Ohio State's Ryan Day appears as first guest on Chris Holtmann's new podcast
Adam JardyPromising to be a platform “that dives into coaching and leadership in sports with current and former coaches,” Ohio State men’s basketball coach Chris Holtmann has started his own podcast.
And with co-host Terence Dials, Holtmann kicked off the “More Than Coach Speak” podcast by hosting Buckeyes football coach Ryan Day on the inaugural episode released Wednesday to all major platforms. The half-hour episode opens with an audio clip of Day hitting a 3-pointer during a high school basketball game and goes on to cover a wide range of coaching topics, from how the football coach got started in the business to lessons learned along the way.
On this episode, there’s even some tennis talk, too. After watching a Netflix docuseries called “Break Point,” Holtmann relayed a thought from Paul Annacone, who has coached Roger Federer and Pete Sampras, among others.
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“The methodology has to be, ‘Don’t want it too much,’ because self-imposed pressure is, to me, the biggest catalyst to paralyze your ability and maximize your talent,’ ” Holtmann quoted to Day. “It hit me in a way. You helped me with this as we went through some struggles this year, the balance of the constant push to win and play at the peak level.”
Day related the quote to Ohio State’s loss to Michigan to close the regular season this year, a second straight loss to the Wolverines.
“I think back on this year and our rivalry game,” Day said. “You want the game so bad that the focus can just be on winning the game, but what does winning the game actually mean? You can’t just win the game. You have to win each play. You have to win each situation. I think the mistake I’ve probably made is we’re going to win this game and let’s get after them, let’s get physical, let’s beat them up. When you’re playing a team or a player that’s equal to you, you have to focus on winning every single possession, every single play, and how do you do that? Great technique, great focus.
“If you watch the top 100 (tennis) players in the world, you wouldn’t know the difference. They all look the same. Great forehands, great backhands, but somehow the same guys win week-in and week-out. I think we did a better job in the Peach Bowl of letting it all out and playing aggressively and not looking at the scoreboard and really focusing on winning each situation and each play. That’s something I’ll certainly take from this last season.”
The goal for the podcast is to help young coaches as they navigate the business while Holtmann and Dials host coaches from various sports at both the collegiate and professional levels. New episodes will be released every few weeks.
In the first episode, much of the conversation revolved around football. Day spoke on what drew him to the NFL, combating false noise around C.J. Stroud as he approached the NFL draft and the differences between coaching in college versus the professional rank, citing some specific players are examples.
“Ultimately the reason why we coach is have an impact on young people,” Day said. “Seeing three guys drafted in the first 20 picks for a combined $80 million between the three of them. Watching Harry Miller overcome what he overcame. Watching Avery Henry, who’s right now in remission, watching Kam Babb go through four ACLs and catch a touchdown pass against Indiana, seeing some of our guys get jobs as they come out of college … that’s what I have appreciated more and more and Ohio State has a platform where you can do that.
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“When you get to that fourth or fifth year in college, you’re almost dealing with pros like Tommy Eichenberg, Cade Stover, Xavier Johnson. These guys are almost NFL players. Then you also have young 17-year-olds who don’t know how to get aligned. There’s a growth and development phase to it and in the NFL it’s a job.”