Mailbox: 'Back off!': Readers come to the defense of Ohio State football coach Ryan Day

Have more comments, questions? Reach out to me at bwhite1@dispatch.com

On Ohio State football

To Mr. White: I was a fan of Rob Oller's writing until this morning. What more can Ryan Day do? 45-6 record, no baggage or drama and he runs a clean program. My wife and I have been attending the games since 1966, and these last 20 years of Ohio State football have been outstanding. The people who criticize and think they can do a better job have no idea what the coaches and players go through in preparing for their season. What have we become when we as fans expect every season to be national champions? I say to all of you who have never experienced the job as a head coach that you should back off. So the Buckeyes don't go undefeated every year. They are still outstanding and should be proud of what they accomplished. Win, lose or draw, we should be proud to be Buckeye fans.

Fausto J Garofalo, Jr., Columbus

To Brian: I find it hard to believe with an overall record of 45-6 over four seasons that loss No. 6 puts coach Day's career in jeopardy. Just look how his team responded in the last two bowl games after (non-representative, dismal) losses to Michigan. And credit the leadership − on and off the field − of two-time Heisman candidate C. J. Stroud.  First, the memorable late-game finish in the Rose Bowl at the start of 2022 and again, a similar scenario on Dec. 31.  Michigan's consecutive contests in the CPF only added to its postseason woes, now having lost six straight bowl games under Jim Harbaugh.

Who is able to match or exceed such a successful record as Day's? Jim Tressel was 40-11 in four years that included the 2002 national championship, but he lost four Big Ten games − 3 in a row − in 2004. Urban Meyer was 50-4 in that time. Day's percentage (.882) is ahead of current coaches Nick Sabin, Kirby Smart and Dabo Swinney.  How many first-time head coaches could reach or exceed the record Day has accomplished in such a high-pressure environment? I say no one.

Larry Cheek, Dublin

To Fausto, Larry: It is ridiculous that the dismissal of Day is being discussed, but the national championships won by Tressel and Meyer have given Ohio State fans expectations that are far beyond normal.

To the editor: You printed a letter from a gentleman who feels the refs may have wanted Georgia to win the Peach Bowl in order to generate more revenue for ESPN. He questions whether the announcers are able to influence the refs' calls, particularly the reversed targeting call against UGA. I’m just curious exactly how the refs are listening to the announcers while they are on the field officiating the games. That’s quite the conspiracy between the announcers and the officials. Why even bother to call the penalty if it’s their intentions to overturn? Missing the call would be a lot better than calling the penalty then overturning it. Yes, I’m sure the loss in the Peach Bowl stung, but get over it.

Ren Hatfield

To Brian: From the letters in this column since the Peach Bowl I take it that Buckeye football fans believe that OSU can't lose unless the refs take the game from them. Maybe they need to consider two realities of sports: First, if you have to blame your loss on a single play, you obviously weren't playing well enough to win the game. And second, there's another team on the field, in this case the defending national champions, and they're going to do all they can to win.

Brent D. Rosenthal, Westerville

To the editor: LOL. The title of your article bemoans the pathetic lives of Buckeye faithful, as well as the hypocrisy. Funny how you forget how a dirty official threw a phantom flag in what many, in fact most, feel was the most egregious game-changing call in college football history. To give Ohio state another shot. Because they lost. To Miami, that generally hated team from mostly minority Miami. That trash-talking team from a small private school. Oh no. That would have given them two in a row. Unfathomable to the establishment of lily white illuminati of college football. Hypocrites.

Jaime Alvarez

To the editor: I don’t know about the refs wanting Georgia to win for ESPN, but their analysts certainly did, especially Chris Fowler. In the fourth quarter, Fowler clearly says “we” have two timeouts left, and he was referring to Georgia. I didn’t know Chris was on that team.

Brenda Voelker

To the editor: Buckeye fans need to show class. The Buckeyes lost because the refs overturned a targeting call. There needs to be a higher authority to oversee the refs' calls. Why we don’t have this in football, I don’t  know. You have a player knocked out of the game. You can see clearly the another player put his head down and hit him. The call got overturned. That would have been first down. Buckeyes are getting ripped off too often.

Also, players are trying to make plays based on what coaches call. I have seen poor play calling by this current couching staff too many times.

Buckeye fans should not make threats. Making threats makes all Buckeye fans look foolish. Email or write to the coaching staff and the athletic department if you have to say something. The players are young men who need to be helped, not hurt. Remember, these are Buckeye players. Buckeye players are the best win or lose.

Michael

To all: Refs make mistakes, but they don't cost games. TV networks don't overturn plays called on the field. And neither the refs or TV networks − or Chris Fowler − did anything to make Ohio State stop tackling late in the Georgia and Michigan games.

On Ohio State basketball

To Brian: One Dispatch headline about OSU basketball read baffled by lack of offense. Another says they are looking for answers and coach Holtman says he sees no common thread. They had only five assists in recent loss to Minnesota before being out-assisted 16-7 in an overtime loss at Rutgers. In their first 18 games they have been 0-7 when out-assisted and 10-1 when not. The one loss was when they had only one more assist than Maryland. While a similar correlation exists with rebounding, better coordinated movement on offense just might help. A stationary player standing flat-footed is the easiest to guard. 

Dennis Singleton, Dayton

On Gregg Berhalter

To the editor: Great article by Michael Arace about Gregg Berhalther. He doesn’t deserve the treatment from U.S. Soccer and the Reynas he is getting. I worked at Crew Stadium for 10 years and he was the only coach to ever show up at our staff Christmas party. He was the nicest person and thanked us for our work. Lord knows I’m not that nice. And next time you go to a Crew game or any sporting event, be nice to the staff. It’s a lot of low pay, hard days and lonely nights in all kinds of weather.

Paul Seedhouse

To Paul: As Michael wrote previously, who would have thought the top coach in the country would be taken down by an angry soccer mom?

On the Columbus Blue Jackets

To the editor: I’ve been a season ticket holder for the Blue Jackets for several years. Every year the organization gives a token gift to the season ticket holders. In past years those gifts were useful, such as skull hats and scarves. This year the gift for quarter-season ticket holders was a fanny pack. Who uses a fanny pack anymore? Just goes to show you that the free gift this year matches the quality of the team.

Maybe the organization should distribute brown paper bags for the fans to wear on their heads so that they can display their embarrassment. The players make way too much money for the fans to support their awful performance. The organization has flip-flopped, but most recently flopped. The “suits” should wear the biggest brown paper bags over their heads.

But despite the lousy season, the fans keep showing up to the games. Maybe there is nothing else better to do in Columbus in the winter. But maybe they remember the good times not too long ago.

The players and coaches and the organization should be the ones wearing brown paper bags. They should be ashamed of themselves.

John Hitchner, Worthington

To John: I have a puzzled admiration for Blue Jackets fans, who keep showing up in pretty good numbers despite so many years of losing. And without paper bags, at that.

More from the Mailbox:

Threatening OSU players makes no sense; and did refs want Georgia to win for ESPN?

Praise for Ohio State's CJ Stroud, but jeers for Jim Knowles and Rob Oller

Ohio State DBs need better technique; and Pete Rose ushering in gambling is tacky

Disdain for the NIL era and joy at Ohio State's possible rematch with Michigan

Ohio State football coaches' bonuses in wake of Michigan loss adds to the pain

Ohio State lost to Michigan in football, and readers aren't happy

How dare Ohio State fans think about football at a Columbus Blue Jackets game!

Ryan Day, CJ Stroud get lifetime passes for Kamryn Babb's emotional Ohio State TD

Ryan Day outcoached, OSU line is soft, and about the Woody vs. Day comparison ...

Ryan Day is a better coach than Woody Hayes ... unless he loses to Michigan again

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Readers come to defense of Ohio State football coach Ryan Day: Letters