Huge setback: fans stunned as Ohio State Head coach Ryan Day announce resignation and departure

It’s been said that the Ohio State Buckeyes have some of the most passionate fans in the country.

Perhaps no one knows that better than head football coach Ryan Day and his family.

Following Ohio State’s 13-10 loss to archrival Michigan on Nov. 30, Day and his family saw a side of Buckeye Nation they’d presumably like to forget. Social media and message boards blew up with calls for the school to fire Day, who was 66-10 at the time in six seasons at OSU.

Things got so bad, in fact, that Day had to hire 24/7 armed security at his home to keep his family safe after their address was released on social media.

Day’s wife Nina had her phone number released online and she began receiving threatening calls and text messages. She even considered moving herself and her children out of the state after her 16-year-old son R.J. received death threats on social media, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

“It was very difficult,” she said. “Very difficult. There were a lot of tears. We shielded [our kids] from a lot of it because I didn’t want to scare them. I didn’t want them to stay up at night thinking anything bad was going to happen.

“… My kids have only heard the negative things about Ryan for too long. There’s only so many times you can hear, ‘Ryan’s a loser. Ryan can’t win big games. Ryan was born on third base.’ My kids need to hear positivity around their father, around the program. It’s only healthy. I want my kids to enjoy this moment because they deserve it.”

Nina also disclosed that some fans encouraged Day himself to follow in the footsteps of his father, who committed suicide when he was only 8 years old.

While she reiterated the threats and hateful messages came from a small portion of OSU fans, and that their actions are representative of the team’s entire fan base.

“It’s very disappointing to me what some people are capable of, but you look at the news and you look at our society as a whole,” Nina continued. “People are very mean. They’re very negative. They’re nasty. I’m not saying everybody is, but there’s definitely a percentage of people that are just ruthless in their hate.”