“Historically, I’ve always tried to make sure that we compensate consistent with expectations and performance, but I don’t feel a sense of urgency.”
Day has put together a 34-4 record as head coach at Ohio State, including a 11-2 mark last season.
He has a pair of Big Ten championships, two College Football Playoff appearances, a Rose Bowl victory and a 1-1 record against Michigan.
Last season, the 41-year-old made about $6.6 million including bonuses, making him the highest-paid coach in the Big Ten and ninth in the nation according to data compiled by USA Today.
This year he is set to make $7.6 million, a figure that will put him No. 3 in the Big Ten after Michigan State gave Mel Tucker a new deal with $9.5 million annually and Penn State’s James Franklin got an extension worth $8.5 million per year.
Those developments and Day’s history as an NFL assistant have led to speculation he could be interested in going to that league, but he said in December that was not the case.
“There’s nothing to that,” Day said on the early National Signing Day. “There’s no truth to it. I love Ohio State, and I love being the coach at Ohio State.”
Smith joked this week that answer put him at ease.
“It kind of helped me that you guys had to ask that question,” Smith chuckled. “He said, ‘I’m happy here and I’m going anywhere,’ so those rumors were rumors.
“He and I are very transparent. If somebody had offered him a job, he’d call me right away. So that didn’t happen, so I’m good.”
Ohio State has already redone Day’s deal once.
After he went 13-1 in his first full season at the helm, his original five-year contract was extended to last through January 2027.
His contract calls for his salary to be revisited next year, but Smith said lately all his concentration has been on redoing Day’s staff.
“We just finished that with the football hires, and what most people don’t realize is we have quite a few changes in our support staff structure, so we just literally last week finished (director of player personnel) Mark Pantoni’s operation because we had some transitions there, so we’ve been focused on the team,” Smith said. “There’ll be a time that he and I sit down and talk about his contract, but we haven’t done that at this point in time — I’ll let you know when it’s done.”
That other staff changes occupied much of Smith’s time is believable.
After a second straight season of disappointing defense, Day determined he needed a new leader on that side of the ball.
That turned out to be Jim Knowles, who was hired away from Oklahoma State at a rate of $1.9 million annually.
Ultimately, Tim Walton and Perry Eliano were also added at $700,000 and $450,000, respectively.
Day also hired a new offensive line coach — Justin Frye — at a salary of $800,000 per year.
Ohio State did not have a million-dollar assistant until 2018 when Greg Schiano re-signed for $1.1 million, but this year the Buckeyes are likely to have at least two as returning assistants Kevin Wilson and Larry Johnson both made more than that last year.
“From the middle of last year all the way to after (the Michigan) game, he and I had had consistent conversations about, ‘OK, what do we need to do with the defense?’” Smith said. “And then when he had his clarity, I just told him go find him. Go find that guy, and then he had a number of names.”
“He ultimately narrowed it down to Jim, and we looked at his compensation, what was out there and I just said, ‘Hey, we’ve got to do what we’ve got to do.’ And fortunately, I had the support of the president, and we just went to where we went. We had to fix our defense, and the same thing was true with the other assistants after that.”
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