Ohio State dealt with a lot off of the field last December when playing the Big Ten Championship and in the College Football Playoff. Coach Day is still calling for one change months after Brian Hartline left Columbus.
The Ohio State Buckeyes lost their final two games of the season last year in the Big Ten Championship and then in the College Football Playoff. Losing to Indiana and Miami should leave a bitter taste for the Buckeyes heading into this season.
One tough part of December for the Buckeyes was Brian Hartline taking the head coaching job at South Florida. Hartline was named the head coach at USF shortly before the Big Ten Championship, and there’s no doubt it was a distraction for the team and Hartline.
Ryan Day is still preaching for a change in college football with Brian Hartline at South Florida
On a recent appearance with Josh Pate, coach Day didn’t hide from the changes he thinks college football needs. Teams having to deal with coaching changes during the season don’t have to happen. A change in the college football calendar could be the move.
“The truth is it can be disruptive and I thought Brian handled that great,” Day stated. “It wasn’t nothing to do with him, just the way it is set up now. Which goes back to this conversation, I think we all need to figure out. How does this all need to be structured? Not these one off conversations about how many teams in the playoffs, when should the season end, when does the portal open. All of those need to come together at once and create this plan. This structure.”
“But we’re just picking and choosing right now and it makes it hard. You think about leading up to that game on signing day, Brian gets named the head coach at South Florida. There was just a lot that went with that. Oh and by the way we have short yardage and goal line that we’re trying to game plan for. There was just a lot going on, but at the end of the day nobody cares. You got to produce.”
That’s a strong stance from Day and it’s hard to argue. While it can’t be an excuse, it is a reality that it’s an avoidable distraction teams shouldn’t have to deal with until the season is over. Day applauded Hartline for the job he was still able to do, but one person only has so much bandwidth. If Hartline was giving some of his energy to South Florida (he was), then Ohio State couldn’t have his full attention at the most important time of the season.
We’re likely heading toward a playoff expansion, which has everything to do with more money for college football. Fixing some of the other things that need to be looked at should go right along with it, but it hasn’t as of late. Day raised a valid point regarding it.
Roster turnover and coaching turnover are part of the job for a head coach to deal with and Day has done a great job with it. Change would still be good with how things currently are. In an alternate world, Ohio State fans are left wondering if the result would have been different against Indiana without those distractions.
