With the College Football Playoff approaching, and with eyes already turning to next season, Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork still has full confidence in head coach Ryan Day. Bjork went on local station 97.1 The Fan on Thursday to express his support for Day during the “Morning Juice” show.
Day has been in a bit of hot water since the Buckeyes lost to an unranked Michigan, marking the fourth straight year of losing The Game. But when asked on Thursday whether he was confident Day would return to the sideline next season, Bjork said “absolutely.”
“Coach Day is awesome,” Bjork said. “He’s great to work with. He totally gets it. He loves being a Buckeye. And so we’re going to support him at the highest level throughout.”
Bjork is in his first year as OSU’s AD after a five-year stint at Texas A&M. During Thursday’s interview, he spoke about his connection to Day and the confidence he has with the 45-year-old coach’s approach to the program.
“Coach Day and I have just hit it off so well. I’ve been really, really impressed. Every single time I’ve talked to him, I’ve learned something. He’s innovative, he recruits at the highest level. He’s got a great staff,” Bjork said. “There’s always tweaks. There was tweaks after last year, right? You’re always going to tweak things. You’re always going to make adjustments. You’re always going to make improvements.”
Bjork then added that some of Ohio State’s issues may require them to turn inward.
“If you get fixated on the end result and not have the process fully baked every time, you’re going to lose. The mindset’s going to lose because you’re only fixated on one thing. And so what we have to do is this whole ‘championship or bust’ mentality, you want that as the goal, but it has to be about the process,” Bjork said. “To me, we’ve got to maybe change some conversations a little bit. I think we need to maybe just approach things a little bit differently.”
Despite the loss to Michigan (and an earlier loss to No. 1 Oregon), Ohio State easily made the expanded CFP bracket as the No. 8 seed. The Buckeyes will host No. 9 Tennessee on Dec. 21.
“We’re still breathing. We’re still alive. The season’s not over. The book is not closed,” Bjork added. “We’ve got to have confidence. I mean, Ohio State should be confident every single day. We’re Ohio State.
“But we also have to make sure we stay to our values, and we stick to what we believe in. And so to me, it’s the process as much as it is about the end result, and if the process is right, the end result will take care of itself.”
If Ohio State beats Tennessee, it will have to face 13-0 Oregon in the Rose Bowl for a chance to play in the CFP semifinal — which will certainly require a lot of confidence.
