There’s winning on the field and then there’s winning in the classroom. You know — with the whole college experience of being a student-athlete and all.
Ohio State football head coach led the team to a College Football Playoff national championship this past season — his first — but he simply doesn’t get enough credit for what his teams do in the classroom. Winning on the field will always come first in the minds and perceptions at a place like Columbus, but when you can do both, it’s quite remarkable.
And that’s exactly where Day is today.
If you follow the college game much at all, you are more than likely familiar with APR scores. Those were instituted a few years ago to hold athletic programs accountable when it comes to schooling vs. a “win at all costs” mentality. Ohio State has been awfully good at both, and now news has dropped that should make anyone tied to the program awfully proud.
According to a social media post from the Ohio State football program, the Buckeyes were the only Division I (FBS) program to have a perfect 1000 APR score. That means teams like Northwestern, Duke, Vanderbilt, and Stanford can’t even lay claim to that quote. It’s quite remarkable when you think about it, and needs to be advertised more than it is.
The formula isn’t that complicated but it does deserve some background. Each program’s Academic Progress Rate is “based on the academic eligibility, retention and graduation of its scholarship athletes.” As it stands today, the measurement of the current multi-year APR scores are based on a multi-year average of each team’s rates from the 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24 academic years.
And yeah, OSU stands alone at the mountaintop. Harvard (makes sense) was tied with Ohio State for No. 1 last season, but has dropped to third under the current multi-year measurement. Believe it or not, Alabama is No. 2, so credit due there as well.
Day sure is doing a lot of things right. He’s winning on the field, has kids working hard in the classroom, is second to none in dealing with the media, and is an advocate off the field for many things, not the least of which is his efforts with mental illness.
