What to know about Ohio State’s Ryan Day, Urban Meyer’s successor as head coach

With Urban Meyer retiring as head coach of Ohio State after the Rose Bowl, the Buckeyes have a new man poised to take the reins of the football program in 2019: Ryan Day.

The school announced that Day, the team's offensive coordinator, will take over following the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl. 

Meyer has called the 39-year-old "elite" on multiple occasions. Day got a chance to show his head-coaching chops in a brief stint at the beginning of this season — when Meyer was put on administrative leave for three games following allegations he was aware of multiple instances of domestic abuse involving Zach Smith, his former wide receivers coach.

Ohio State's 12-1 season and spot in the Rose Bowl against Washington came largely as a result of Day getting the program off to a 3-0 start. 

Day helped the Buckeyes beat Oregon State, Rutgers and TCU before Meyer returned in late September. Ohio State outscored those opponents 169-62.

Ohio State ranked second in offensive yards (7,134; 549 per game) among Football Bowl Subdivision schools, and it was eighth in points per game with 43.5.

Day joined the Buckeyes staff before the 2017 season as co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, and became the primary offensive coordinator in 2018. 

He was hired by Ohio State after two years as a quarterbacks coach in the NFL — following his mentor Chip Kelly from Philadelphia (2015) to San Francisco (2016). He turned down the Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator job in January, according to multiple reports. Day also was also an assistant at Boston College.

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