Former Ohio State coach Urban Meyer takes aim at ‘idiots on social media’ after Buckeyes win national title

Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day was under a lot of pressure entering the inaugural 12-team edition College Football Playoffs.

Despite finishing the regular season 10-2, Day was sidelined in late November for his fourth straight loss to Michigan Wolverines, arch rival of the Buckeyes.

The disappointing finish to an otherwise solid season has prompted a contingent of Ohio State fans to question whether Day should be fired as head coach. However, Day seemed to silence most of those critics by guiding the team to a flawless December and January.

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After knocking off the Tennessee Volunteers in the first round, the Buckeyes knocked off the top-seeded Oregon Ducks in the quarterfinals. Ohio State therefore beat the Texas Longhorns in the semifinals to advance to the state championship game in Atlanta, where they won 34-23 via Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Amid the Buckeye faithful’s national title celebration, Day’s predecessor called out fans who had previously taken to social media to express their displeasure with the program’s current head coach. Urban Meyer, who was Ohio State’s head coach from 2012 to 2018, described fans who previously criticized Day via social media as “idiots.”

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“I’ve been coaching for a long time and there’s been a lot going on, as well as Coaches Day and the pressure of coaching at a place like Ohio State,” Meyer said during a recent appearance on “Triple option” podcast. “I commented that it wasn’t going to change. What has to change, and has changed, are the idiots on social media who don’t sign their names.”

The reaction to the loss to Michigan prompted Dan to hire insurance to protect his home. Meyer also said the reported mistreatment Day’s children faced while attending the school was a step “too far.”

“When you start involving families, you’re pushing it too far,” Meyer added. “Boosting because you don’t get first downs and lose to your opponent, that’s part of the game. That’s all fair. But you have to keep the families out of it.”

Meyer then compared Day’s situation to one he faced during his coaching tenure in Florida.

“When I first time [went] to Florida, you know they wanted to [Steve] Spurrier. I’d like Spurrier too. He won the Heisman Trophy there, he won a national championship,” Meyer said. “But Coach Spurrier went, I think, to [Washington] Redskins, he got fired and left. He was available. An unforeseen event wanted him to come back, and I was hired from Utah.

“I didn’t really understand the dynamic until I got there, and I got there and I’ll never forget — he’s going to South Carolina — we’re losing to South Carolina, which you don’t do in Florida. I go in to do my radio show on Thursday, and I’m the most miserable human being being, I’m a stranger in a strange land down there, and I come in and they boo me, I think, just in time.”

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Meyer and Day have a history, with the latter serving as offensive coordinator under the former from 2017-18. Meyer retired after the 2018 season, and Day was later introduced as Ohio State’s next head coach.

Meyer coached the Buckeyes to the state title following the 2014 regular season, making Ohio State the winner of the inaugural College Football Playoff. A decade later, Day brought them back to the top of the mountain.

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