Urban Meyer will retire as the head coach of the Buckeyes following the Rose Bowl, the school has announced. Ryan Day has been named Ohio State's head coach, effective Jan. 2.
A press conference has been called for 2 p.m. ET today in Columbus.
We first reported the news last Friday, saying that Urban would make an announcement in the days following the Big Ten Title game, via sources.
From last week:
With that said, sources tell FootballScoop Ohio State is taking Ryan Day off the job market, with a significant raise coming and with the (most likely) unwritten understanding that he is in line to become head coach once Urban steps down. What’s that you say? Urban stepping down? So about that…
While Urban has stated repeatedly publicly that he plans to coach next year, sources tell FootballScoop that the Ohio State head coach continues to contemplate his future on an ongoing basis, and we hear he has told Gene Smith that he doesn’t expect to continue to coach past the 2019 season. One source told us we should expect Urban to address this in the days following Saturday’s Big Ten Championship.
Day led the Buckeye program for the first three weeks, including a 3-0 start, of the 2018 season while Urban was on administrative leave and was set to be a hot name on the coaching market for FBS head coaching vacancies.
Meyer has referred to the 39-year-old Day as "elite" on multiple occasions. He was hired to revamp the Buckeyes' struggling passing attack, but his coaching talent quickly exceeded that task. He was promoted to Ohio State's offensive coordinator after the 2017 season, and chosen ahead of two former Power 5 head coaches in Greg Schiano and Kevin Wilson to be Ohio State's interim head coach during Meyer's suspension in August and September.
Day will officially take over Jan. 2, the day after the Rose Bowl. It's a transition modeled directly after Bob Stoops' handoff to Lincoln Riley at Oklahoma in the summer of 2017. Riley has gone 24-3 with two Big 12 titles and two College Football Playoff appearances in the two seasons since. Day will be expected to keep the Scarlet and Gray Football Machine humming at a similar pace.
Meyer retires as the only coach in college football history to maintain an .852 winning percentage over 17 seasons or more. With one game still to coach, he stands at 186-32 in 17 total seasons, and 82-9 in seven seasons at Ohio State. Before Ohio State, he was 17-6 in two seasons at Bowling Green, 22-2 in two seasons at Utah, and 65-15 in six seasons at Florida.
Meyer is the owner of three national championships, five national championships, soon-to-be 10 AP-top 10 finishes and 10 New Year's Six bowl appearances -- and all of those came in the last 14 seasons, which doesn't include his 12-0 debut at Ohio State in 2012 when the Buckeyes were serving a bowl ban. A master motivator, he was 27-3 in rivalry games -- including a perfect 7-0 against Michigan while in scarlet and gray -- 5-2 in conference championship games and 11-3 in bowl games. He remains the only coach to ever beat Nick Saban in an SEC championship game.
ESPN's Marty Smith tweeted that "Some key staff members were told they will be retained under new HC Ryan Day. Guys like strength coach Mickey Marotti & Asst AD player personnel Mark Pantoni are vital to program."
Additionally, Bill Rabinowitz who covers the program has now tweeted this:
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.