Don’t get mad, get even. Or in the case of Ohio State, get everybody you can.
As the sports world shifts its focus to the end of the NFL season, college basketball, and the NBA, this is the time of the year when college football becomes an afterthought — unless you’re the folks in Columbus, Ohio.
When Bobby Axelrod said, “Hate is nature’s most perfect energy source. It’s endlessly renewable,” the Buckeyes took that to heart as they’ve collected players and coaches in the offseason like Thanos did with the Infinity Stones in 2018/2019. Given that the Buckeyes haven’t won a game since before Thanksgiving (37-3 over Minnesota), and have a cakewalk of a schedule next season with Oregon, Penn State, and Michigan as their only tough games in the first season of the expanded Big Ten, the program has used NIL to attract and retain the best talent money can buy.
This is what happens when your rival has owned you and just won a national championship, while you’re on a two-game losing streak because you couldn’t score more than three points in the Cotton Bowl against Missouri.
“Everything’s going to get looked at,” head coach Ryan Day said after the season. “And if it helps Ohio State go reach our goals and win these games, we’ll make those changes.”
Since then, Day hired Bill O’Brien as his offensive coordinator, at least a dozen players who many thought were going to the draft decided to stay, and the team added Kansas State transfer Will Howard and former five-star Alabama signee Julian Sayin to their quarterback room. They also got star safety Caleb Downs and starting center Seth McLaughlin from Alabama. It’s been rumored that the program has spent $13 million in the offseason.
“I am extremely pleased to be able to add Bill O’Brien to our coaching staff,” Day said. “He brings with him a wealth of knowledge – and a tremendous amount of success – at both the NFL and collegiate levels. He is an excellent and experienced offensive coach who has run NFL and Power 5 programs and developed some truly elite players throughout his career. He’ll be an excellent teacher and recruiter for us, and he absolutely strengthens our staff.”
Whether it be their disgust with Michigan or their national title drought, Ohio State has used NIL and the transfer portal to its benefit in efforts to take back the Big Ten. A lot of it is because of “THE Foundation” — a Non-Profit NIL collective for Ohio State football and basketball that’s a registered 501(c)(3) which makes donations tax-deductible by law. Reportedly, Houston Texans star rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud — who starred for the Buckeyes — dropped somewhere between $50,000 and $100,000 in his school’s account.
“We welcome your help in keeping Ohio State at the top of the college athletics landscape,” OSU Athletic Director Gene Smith said when he pleaded with fans to donate to the collective in 2022.
It worked, despite it being the dumbest thing any fanbase can do when their program is part of a conference that has a $7 billion media rights deal. To take things even further, Smith is retiring in July and former Texas A&M AD Ross Bjork has been hired to take his place. Just a few weeks ago, Bjork was over a football program that owes a minimum of $119 million to their former head coach and the new one who hasn’t blown a whistle in practice yet.
“Let me be very clear in this next part: Texas A&M athletics and the 12th Man Foundation will be the sole sources of the necessary funds covering these transition costs,” Bjork said about the tabs.
The Buckeyes have proven that they’re in it to win it, as the playoffs expand to 12 teams next season. But, if Ohio State still can’t beat Michigan or their season doesn’t end with a parade, they’ll be using all that money to hire a new head coach.
