Despite Ryan Day's National Championship win, Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe dismiss any notion that he's owed an apology. Credit: ESPN’s ‘First Take’
By Sam Neumann on

Plenty of people offered Ryan Day a mea culpa.

And for good reason. After losing to Michigan for the fourth time in as many years, the Ohio State Buckeyes head coach looked broken. It felt like we were watching the very end of his tenure in Columbus being written in bright red pen as the narratives — and noise — grew louder and louder.

While Nick Saban and Kirk Herbstreit defended Day against what they called “ridiculous” criticism — with Herbstreit specifically calling out the “lunatic fringe” — the onus was on Day to silence the doubters. And silence them he did. Four consecutive wins later, culminating in Ohio State’s first National Championship since 2014, the results spoke louder than any criticism ever could.

But as Day basks in the glory of Monday’s 34-23 win over Notre Dame, he shouldn’t expect any bouquets from First Take. The same First Take that Herbstreit called out on national TV, claiming the show had seemingly written Day off. And those pointed comments saw Shannon Sharpe double down, warning his colleague not to “play with” them or their skepticism.

To Stephen A. Smith’s credit, he maintained that Day needed to win a national title to justify keeping his job after a string of losses to Michigan.

And while Day delivered exactly what was demanded of him, don’t expect Smith or Sharpe to hand him an apology. Instead, their stance was that Day did what he was supposed to do—no more, no less. Forget the flowers or the forgiveness — they’re sticking to their narrative, even if Day just rewrote his own.

“Think about it, if this was the old system, the four-team system, are we sure that Ryan Day makes the playoff with two losses? There’s a possibility,” said Sharpe. “The mere fact that he lost to Michigan with this team, at home, and you’re 19-point favorites. Owed an apology for what? He did what he was supposed to do. He has a roster that cost allegedly $20 million.”

Sure, but it’s not the old system.

“So, now, we got to apologize to a guy for winning when he was supposed to win when he was supposed to win?” Sharpe added. “What am I missing?”

Smith didn’t miss anything.

“You’re damn right we said had he lost [to Tennessee] he should’ve been gone,” Smith said. “… It’s great to see Ryan Day, who’s a great coach, validating his greatness the way that he did with this run. But it doesn’t change the circumstances he created by losing to Michigan so much, not winning a conference championship, and having a $20 million NIL roster with 11 NFL-caliber players returning to your squad this year.

“The predicament he was in, losing to Michigan, who was [6]-5 at the time, come on now. We were justified in saying in what we said then — just like we stand here today and I justify the same. He doesn’t deserve that now because he finally answered the call for the first time in his career. Period, no stuttering.”

If we want to look at the non-apology in their eyes for a second here, they seemingly think that winning when you’re expected to isn’t something to celebrate; it’s simply a return to the status quo.

Even when they’re the ones who just redefined what that is.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.

View all posts by Sam Neumann