How Ohio State’s loss to Michigan affected coach Ryan Day’s son

Ohio State University football coach Ryan Day and his family went through it after the Buckeyes brutal loss to Michigan.

“We had security at our house,” Ryan’s son, RJ dayshared with Athletic in an interview published on Tuesday, January 21. “The school was really bad. I didn’t really leave the house until the Tennessee game (three weeks later). It was rough, but in those tough times you have to hang on because eventually things turn around.”

In November 2024, Ohio State lost to archrival Michigan for the fourth time in a row. Ryan, 45, — who also has daughters Grace and Nia with his wife Nina Day — and his family received threats that led to round-the-clock police protection.

However, Ohio State redeemed itself two days ago by winning the national title after defeating Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff National Championship.

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Paras Griffin/Getty Images After Notre Dame’s loss to Ohio State in the College Football Playoff National Championship Game, head coach Marcus Freeman was blunt in his assessment of what went wrong. “You always make mistakes, but those damaging mistakes when you’re playing a really, really good football team cost you points,” 39-year-old Freeman (…)

“I’ve learned lessons in the last month that I’ll use (for) the rest of my life,” RJ explained. “I learned so much about the integrity of people and getting up and working every day.

While Ryan’s father-in-law, Stan Spirouhad his own experience with angry fans — he’s a former New Hampshire University basketball coach — he couldn’t believe what he witnessed after Ohio State lost to Michigan.

Through it all, he praised Ryan’s wife Nina for staying strong for the family.

“She knows ups and downs, but she’s never experienced what they’ve had to go through over the last month and a half,” he explained. “Obviously, I’ve had my share of setbacks, but for a while it was personal (for Days). This had a huge impact on the immediate family and children.”

RJ, who is a sophomore in high school, also praised his mom, calling her “incredible.”

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“She moved about nine or 10 times herself while my dad was already working in that other state,” he said. “We call her the rock of the family.

As Ohio State fans continue to celebrate the big win, Nina hopes her kids will learn a valuable lesson from the heartbreaking loss that occurred less than two months ago.

“No matter what happens, we still have each other,” she said. “We just stuck together. The biggest thing is that you learn to fail, but you have to get back up. That’s the biggest thing they’ve learned through the whole thing: Everybody fails, but you have to get back up and keep swinging.”