Ohio State’s national-championship victory over Notre Dame not only helped Ryan Day’s job security with the Buckeyes. The once-embattled 45-year-old head coach may have also diffused the violent threats his family has faced since dropping another game to rival Michigan on November 30.
The Buckeyes were a three-touchdown favorites against the hated Wolverines that day, but were stunned at home in what became Day’s fourth consecutive loss to Michigan.
It was then, with fans calling for Day to be fired, that the family began receiving threats, prompting local police to provide around-the-clock protection.
‘We had security at our house. School was really bad,’ Day’s son R.J., a high school sophomore, told The Athletic. ‘I didn’t really leave the house much ’til after the Tennessee game [three weeks after the Michigan game, in the CFP first round]. It was rough, but you’ve gotta hang on in those rough times because eventually things will turn back around again.’
The daughter of famed Southern New Hampshire University basketball coach Stan Spirou, Day’s wife Nina knew about the pitfalls of college sports. But it wasn’t until her three children were threatened that she began to understand the dangers of their situation.
As she told The Athletic: ‘You can’t take anything lightly these days. I was very concerned.’
Head Coach Ryan Day of the Ohio State Buckeyes and his family are seen after Monday’s win
Ryan Day is seen with his wife, Nina, the daughter of college hoops coach Stan Spirou
‘She knows the up and downs, but she’d never experienced what they had to go through in the last month and a half,’ Spirou, who had 640 wins over 33 seasons at SNHU, told The Athletic on Monday.
‘Certainly, I had my share of setbacks, but it got personal there for a while [for the Days]. That had a tremendous impact on the immediate family and the kids.
‘I’d been in the business for a long time, but I hadn’t seen anything like this,’ Spirou continued. ‘You have to give a lot of credit to the players. They could’ve gone either way.
‘That’s what leadership is all about. I couldn’t be any happier or proud of Ryan. He got the off the mat. He took all the blame for everything that went on with Michigan. Never put any of it on the players or the coaching staff, and he just went to work.’
Seeing the struggle his son-in-law was going through, Spirou offered some advice in the former of a Greek Myth.
‘You keep pushing that rock, and pushing that rock, and tonight, he put it over the mountain,’ Spirou said, referencing Sisyphus.
Ryan Day of the Buckeyes walks into Ohio Stadium with his daughter Grace in 2023
Monday’s victory was bittersweet for the Day family as it came on January 20 – the 37th anniversary of his father’s suicide.
Understandably, the head coach has been profoundly impacted by that event and now works as an advocate for mental health through the family’s ‘On Our Sleeves’ initiative.
‘The kids look at their dad and know what he’s been through,’ Nina said. ‘He lost his dad at 9-years-old. He showed resilience and fought and look at him now.’
And to Nina, tragic episodes like the death of Day’s father help to keep things like losses to Michigan in perspective. It’s not that she dismisses the importance of the game, but in speaking with The Athletic, Nina recognized that it’s helped to teach her children a lesson.
‘My kids will tell you that they couldn’t be more proud of their dad, and even after that awful loss, we told them we still believed in him and no matter what happens we still have each other,’ she said.
‘We just stuck together. The biggest thing is you learn to fail but you’ve got to get back up. That’s the biggest thing they’ve learned through this whole thing: Everyone fails, but you’ve got to get back up and keep swinging.’
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