COLUMBUS, Ohio – Ohio State football coach Ryan Day has tested positive for COVID-19 and will not coach in Saturday’s game at Illinois, according to multiple sources.
Ohio State still plans to play Saturday and will fly out Saturday morning if the number of positive tests within the program does not grow. This news was first reported to Buckeye Talk text subscribers. Ohio State confirmed the development with a news release Friday afternoon.
Associate head coach/defensive line coach Larry Johnson will serve as interim coach in Day’s place.
Reports first surfaced Wednesday night that the Buckeyes were dealing with an unspecified number of positive coronavirus tests within the program. Ohio State had previously declined comment on those reports. A source told cleveland.com Thursday that the tests and contact tracing affected players, coaches and support staff.
In its news release, Ohio State confirmed “an increased number of positive tests this week.” It said the program had reported “nearly 0% positivity” since Aug. 11.
It also said the increased tests have not pushed past the Big Ten’s threshold mandating cancellation.
Players who test positive for COVID-19 must remain out of competition for a minimum 21 days. However, coaches are only required to isolate for a minimum of 10 days and be symptom free for 24 hours.
An Ohio State spokesperson said that Day’s 10-day quarantine could see him return Monday, Dec. 7, if he tests negative and is cleared. The game against Michigan in Columbus is five days later, on Dec. 12.
Purdue coach Jeff Brohm tested positive for COVID-19 on Oct. 19, did not coach the season opener and returned to coach on Oct. 31.
“I have spoken with Coach Day, and he is doing well physically,” OSU athletic director Gene Smith said in the news release. “I feel terrible for Coach and for the members of the program who have been diagnosed with a positive test. Coach Day and this team have been true leaders in handling things so well throughout this pandemic.
“Our team wants to play this game, and we’re going to do everything we can to help make this happen. All of the decisions on the welfare of our student-athletes and staff members will continue to be guided by our medical staff.”
Day has spoken on multiple occasions of the daily stress caused by waiting for the program-wide rapid antigen test results to come back. Ohio State’s game at Maryland earlier this month was canceled due to the Terrapins’ outbreak.
Day said he instructed his players to assume everyone they come in contact with has the virus and to act accordingly.
“It’s week-to-week, day-to-day, for sure,” Day said on Nov. 3. “You hold your breath all week. You hold your breath the day of.”
Ohio State did not release its usual status report on Friday morning, saying instead it would do so at 10 a.m. Saturday.
• Ohio State football withholds player status report for Illinois as it deals with coronavirus cases
The understanding for the 2020 season has been that report is a tenuous one, since players and personnel are tested daily for COVID-19 per Big Ten protocol. In this case, due to contact tracing and pending test results, Ohio State may have more players than usual whose status remains up in the air for Saturday’s noon kickoff.
The status report will have relevance beyond Saturday’s game. Players whose positive tests for COVID-19 are confirmed must sit out of competition for a minimum of 21 days. That means any Ohio State player who newly tested positive this week cannot play in any of the final three games: Saturday at Illinois, Dec. 5 at Michigan State and Dec. 12 vs. Michigan.
Ohio State’s status report does not differentiate between illness, injury or disciplinary reasons for player absences.
Ohio State practiced in some capacity on Thursday and held a team Thanksgiving meal. Players confirmed as participating, per photos and videos posted by the team, included quarterback Justin Fields, offensive linemen Josh Myers, Thayer Munford and Nicholas Petit-Frere, linebacker Baron Browning and defensive end Jonathon Cooper.
If the number of positive tests increases through further testing this week, or in the future, the decision to continue team activities may be out of Ohio State’s hands.
Per Big Ten protocols, teams experiencing cases among more than 5% of team members and more than 7.5% of the program “population” — a combination of players, coaches, managers, trainers and other staff — must halt operations.
Positive tests in the 2.5-5% range for a team and 3.5-7.5% for the population mean a program must alter its practice and meeting schedule and “consider viability of continuing with scheduled competition.” Without knowing the exact number of people affected so far, it is possible OSU already reached this middle threshold.
— This post was updated at 5:05 p.m. EST to reflect new information from OSU on the date Ryan Day could return to the team.
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