Greg Schiano has been close enough to Ohio State to know what the job can do to a coach.
Now back at Rutgers, the former Buckeyes assistant head coach and defensive coordinator says he can hear the toll it takes on Ryan Day, the man leading a program where the demands never really let up.
"I hear Ryan sometimes, I listen to Ryan, and I'm like, 'Whew, he sounds tired,'" Schiano said. "It's an exhausting, exhausting place, a pressure-cooker."
That is the reality of Ohio State, where championship talk is not seasonal - it is the baseline. Few programs in college football live under that kind of expectation year after year, and the pressure in Columbus only grows when the Michigan game enters the picture.
Day has won at a high level, but the heat has not gone away. Even with a .872 winning percentage and a national title two years ago, he still gets judged through the lens of his 2-4 record against the Wolverines. The scrutiny has only intensified after Ohio State fell to Indiana in the Big Ten Championship and then lost to Miami in the College Football Playoff.
The standard is simple: win the biggest games, and keep winning them. Day knew that long before he became head coach.
He spent 2017 and 2018 as Urban Meyer’s offensive coordinator, then became Meyer’s chosen successor. Meyer told Adam Rittenberg of ESPN that Day had a real advantage because he had already seen what the job demanded.
"You look back in the history of Ohio State, not many people are ready for that thing," Meyer told Rittenberg. "The good thing was Ryan saw the pressures and the decision-making and all the things involved. Of all the people, he might have been more prepared because he was there."
Day has delivered enough to prove he belongs in that seat, but at Ohio State, the job is never really won once and put away. It has to be defended every season, every November, every time the spotlight gets hot.
He may sound tired. He may be tired.
He took over as a young coach, and now he is 47. The load has only grown.
Still, there is a reason people inside the game keep backing him. Former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel called what Day has done remarkable.
"He was a young guy," former head coach Jim Tressel said. "It wasn't like he didn't have good football experiences, but he had never had that position, and for him to have the maturity and the wherewithal to do what he's done, to me, it's extraordinary."
In Other News...
Rutgers Quarterback Decision Puts Schianos Developmental Identity Under Pressure
Greg Schiano has leaned on the transfer market at quarterback often enough in recent seasons that Rutgers fans can spot the pattern before fall camp even ends. This time, former Boston College quarterback Dylan Lonergan has won the starting job over AJ Surace, a homegrown option whose presence made the competition feel like a test of whether the program could finally turn more of its own quarterbacks into starters.
For Schiano, the choice fits the practical realities of a team trying to stabilize the position, especially with Lonergan bringing experience that can help smooth the transition into the job. But it also keeps alive a broader question around Rutgers: whether the program can truly develop quarterbacks internally in this second Schiano run the way it did more consistently during his previous stint, or whether the safest answer will keep coming from outside the building. [Read more 🡒]
Michigan State Is Battling Early For A Fast-Rising Michigan Guard
Drew Cabana has quickly pushed his way onto the radar of several high-major programs, giving Rutgers another name to track in the Midwest recruiting market. The 6-foot-5 guard from Chelsea High School in Michigan already has scholarship offers from Rutgers, Creighton, Purdue, Ohio and Bowling Green, and his rise has been backed by a strong early rsum that includes a Top-20 nod at the CP3 camp and a freshman season in which he averaged 21.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and three assists.
Michigan State is also in the mix, and the Spartans are set to get an early look at Cabana with an unofficial visit on Sept. 4. Iowa, Indiana and Toledo have shown interest as well, which only underscores how quickly the Michigan native has moved from a local name to a regional recruiting target, with more programs likely to stay involved as his profile keeps climbing. [Read more 🡒]
Rutgers Faces Early Doubt In A Season Greg Schiano Must Answer
Before Rutgers even takes a snap in what will be Greg Schianos seventh season back in charge, the early national picture is already putting the Scarlet Knights on the outside looking in. Several preseason bowl projections do not list Rutgers as a likely postseason team for 2026, a reminder that even with a relatively favorable schedule, the path to December still looks narrow.
ESPNs Football Power Index is a little more forgiving, but only by so much, pegging Rutgers for a 5-7 finish and giving it a 40.6% chance to reach six wins. That leaves Schiano and his team with a clear standard to beat, and for a program trying to keep building momentum, the first test will be turning a manageable schedule into something the projections missed. [Read more 🡒]