The Ohio State Buckeyes signed head football coach Ryan Day to a seven-year contract extension on Thursday, according to the Action Network’s Brett McMurphy.
The deal is reportedly worth $12.5 million annually. It follows Day leading the Buckeyes to a 14-2 record and a College Football Playoff national title this past season, the program’s first since 2014.
Related: Six Wisconsin Badgers underclassmen we predict will break out in 2025
This news has some peripheral meaning for the Wisconsin football program. Head coach Luke Fickell is an Ohio State alumnus, plus he coached there for 15 years (special teams coach from 2002-03, linebackers in 2004, linebackers/co-defensive coordinator from 2005-10, interim head coach in 2011, linebackers/co-DC from 2012-16). He went just 6-7 as interim head coach in 2011. The Buckeyes then hired Urban Meyer in 2012, who led the program to one of the best stretches in its history.
Events of the last two years have significantly lowered Fickell’s chances of returning to lead his alma mater, if any had existed previously.
Fickell was one of the hottest names in the coaching industry after taking Cincinnati to the CFP in 2021. He arrived at Wisconsin in 2022 with sky-high expectations, especially as the program stepped away from decades of tradition to hire him.
Representative on-field results have not followed those high expectations. Fickell has struggled at Wisconsin, going just 12-13 in his two full seasons in charge. Some are even bringing up the ‘hot seat’ conversation if things don’t improve dramatically in 2025.
Day, despite not winning the Big Ten since 2020 and losing four straight to rival Michigan, just led the Buckeyes to the national title. That postseason run ended any question about his job status. Thursday’s contract extension only bolsters that reality.
Ryan Day & Ohio State agree to new 7-year contract, worth $12.5 million annually
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) February 6, 2025
One can argue that this is good news for Wisconsin. There was a potential scenario when Fickell took the Wisconsin job in 2022 that several years of high-end success could lead him back to Ohio State. That is, if he led the Badgers to several CFP appearances while the Buckeyes program somehow crumbled under Day. As mentioned, the opposite has happened in both cases.
Wisconsin has some guaranteed head coach continuity moving forward. It’s safe to project that if Fickell does turn the program around, rumors or speculation about a jump to Ohio State will definitively not follow.
All that has left to happen in that scenario is Wisconsin returning to an annual nine-win pace, something that is easier said than done after the program’s subpar performance over the last two seasons.
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