Ohio State AD Ross Bjork ‘absolutely’ confident Ryan Day will return as head coach next season

On By Littum

With the College Football Playoff approaching and eyes already on 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 Thursday to express her support for Day during the “Morning Juice” show.

Day has been in a bit of hot water since the Buckeyes lost to unranked Michigan, marking the fourth year in a row to lose The Game. But when asked Thursday if he was confident Day would return to the sidelines next season, Bjork said “absolutely.”

“Coach Day is great,” Bjork said. “He’s great to work with. He totally gets it. He loves being a Buckeye. So we’re going to support him at the highest level all the way through.”

Bjork is in his first year as OSU’s AD after a five-year stint at Texas A&M. During Thursday’s interview, he talked about his association with Day and the confidence he has in the 45-year-old coach’s approach to the program.

“Coach Day and I 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, Björk said. “There are always tweaks. There were tweaks after last year, right? You always want to tweak things. You always want to make adjustments. You always want to make improvements.”

Bjork then added that some of Ohio State’s problems may require them to turn inward.

“If you get fixated on the end result and don’t have the process baked in every time, you’re going to lose. The mindset is 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 need to maybe change some conversations a little bit. I think maybe we just need to approach things a little 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 host the No. 9 at Tennessee on December 21st.

“We are still breathing. We are still alive. The season is not over. The book is not closed,” Björk 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 stick to our values ​​and we stick to what we believe in. So for me it’s as much about the process as it is about the end result, and if the process is right, then the end. the 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 semifinals — which will certainly take a lot of confidence.