Jan. 26—COLUMBUS — A celebration of Ohio State’s national championship drew around 30,000 fans to Ohio Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
At the same time that event was going on reports surfaced that OSU defensive coordinator Jim Knowles is expected to become the new defensive coordinator at Penn State for reportedly the highest salary of any defensive coordinator in college football.
OSU coach Ryan Day and players including Jack Sawyer, Cody Simon, Emeka Egbuka, TreVeyon Henderson and Will Howard were the featured speakers at the celebration.
Day recognized a long list of coaches, people in support positions and family members, his own and those of other people who work in the Buckeyes football program.
Day also relived some of the key plays of the season and said fans will remember where they were when they saw plays like Sawyer’s strip sack of Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers which he turned into an 83-yard touchdown run when OSU beat the Longhorns 28-14 in a College Football Playoff semifinal.
Day closed his remarks by saying, “Now let’s go get another one of these.”
Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork said he and OSU president Ted Carter want to reach an agreement with Day on a contract extension.
“President Carter and I are working with Coach Day to make sure we have long-term stability and he is the Buckeyes coach for years to come,” Bjork said. “We are proud of his leadership and we want to keep this momentum going strong.”
Day’s current contract runs through 2028 and pays him $9.96 million per year.
Knowles was not with Ohio State’s other assistant coaches during Sunday’s ceremony.
There had been rumors he was interested in becoming Oklahoma’s defensive coordinator and there were reports Ohio State offered him a raise from his base salary of $2.2 million. Penn State reportedly offered a three-year deal for $3.1 million per year.
Knowles has been Ohio State’s defensive coordinator the last three seasons. OSU ranked No. 1 in total defense (251.8 yards per game) and scoring defense (12.2 points a game) this season.
Featured Local Savings
