Ryan Day had impossible shoes to fill.
Jim Tressel arrived in 2001, going 7-5 in Year 1 of a rebuild.
The rest of his OSU tenure?
Record: 99-17 (.853), best among P-5 teams.
Avg. Finish (coaches poll): 6.0, best in FBS
After the Mickey Mouse tattoo scandal, Urban Meyer arrived.
Record: 86-9 (.905), 2nd in FBS (.05% below Alabama)
Avg. Finish: 4.5, 2nd in FBS
From 2002-2018, Ohio State (.853) had by far the best winning percentage in the country, even with a Mickey Mouse 7-loss tattoo season mixed in.
Oklahoma (.803) was the only P5 team within 5% of the Buckeyes' win rate. It was an almost impossible standard to maintain.
How has Ryan Day fared?
Record: 80-7 (.920)*, best in college football history
Avg. Finish: 3.7th, best in the country
Ryan Day took over a program with impossibly high standards and many skeptics. He was 39, and had never led a program.
The skeptics were right. He did not maintain the standards set by his legendary predecessors.
He raised them.