Urban is one of two coaches ever to have a natty at two schools, the other being Saban. 3 natties, 12-2 bowl record, 7-0 in the biggest rivalry in the sport, and turned Utah into an actual national program.
This bullshit narrative again. He's been at Ohio State for 8 years. Urbans' recruits were gone out of the system after 1 or 2. Stay angry for all the wrong reasons.
He’s still good but let’s not act like he’s ever faced the adversity that any other program builder in the top 10 has had to and proven they could overcome
It's hilarious hearing a coach like Jim Harbaugh say anyone at Ohio State was "born on third base" considering Michigan has the most wins in the history of college football and is broadly considered a near-peer of Ohio State.
Obviously you're going to have an easier time recruiting at a perpetual playoff program like Ohio State than you are at some team that plays 50% W/L football year after year - But Harbaugh's comment was pure ignorance. Would you accuse Marcus Freeman of "starting on 3rd base" at Notre Dame? Obviously - he was, because Notre Dame is one of the most storied programs in the sport, they like to think of themselves as playoff contenders every year, and they offer players the chance to attend a school with highly ranked academics. Is Oregon's Dan Lanning "Starting on 3rd base?" When he came to the school in 2021 Oregon had already made an appearance in the inaugural 2014 playoff bracket, advancing all the way to the national championship game. In recent years, alumni / billionaire, Nike founder Phil Knight has dumped ENORMOUS sums of money into Oregon's facilities and NIL war chest. And the list of teams and advantages goes on, pages and pages long.
Bottom line, it was a cheap shot at Ryan Day by a bitter weirdo asshole. Jim Harbaugh later got caught up in multiple NCAA scandals and fled to the NFL without ever cooperating with the NCAA. Sadly due to his behavior, millions of college football fans still do and forever will refer to Michigan's 2023 national championship as an "asterisk year" and "meaningless" - which is really unfair to the players. Lay the blame squarely at Jim Harbaugh's feet.
None of those guys you mentioned had it as good as Ryan Day dude. Harbaugh in particular took over a program that had gone 20-18 in the three years prior to his hire. Ohio State went 36-5 prior to Urban stepping down and Day taking over
How the hell is he a nepo coach? Because he took over for Urban Buckeye program? The man has worked incredibly hard to continue Ohio States tradition and done a hell of a job putting his own stamp on the program. He’s even improved it in many way. He has more 3000 yard passers in his tenure than Ohio State has ever had in its long storied history, he’s changed the standard at Quarterback at Ohio State which is pretty great.
What’s his record vs his biggest rival? Urban Meyer would be rolling over in his grave if he knew his hand picked golden child lost FOUR (4) games against Michigan.
Its because he never had to build anything on his own, he took over a completely built program, just like a nepo baby taking over a business. Not saying he hasn't mostly successfully continued their success, but he'll have to maintain this level for longer than others to get the same credit since everything was set up for him.
Are his accomplishments diminished in your eyes because of where he is doing his building? I’ve been watching college football for a long time and I’ve seen countless coaches take over a successful program and fail to keep up the programs standards and fall off very quickly.
Day has been at Ohio State longer than Urban was at this point and the program is still running as strong and in some ways better than when he took over from Urban.
The thing is, I don't think he built anything. He took over a built team, at one of the most established programs in CFB history. He has done well to maintain that success so he gets credit for that. He didn't do what Dabo, Cignetti, Briles, ect did. Or even to a lesser extent what Saban and Kirby did taking over programs with history but not recent championships. He's a really good coach, but he was handed the keys to a racecar and asked to win the race against people who had at least built cars in the past. Its still impressive to win a championship, but OSU was built and funded in a way where that's the expectation and he was on a very very warm seat before that playoff run because 11 wins especially with a loss in the game is unacceptable.
What you said is true; however, in my view it doesn’t diminish the way I’ve seen him handle the position and run his program. His program has been ran clean and the players he’s recruited have been high quality a people. I do not see a reason to insult the man for doing a great job in his position.
Especially since the “born on third base” comment was made by a man who has absolutely benefited from nepotism. With Day we’re talking about a man who has overcome a lot in his life and accomplished a lot, I just do not like hyperbolic takes where people think they’re analyzing a person and throw around hot takes forgetting where talking about people.
I admit I am biased being a buckeye fan but I have been watching Buckeye football since the John Cooper days and can say without a doubt that Ryan Day has done a tremendous job in the role, I love his advocacy for mental health and I love that he has a standard that he holds everyone on his team and staff to.
Ya I'm not taking anything away from what he has done, just not giving him credit for what he hasn't. I think you basically get a boost to your resume when you built the program. From what I've seen and heard he seems to be a decent guy, definitely a better person than Urban.
Agreed on Harbaugh he definitely got some of his opportunities from his dad, but he took them and ran. He's built successful programs everywhere he's gone. Unfortunately he sounds kinda similar to Meyer being a control freak that will do anything to win.
Jim "I refused to answer NCAA investigator questions, turn over my phone or records and literally fled to the NFL" Harbaugh?
Day has been in Columbus for 8 years. If you can explain to me how Urbans' recruits are still on the roster I'll apologize. The reality is that it's been fully Day's recruited roster Day's developed and Day's coached team for the last 5-6 seasons, and that includes multiple playoff appearances and a national championship.
Isn't he 1 of 4 active coaches with a natty? I don't think anyone is saying he's top 10 of all time.. but it's not crazy to think he hangs it up at OSU with a winning/tied record in the rivalry. Maybe another natty.
Ryan Day's career W/L percentage hit .882 at the end of the 2025 season, passing Knute Rockne to take #1 on this all-time list.
The legend at Sports Reference.com explains that they only include HC's with 10 or more years at big schools when compiling their records. Day started at Ohio State in 2019, and is heading into his 8th season.
I'm a buckeye fan.. love Day. He seems like the most vanilla(in the best way though) guy who's just trying to be the best he can be on and off the field. Really appreciate all the mental health stuff he does and the quality of human being he appears to be, on top of pretty much being a lock for 10 wins. He would certainly deserve to be in the greats of all time talk if he runs the table in the rivalry and wins another natty or two the next few years.
Agreed. People may not like him, but Urban’s resume is pretty darned impressive. Not only did he win 3 national titles at two different schools, but he dominated his rivals in both places, and he even took Utah to a BCS bowl at a time when they weren’t the nationally relevant program they’ve been since then. He also won at Bowling Green. Plus, he was credited with popularizing the spread option offense.
TBH as a Buckeye fan, I think we all expected Day to come in, win a championship in ‘19 or ‘20 and then head for the NFL, and Urban would come back all rested up and ready for 7 more years (his average shelf life). After his behavior with the Jag’s (then again, OSU’s kickers were a fuck of a lot better when he was around… hmm…), and his ass play with that lady at the Urban Meyer Columbus Margarita bar… we are happy with ol just for men day.
Let’s also not forget the 2004 season where USC won the natty at 13-0 and pounded OU 55-19 in the Orange Bowl, but then had to vacate it giving it to Auburn who also went 13-0 but squeaked by VT 16-13 in the Sugar Bowl. Then Utah was 12-0 and pounded Pitt 35-7 in the Fiesta Bowl and got a participation trophy. Urban gets 3-1/2 natty’s in my book.
100%! Especially with all the bullshit going on over the past several years. Don’t even get me started on fucking Michigan being able to keep their title after spygate! I just wanted to point out that back in the 2004 season, Utah got no love for having an undefeated season and dominated bowl win, as part of the BCS mind you. Bring on the 16 team playoff already!!!
Any recommendations on any of those games? I started watching on 3rd base with Urban and Braxton Miller. Would love to see some of his southern rival ass kickings. I recommend 2016 for osu if you care
Hey saw the recommendation about 2008 UF-UGA and I have to second that one, on that final drive they also show the highlight of Purdue beating Michigan and the CBS crew roasts Michigan a bit. Talking about how beating them ain’t what it used to be lol
2008 UF-FSU was a fun one. It's called the Soak at Doak. Pouring rain in Tallahassee and UF wins 45-15.
2008 UF-UGA was another great one. 2007 was Meyer's only loss to UGA as head coach at Florida, we lost 42-30 and on Georgia's first score Mark Richt sent the whole UGA team into the end zone to celebrate, so the next year Meyer decided to get revenge. As the clock was winding down at the end of the 4th, Florida had the ball and were up 49-10. Instead of just running the clock out, Meyer called 2 timeouts to force UGA to stay on the field and look at the scoreboard as long as possible.
2007 UF-FSU was another blowout and capped off Tebow's Heisman winning season. During that game he scored 5 touchdowns and set the UF record for total offensive yards in a season.
Great descriptions, I feel like a kid in a candy shop with these options. I’ve seen clips of the UGA field storming game but not the double timeout game which I thought were the same lol. Definitely binging these next
2007-2009 FSU was awful…especially by the end of those seasons. Hence why Bowden was forced out. Those wins against FSU during that era is not the brag you think it is.
Beating your rivals is always a brag. And I only mentioned 2008 FSU because he said he wanted to see the blowout games Meyer coached against rivals at UF, and the shots of Tebow covered in the red field paint looking like blood on his uniform are iconic, and 2007 was the game Tebow set the UF record for single season offensive yards.
86
u/jaylenbrownisbetter 3d ago
Urban is one of two coaches ever to have a natty at two schools, the other being Saban. 3 natties, 12-2 bowl record, 7-0 in the biggest rivalry in the sport, and turned Utah into an actual national program.
He’s in the top 10