Ohio State coach Ryan Day arrived in the promised land and led the Buckeyes to their first national title since 2014, but the journey was far from a fairy tale, his family said.
Day's wife, Nina, said the couple and their three children, son RJ and daughters Nia and Grace, were threatened after Ohio State's fourth consecutive 13-10 loss to rival Michigan on Nov. 30. He said he needed to find safety at home.
“You can’t take anything lightly these days.” Nina told The Athletic: In an article published Monday, it added that the threats came from a small number of die-hard Buckeye fans. “I was very worried.”
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RJ, a high school sophomore, recalled a time when he could barely leave his house because of the uproar over his loss.
“We had security guards at home. School was really bad,” he said. “I hardly left the house until after the Tennessee game (three weeks after the CFP first-round game against Michigan). It was a tough time, but things will get better again someday, so I hope you'll do your best during that tough time. .”
RJ explained that she was reminded of the time she received backlash from “adults” and saw her sisters in tears.
“Everything we've had to go through as a family hasn't been easy,” he said. “It was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to deal with in my life. Dealing with really grown men coming after me for things I had no part in. But I did it just to see the joy and tears on my sister's and mother's faces, and to see the joy on my father's face.
“This proves how much you have to endure when things are bad. I'm very happy for my father and his family. I know how hard he works. When I watch the nights when he comes home at 1 a.m. and returns to work at 5 a.m., I see how much effort he puts into his kids, and when I see the results and see him lift the trophy with a smile on his face. It's special to me and I'll never forget it.”
RJ added that they call Nina the rock of the family.
“It was a big challenge,” Nina said. “It's hard to block out the noise, but we have to stay positive and strong in our house and just believe in what we believe in. He's been through a lot. He has always been a fighter and has fought to get to this point.”
Nina praised her husband for getting through the difficult times, noting that OSU's 34-23 victory over Notre Dame in the CFP national championship game was the anniversary of her father's death.
Day's father died by suicide on January 20, 1988.
“I don't think anyone realizes that,” Nina said. “The kids look at their dad and know what he went through. He lost his dad when he was 9 years old. He showed resilience and fought, look at him now.
“My children will tell you that they couldn't be more proud of their father. And even after that terrible loss, we still believe in him and that no matter what happens, we will We told them we still have each other. We just stuck together. The biggest thing is you learn from failure, but you have to bounce back. That's the biggest thing they learned through all of this. Everybody makes mistakes, but you have to get back up and keep swinging.”
Kirk Herbstreit, ESPN's chief college football analyst and former Ohio State quarterback who was in the booth for Monday's game, said he has heard what Day and his family have been through this season. .
“I’m his friend and I’m very objective. [I] We try to be as fair as possible.” Mr. Herbstreit said:. “But I've heard the story behind the curtain and I know what he and his wife and his family are going through. It's really, really tough. Winning every game. It's tough to be a coach at a premium school where there are high expectations. He handled it with a class like that. And he gets to the top of the mountain.”
Nina's father, Stan Spirow, a former basketball coach at Division II Southern New Hampshire University who won 640 games in 33 years, explained that she knows how difficult it is to be a coach's kid. .
“I've been in this industry for a long time and I've never seen anything like this,” Spirou told The Athletic. “I have to give a lot of credit to the players. It could have gone either way. That's what leadership is all about. I couldn't be more happy and proud of Ryan. He came off the mat He took full responsibility for everything that happened at Michigan. He never put it on the players or the coaching staff, he just went about his job.”
