How much is Ryan Day's buyout? Inquiring Buckeye minds want to know

Ryan Day is a good football coach, and he has won a lot of games at Ohio State, but he hasn't won the ones that matter, and that would be the games against Michigan. Today's loss to a Michigan team that is a shell of what it was last season made Day 1-4 against the Buckeye's hated rival, and fans are beginning to circle.

It is one thing to consistently make it to the College Football Playoff and have very little success and not win a championship since 2014, but it is another thing to lose three straight games to TTUN, especially when they were 6-5 on the season and look nothing like the giants they have been in the past with Jim Harbaugh at the helm.

Day's day might be numbered at Ohio State, pun intended.

However, if the Buckeyes decided to move on from Ryan Day, how much of a financial hit would the university take?

Ryan Day's buyout is large but not backbreaking

If Ohio State chose to fire Day, the university would owe him $37.28 million as of December 1, 2024, according to the head coach salaries database. Day is one of the highest-paid coaches in college football, but his buyout is not one of the largest among active head coaches.

Day is the fifth-highest-paid coach in college football, earning a total of $10.02 million in 2024 if he stays employed through January 2025. Back in May 2022, Day signed a seven-year contract extension with the Buckeyes that would lock him into the university until 2028.

Even though it seems like Day's buyout is large, especially for some universities, with the type of money Ohio State has, they would be willing to take that hit. Ohio State has not been in the Big Ten Championship game since 2020 due to the three-game losing streak the Buckeyes have to the Wolverines.

Ohio State is not used to losing this much, especially to their bitter rival, so they are willing to make a move if they have to, but it will certainly come at a cost.