventually be an NFL head coach. In any line of work, most folks want to be able to do their job at the highest level possible, or at least should have those aspirations. Ohio State hired Day away from the San Francisco 49ers in 2017 when he was the quarterbacks coach there. 

Day‘s son is set to head to Northwestern to play college football after the 2026 high school season, which could impact his decision on uprooting the family to work elsewhere. Day is all for college football heading toward an NFL model, another sign that fits the narrative. 

It’s all talk right now, but one day Day is going to leap to the NFL. It might be next year, it might be in 10 years. If I’m wrong I’ll stand on it, but it’s hard to imagine him not taking at least one run at being a head coach at the highest level in football.