Every football fan felt the sadness back when Nick Saban announced his retirement from coaching. This entire event led to multiple reactions from other coaches and players alike. The legendary Tides coach and one of the greatest people SEC has ever given to the world of football was no longer with us.

Out of all the reactions and opinions of people, Ryan Day, HC for Ohio, had quite a different take. When asked by Joel Klatt, “When coach Saban retired and made the comments regarding his team, what were your thoughts?.” Day spit quite a contradictory statement as compared to other coaches. Let’s find out what.

Ryan Day’s fresh perspective

In a podcast episode of The Joel Klatt Show on July 8th, Coach Ryan Day from the Buckeyes had some things to say regarding Nick Saban’s retirement. “Well, um, I felt that pain because I have gone through those similar things. Saban’s history is unbelievable and to hear somebody that’s been through all these different things in college football. It makes you really think. I know it sounds deep, but the truth is the order of the entire universe is chaos,” Day said regarding Saban’s comments of not being able to deal with the pressure of NIL deals and not being able to take the Crimson Tide to the next level.

Saban, in an interview with ESPN, had noted, “We could have a hell of a team next year, and then maybe 70 or 80 percent of the players you talk to, all they want to know is two things: What assurances do I have that I’m going to play because they’re thinking about transferring, and how much are you going to pay me?.” This entire fiasco made the legend grow tired and slowly feel that he had lost the prospect of assuring the players or staff of the Tides regarding his potential to be the long-term HC.

This feeling of loss expressed by Day was also directly seen back when Deion Sanders commented on the entire scenario. “Shoot, it was like, ‘Man, we lost the OG. We lost the OG,” Coach Prime said regretfully on The Joel Klatt Show. This directly shows the major impact that Saban had on so many coaches. However, the major change that fans can notice is the slight difference in opinions of Day and Coach Prime.

While Deion had a more sad and denial tone, Day referred to the whole scenario as “I try to put perspective on this. Life is chaotic and I know there’s a lot of chaos around college football but it has never been better. If we can steady boot and look through we can come out the other way.” Day’s take is more hopeful as he believes that all this “chaos” will stay, but the people present right now just have to steady up and move forward. The overall situation did have some benefits as well. It did manage to offer some coaches a different view of the NIL scene and how to handle it, and Ryan Day and what he learned would be the perfect thing to mention here.

Learnings from the aftermath

In the wake of Nick Saban’s retirement and the ensuing NIL complications, Ryan Day took bold steps to address and leverage the NIL landscape to Ohio State’s advantage. Understanding the critical role of NIL in modern college football, Day set a $10 million NIL budget goal to keep Ohio State competitive at the top level. Ohio State’s NIL collectives, The 1870 Society and The Foundation, have been instrumental in this success. These organizations have secured top talents such as Kansas State quarterback Will Howard and Ole Miss running back Quinshon Judkins. They also managed to attract Alabama’s five-star recruits, Caleb Downs and Julian Sayin.

Day’s restructuring of his coaching staff and his focus on NIL have paid off. He has managed to retain key players, convince draft-eligible athletes to stay for another year, and significantly enhance the Buckeyes’ roster through strategic use of the transfer portal. This has positioned Ohio State as a formidable contender for the 2024 season.