Ryan Day would not be the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes right now had Chip Kelly not taken the reins of the offense in 2024 and steered Will Howard, the two-headed running back monster of TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins, and the receiving troika of Jeremiah Smith, Emeka Egbuka, and Carnell Tate to a CFP title victory.
Without Kelly, Day either relies on Brian Hartline, his receiving guru, who tends to neglect the run, or his own play-calling, which has not worked out well, as the 2023 season, the 2024 edition of "The Game," and the Big Ten Championship and Cotton Bowl Classic this past December proved, or he brings on an unpopular hire like Arthur Smith, son of FedEx's founder, who didn't exactly crush it with the Pittsburgh Steelers the past two years, or with the Atlanta Falcons the three years before that.