In the press conference that announced Urban Meyer’s retirement as Ohio State’s head football coach and introduced Ryan Day as his successor, OSU athletic director Gene Smith said that while he had informally considered a number of other names as potential Meyer replacements, that process never got very far, because he was confident that Day was the man to lead the Buckeye program moving forward.
However, on Saturday, The Toledo Blade’s David Briggs reported that there were four other coaches that Smith considered before deciding on Day. While Smith reportedly never reached out to these coaches to gauge their interest, the AD was interested in Iowa State head coach Matt Campbell, Syracuse coach Dino Babers, retired Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, and an unnamed NFL coach, according to a source.