In the last two months, Nina Day has experienced the highest of highs and lowest of lows.
“It’s been a roller coaster, to say the least,” the wife of Ohio State coach Ryan Day told The Dispatch.
Right now, the dominant feeling is joy and gratitude. Joy after Buckeyes reached college football’s pinnacle Monday night by defeating Notre Dame to win the College Football Playoff.
Gratitude for all the support the Days received from family, friends and those who knew how difficult things got after Ohio State lost to Michigan on Nov. 30.
“I want to reiterate my love for Buckeye Nation, and there have been some unbelievable people in this community that have stood by us,” Nina Day said. “There are people who have (given) unwavering support.”
But before Ohio State’s playoff run started Dec. 21 with its rout of Tennessee, plenty did not. The loss to Michigan was an ugly one. It was Ryan Day’s fourth straight loss to the Wolverines, who were 19½-point underdogs.
“The time between the Michigan game and the Tennessee game was as low and dark as you could possibly imagine,” Nina Day said. “Extremely negative. Unprecedented hate.”
People somehow got her cell phone number and flooded her with threats and insults. They posted the Days’ address on social media. Nothing was off-limits.
“They told me multiple times to have Ryan follow in his father’s footsteps and kill himself,” she said.
Ryan Day’s father died by suicide when he was 8.
Nina couldn’t block and delete the messages fast enough before deciding to shut off her phone.
The Days have three kids between sixth and 10th grade. They were not spared. Nina said their 16-year-old son, RJ, received death threats on social media.
“It was very difficult,” she said. “Very difficult. There were a lot of tears. We shielded them 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.”
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