In the days after Ryan Day walked off the field in Columbus following Ohio State’s loss to Michigan to end the regular season, his family’s safety was the top priority after they received death threats from a rabid fringe of Buckeye fans.
There was clearly a monster fallout in Columbus after the loss, with fans calling for Ryan Day to be fired after Ohio State lost its fourth straight game to the Wolverines. But what some people haven’t heard is how everything got out of control from a safety standpoint for Ryan Day and his family.
Speaking with the Columbus Dispatch, Nina Day, Ryan Day’s wife, spoke about the horrific events that followed the Michigan loss. The situation behind the scenes for the family had turned in a dangerous way.
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Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day celebrates with wife Christina and daughter after defeating the Oregon Ducks 41-21 in the Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential at Rose Bowl Stadium on January 1, 2025 in Pasadena, California.
“The time between the Michigan game and the Tennessee game was as low and dark as you could possibly imagine. Extremely negative. Unheard of hate,” Nina Day explained.
When Ryan Day was eight years old, his father committed suicide. So when fans somehow got hold of Nina Day’s cell phone number in the days following the Michigan loss, mind-boggling messages began pouring in at a steady rate before Nina decided it was best to just hang up her phone.
“They told me several times that Ryan should follow in his father’s footsteps and kill himself,” Nina noted to the broadcast.
Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day walks off the field after the game against the Michigan Wolverines and Ohio State Buckeyes on November 30, 2024 at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, OH. (Ian Johnson/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
On the outside, Ryan Day continued to push forward, holding his weekly press conference as he waited to see who his team would play in the first round of the college football playoffs. But inside the family, things started to get out of hand when it came to their safety.
According to Nina Day, their 16-year-old son, RJ, began receiving death threats on social media while the family’s address was also published, leading Ryan Day to hire armed security guards to protect his family at their house. There was also a thought from Nina that she should take her children and leave Columbus at this time, not knowing what the next month might bring.
“I think at times he second-guessed his decision to come into this and be in the spotlight that we are in. He felt responsible and just felt bad that he had put us in this position. He promised us that he would get us out of it,” Nina Day mentioned about the conversations with her husband.
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There are fans across all sports who take things far too seriously and this is another example of something that could not be controlled. There was no reason for the Day family to fear for their lives over a football game, I don’t care how much you get paid or what your job title is.
It’s the ugly part of sports, of course, and it’s not like it’s the first time we’ve heard of coaches dealing with these kinds of situations, and it won’t be the last.
Michigan Wolverines head coach Sherrone Moore shakes hands with Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day after the game at Ohio Stadium on November 30, 2024 in Columbus, Ohio. (Jason Mowry/Getty Images)
“He fought like hell and got us out of a very dark place that we were in five weeks ago because of his resilience because I don’t think anyone really thought this was going to end the way it did,” said Nina Day. “Everyone thought the season ended in November.
“All he kept telling me was, ‘I want to bring you peace. I just want to give you peace.’ And he knew that in order for us to feel any kind of peace, he had to win it all.”
All this over a football match. A family fearing for their lives needs armed security to guard their house, just to get a good night’s sleep and feel safe.
While Nina Day mentioned that you can’t label an entire fan base as the ‘crazy fringe’, there are certainly a number of people who should be held accountable for their actions towards the Day family.
As I watched Ryan Day celebrate with his family on the field Monday night, hugging each family member, there was definitely more to the story than just a head coach dealing with outside noise.
