As Ryan Day Era begins, the Buckeyes acquire a new personality



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COLUMBUS – After spending 21 minutes answering media questions Wednesday after his first training as the Ohio State's permanent head coach, Ryan Day escaped from the meeting room of The Woody Hayes Athletic Center team through the side door and crossed the lobby for the entrance to his office.

After allowing journalists to watch a day's workout for an hour, and then spending time discussing it, Day was finally able to set aside his media obligations for the afternoon.

As he headed for the door, the 50 or so journalists who had gathered for a first look at the new look that Buckeyes followed followed the same door to the covered ground where two veterans were waiting for him. Ohio State. for their turn in front of the camera.

Day did not hide in his office to avoid the rush of corpses. Instead, he grabbed two boxes of Girl Scout cookies – one from Samoas, one from Thin Mints – sitting on a nearby table. He opened the Samoas, pointing out that they were reminiscent of a recent Hawaii signatory dating back to 2019 and ate one of them.

Then he stood in the doorway and offered them almost one by one to the media as they passed.

Completely confident, calm and sincere, the 39 – year – old has achieved another of his first great moments by simply doing what no one else can do: Being Ryan Day. It's his program now. Yes, there will be many reminders to Urban Meyer, especially when he's there in person, like when he was watching Second practice of the day Friday sidelines. But every day, the Buckeyes will increasingly take on the personality of Day, even if he cleverly avoids trying to reinvent the Ohio State wheel.

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Ryan Day in his first training as a full-time Ohio State Head Coach. (Birm / Lettermen Row)

"Infrastructure and culture are what they are," said Day. "It's like saying we're going to change our inner zone scheme. It's good, it's proven, it's proven and I believe in it so that our culture and infrastructure evolve.

"But along the way, there will be different changes here and there."

Day did not hesitate to do what he thought was necessary to improve the Buckeyes. This was the # 1 priority when he took over from the Rose Bowl, resulting in significant changes to the coaching staff trained and handpicked by his predecessor in the Hall of Fame.

"Our defense will look different, we have obviously made a change," he said. "[That was] This is not an easy decision to make, but it is a major problem. We had a lot of new guys in the program. It is major. "

It's important, of course. But it's only a small part of the whole day program.

It will continue to evolve, little by little.

"Over time, these small changes add up. But for me to come and start making crazy changes saying it's mine? I will not do that, "said Day. "The children of the program came here came here for a reason. They love this culture, they love the program and the people who surround it. So we continue to evaluate it.

"Each team has different personalities, so over the course of things and the journey to the 2019 season, we make adjustments from there. I think in a few years there will be a lot of changes, but the infrastructure and what is planned will not change. Whenever there is a different leader, there is a different personality. My personality is different from that [Urban Meyer]so it will continue.

Even in a program that has been at the peak of college football for almost two decades, change can be a good thing.

And the Girl Scout casual cookie is a nice bonus.

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