A day after Ohio State’s upset loss to Michigan, athletic director Ross Bjork told The Dispatch that coach Ryan Day has his full support.

Saturday's 13-10 defeat was OSU’s fourth straight under Day in the rivalry. But Bjork said that while the reasons for the losses will eventually be analyzed, he believes Day is the right coach to lead the program.

“Our full focus right now is on the College Football Playoff and making a strong run,” Bjork said Sunday evening. “We have a ton to play for. We have a great team made up of talented players and great young men. Coach Day does a great job leading our program. He's our coach.”

Bjork said the foundation of the program is strong. He noted that the academic performance of the football team this year was the best in school history. It joined Harvard earlier this year as one of only two football programs in Division I, including the Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision, to post perfect multiyear Academic Progress Rate scores. The early national signing day is Wednesday, and Ohio State’s class is ranked in the top 3 by 247Sports.com

“There's a ton of stability across the board within the program,” Bjork said. “We're always in the top-5 under his leadership. We're right there. We have great fan support, great donor support.

“There's going to be plenty of time to dissect what happened in the rivalry game the last couple years. But right now, we have to keep the main thing the main thing, and that's focus on the values of the program, focus on why we lead the young men, focus on the mission and the playoff.”

More:It might feel like it after upset to Michigan, but all is not lost for Ohio State football

Bjork officially succeeded Gene Smith as athletic director on July 1 after a period of transition working with Smith. That has been long enough for Bjork to believe in Day.

“Our program is built to last, and coach Day has done that," he said. "He has put us in a great spot.”

Day has a 66-10 overall record, but as he has said, beating Michigan is the top priority for an OSU coach. Ohio State dominated its rivalry with Michigan for the first two decades of this century.

More:Big Ten fines Ohio State football, Michigan $100k each for postgame fight

That’s why the losses the last four years have stung particularly hard, especially Saturday’s. Michigan entered the game with a 6-5 record. Ohio State was 10-1 and ranked No. 2. The Buckeyes were 19½-point favorites.

OSU is considered a lock to make the 12-team College Football Playoff and is likely to host a first-round game at Ohio Stadium on Dec. 20 or 21.

“We’re disappointed (with Saturday’s loss), but he’s our coach,” Bjork said. “I’m focused on supporting our players and our coaches and continuing to get to know our fan base and our donor base and leading through this disappointing time.”

Asked if he was concerned that Day had lost the support of the donor and fan base, Bjork replied, “I think there's going to be a time and a place to analyze that piece of it. But coach acknowledged after the game that he gets it. He gets the reaction. He gets the intensity of this game in particular. He gets the feedback and the pushback.

“Some of the things that happened to him personally are uncalled for. We don’t have to get into that part of it. But we get what we signed up for, so he acknowledges that.”

Bjork said that coaches were back in the Woody Hayes Athletic Center on Sunday analyzing game video and meeting with recruits. The NCAA transfer portal opens on Dec. 9, so player retention is also a priority.

“He was back to work,” Bjork said of Day. “Coaches are resilient. That’s what they’re built for. And he was back to work, a workmanlike approach.

“Again, there will be time to dissect what happened in the game, but you’ve got to go back to work. When you focus on bigger goals and bigger picture, then you just have to keep working, and that was his spirit when I talked to him today.”

As for all the vitriol directed at Day and whether he’d be swayed by public opinion, Bjork replied with a chuckle, “Let’s go make a run in the playoff. That’s all I’m going to say. Let’s go make a run in the playoff. That’s what we’ve got to do.”

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This was supposed to be the day that Ohio State football got back on track. After three consecutive losses in The Game against arch rival Michigan, everything was set up for the Buckeyes to restore order in the rivalry and get a convincing win over the Wolverines.

After all, the game was in Columbus and Ohio State has arguably the best roster in the country. On the other hand, Michigan came into the game at 6-5 and has struggled on offense all season, especially at quarterback. On top of that, star tight end Colston Loveland and cornerback Will Johnson both sat out for the Wolverines.

However, Ohio State still couldn't get the job done. After a puzzling batch of poor interceptions and missed tackles, Michigan still walked away with a 13-10 win in Columbus before a brawl broke out at midfield after the game.

Understandably, the fallout from another embarrassing loss has Ohio State fans and pundits in shambles. On Sunday morning, some Columbus radio hosts had a crazy theory about the game and were calling for Ryan Day's job as a result, according to Brett McMurphy of Action Network.

“On Columbus, Ohio, radio this morning, hosts said Chip Kelly was ‘on the take' & Ryan Day should be fired before the playoffs for Michigan loss & because he's been looking for another job for last month,” McMurphy wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Incredibly, these hosts suggested that Chip Kelly was potentially throwing the game and taking a bribe to lose. As for Day, his seat was already getting hot this season after a close loss to Oregon. However, a fourth consecutive loss to Michigan will have the Ohio State faithful calling for his job even more than they have been.

Ohio State has plenty of time to reflect after loss to Michigan

It seemed like a foregone conclusion that Ohio State was going to trounce Michigan in Columbus on Saturday and move on to the Big Ten Championship Game next Saturday against Oregon. Many Ohio State fans had even begun thinking about getting revenge on the Ducks for a loss earlier in the season.

Now, after a shocking loss, Ohio State is out of the title game in favor of Penn State. Ryan Day and company will now have three weeks to reflect and regroup before they open their College Football Playoff campaign. The Buckeyes will have to play a first-round game as a team that didn't win its conference, and they currently await whether that game will be at The Shoe in Columbus or out on the road.

This Ohio State roster still has the talent to make a deep playoff run, but outings like Saturday show the reasons why they have been underwhelming for most of the season. In addition to a day like yesterday, Ohio State also had sleepy performances against lower level teams like Nebraska and Northwestern.

It was clear that Ohio State was not ready to play on Saturday. Going forward, that is not going to cut it against a group of very good teams in the postseason. If Ohio State doesn't have the right preparation and it doesn't have things cleaned up, its season will end with another disappointing loss.

Thirty-two Ohio mothers will receive the first of 12 payments of $500 this week.

The payments, funded by the nonprofits RISE Together Innovation Institute and UpTogether, are part of what organizers say is the first unconditional guaranteed income program in the city.

Called Ohio Mothers Trust, the initiative is intended to aid single mothers with an income at or below 80% of the area median, according to organizers. That would be $74,400 for a family of three, according to the city.

“Ohio Mothers Trust aims to show that providing unconditional cash support to mothers can significantly boost the financial stability and overall well-being of families,” Danielle Sydnor, CEO of RISE Together, an organization that works to end poverty in Columbus, said in a statement.

Universal basic income?New Columbus program to give some residents monthly payments

It can also be an investment for Franklin County, as childhood poverty cost the county $5.2 billion in lost economic activity in 2021, Sydnor said.

That loss comes from reduced earnings, crime, health and child welfare impacts, according to a December 2023 RISE Together report.

“Providing families the resources they need is an investment in their future and the future health of our community," Sydnor said.

Where is the money coming from?

Motherful, a grassroots collective of some 600 single mothers in the Columbus area, identified and selected the participants from members of its collective who applied for the program. They will be routinely surveyed to learn about how the program impacts their lives.

"A lot of single moms don't have resources they can depend on," said Lisa Woodward, co-founder and co-director of Motherful. "They need cash because it's not a two-income household."

The $500 payments are money they can count on, without hoops to jump through or strings attached, she said.

"You just have to be a single mom," Woodward said. "Be a sister in our community."

67 years without a birth certificate?How a Columbus woman lived without a birth record

Motherful was founded in 2018 and has a resource garage and food pantry available to members at its Gahanna location. It works to support, empower and nurture single-mother families in various ways, including by providing community, education, resources and more.

It started when Woodward and fellow single mother Heidi Howes met and wanted to create a list of resources for single moms and found there weren't any. So, they created Motherful.

"Ever since the beginning, we always knew getting money to moms is an important thing," Woodward said. "We operate with no boundaries. ... We want moms to just get the money and feel free."

RISE Together and UpTogether are both funding the initiative, which costs $211,200. UpTogether is a national change organization originally founded under the name Family Independence Initiative in Oakland, California, in 2001.

Since 2020, UpTogether has given out more than $210 million to more than 200,000 people through managed direct cash programs nationwide.

Though Ohio Mothers Trust is a pilot program, the concept has been tested with other types of recipients, Woodward said.

"It does work," she said. "Direct cash works. I feel like we're giving dreams away."

VANISHED event:Dispatch to host Community Conversation on Dec. 11 about missing people in Ohio

Ohio Mothers Trust is investing in mothers, said Astar Herndon, UpTogether’s Midwest Partnership director, and trusting them to make the best choices for their families.

"Moms, after all, know what their families need,” Herndon said.

Woodward said there's more Motherful wants to do, including future cohorts of women getting cash support.

"It's just the start," she said. "We intend to use the results of this initiative to advocate for broader, unrestricted cash investments for families across Franklin County."

'A great opportunity'

Angelique Scales joined Motherful years ago as a volunteer, helping other moms.

Today, the 37-year-old is the one who needs resources after going through a divorce.

The single mother of three who lives on Columbus' North Side is one of the 32 mothers who will get help through the Ohio Mothers Trust.

"I'm very, very grateful," Scales said of being a recipient of the trust. "It's just helping me get back on my feet, as a stepping stool."

Scales, who is a self-employed creative director and consultant, hopes to use some of the money to invest in herself and her business so she can be a better mother. Just getting more money toward her family's bills helps her do that, she said.

"This initiative means I can actually knock off some major goals for myself," Scales said.

But it's more than the money. Scales also feels understood and supported as a single mom — an identity she said comes with some stigma.

"It's a great opportunity to pour back into us," she said. "They're really supportive of us getting what we need as single moms."

[email protected]

@DanaeKing

Ohio State loses to Michigan, and immediately thousands of Buckeyes fans want coach Ryan Day fired.

I am not among them, but Me is more on the fence. Myself? He’s ready for a change.

The “Day dilemma” is tricky, because you can make a strong case to keep him and also a solid case to show him the door. It depends on your priorities. Runs a clean program? Keep him. Can’t beat Michigan? Can him. Caring coach whose players are good citizens and get good grades? Keep him. Still no national title? Get rid of him. Overall record of 66-10, including three trips to the College Football Playoff? Keep him. Ohio State lacks a killer instinct? Hand him a pink slip.

And so forth.

Ultimately, deciding whether Day should stay or go depends on which one of “us” is doing the talking. And with that, it’s time for another installment of Me, Myself and I, where a three-person debate plays out inside my head.

Me: Call me wishy-washy, but one minute I think Ohio State needs to pull the plug on Day and the next I’m defending his six-year stretch of overall success. It all depends on timing. The closer those 60 seconds are to Saturday’s 13-10 Michigan loss, the more I struggle to see a way forward for the 45-year-old coach. It’s only natural that in any fit of pique the knee-jerk reaction is to call for a coach’s head. But add distance to the debacle and the frustration loses fuel, allowing Day’s positive attributes to gain traction. Plus, what coach out there is guaranteed to do better than Day, against Michigan or otherwise?

Myself: Timeout. First off, the argument that “OSU can’t do better than Day” falls apart upon closer inspection. Sure, there is no sure-shot Urban Meyer out there just waiting to wear scarlet and gray – unless 73-year-old Nick Saban can be coaxed out of retirement to right the ship for a couple of seasons, which is highly unlikely – but it is lazy to suggest there is no other coach capable of beating Michigan and getting the Buckeyes into the playoff. Jim Tressel pretty much came out of nowhere, and he was 9-1 vs. UM with a national title, so spare me the hand-wringing over there being no worthy candidates. Second, it’s not “knee-jerk” to watch what happened against Michigan Saturday and doubt things will change next year, when the game is in Ann Arbor and UM should be better than its current 7-5 record. Or how they will change the year after that. Michigan is in Day’s head, like it was in John Cooper’s. You don’t simply snap your fingers and, voila, the Michigan mental freeze-up disappears. As my grandfather used to say, “Burn the wood to get the bugs out.” It’s time.

I: You sound like the angry mob that wanted Day fired before the sun set Saturday; fans so outraged they are calling for Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork to fire Day immediately and replace him with someone else – Meyer being the first choice, but wide receivers coach Brian Hartline will do – for the playoff. Stop with the crazy talk. Some things you just don’t do, and firing a coach two weeks before the first playoff game is one of them. For starters, you risk causing a player insurrection and/or a mass exodus to the transfer portal. So nix that idea, buddy. Plus, it sounds like Bjork has no immediate plan to deep-six Day, telling The Dispatch, “(Day) does a great job leading our program. He’s our coach.” Let’s be rational. Among the reasons Ohio State has avoided the kind of lengthy program dips that every other major program has experienced, the main one is the school has hit the jackpot on coaching hires, dating back 100 years. Day has struggled against Michigan, and his 1-4 record against the Wolverines is unacceptable. He would tell you that. But Jim Harbaugh was 0-5 against the Buckeyes before turning things around in a big way, with the maize and blue winning a national championship last season. Captain Khaki Pants eventually figured out how to win The Game, and Day will figure it out, too. But back to my main point: Any new coaching hire is a roll of the dice. Ohio State has been fortunate not to crap out, but the risk of missing on the next hire is real. Are you willing to get stuck with the next Brady Hoke and Rich Rodriguez, hiring mistakes that set Michigan back for more than a decade? If the Buckeyes fire Day for having the best winning percentage (.868) among active FBS coaches with at least five years experience, then OSU deserves all the 7-5 and 6-6 seasons that can happen with a swing-and-miss hire.

Let Ryan Day coach for his job in upcoming playoff

Me: That’s why if Ohio State fires Day after this season, it better darn well replace him with a proven quantity. And by proven I mean a veteran guy who has won at the FBS level. Nothing personal against Tressel, but handing the Buckeyes to a lower-division coach or an up-and-comer is too risky. And forget about handing the reins to some hotshot offensive or defensive coordinator. We’ve seen that fail too many times, including Brent Venables at Oklahoma, or closer to home, former OSU assistants Tom Herman, Jeff Hafley and Kevin Wilson. I’m all about compromise, so here’s how it should play out: Ohio State lets Day coach for his job, meaning he gets the upcoming playoff to make up for the Michigan loss. If the Buckeyes win two games and advance to the semifinals, he stays, under the condition he makes staff changes, most notably at offensive line coach. If OSU loses in the first round (Dec. 20th or 21st) Day packs his bags. Fair?

Myself: Bah. Day has been given more than enough time to prove his mettle against Michigan, as well as in the biggest games against teams with top-end talent. His supporters love to point out how OSU came within a missed field goal against Georgia of playing TCU for the 2022 national title, but go watch that ending again. The Buckeyes turned conservative instead of trying to get deeper into Bulldogs territory, which would have turned a 50-yard field goal attempt into something more makeable. I say go get Mike Vrabel. Now.

I: So glad I get the final word. Regarding Vrabel, never say never, but his antipathy toward recruiting tells me he doesn’t want to leave the NFL, where the former OSU defensive end and Tennessee Titans coach is a consultant with the Cleveland Browns. Could he be convinced to come to Columbus? Perhaps, for the right price and after being assured of minimal recruiting responsibilities. But I remain hesitant to hire someone who is at best lukewarm about dealing with NIL and the transfer portal. I say stick with Day, whether he wins a national title next month or not. Now, he may want to leave, but if not then you live with whatever happens against Michigan, knowing one game does not define the program, not in the era of a 12-team playoff.

Can we agree on that?

Me: Hmm.

Myself: Nope.

I: Do yourself a favor, Ryan, and go win the natty. For many it’s not the same as beating Michigan, but it buys you time.

[email protected]

@rollerCD

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MARYSVILLE, Ohio (WCMH) — A new religious release program for public school students is entering Marysville schools, and this one emphasizes Satanic studies.

The Hellion Academy of Independent Learning (HAIL) program will begin in Marysville’s Edgewood Elementary School in December as a part of the district’s permitted release time for religious instruction. The program is put on by the Satanic Temple, the only Satanic religious organization recognized as a church by the IRS and Federal Court System.

June Everett, the campaign director for the After School Satan Club and an ordained minister for the Satanic Temple, said a parent reached out to the Satanic Temple asking for a program at Edgewood. Everett said the Satanic Temple’s programs for students are only implemented when parents seek them out, and only in districts where other release programs are already in place.

Marysville has been involved with LifeWise, a Christian-based program offering biblical education during the school day off school property, since September 2023. According to Marysville LifeWise, the program is offered to students during lunch and recess once a week.

Everett said the parent who sought out HAIL was searching for an alternative to LifeWise, as students who do not attend sometimes feel left out or ostracized. LifeWise welcomes any students, but she said some parents don’t want to send their children to the program for various reasons. She said that’s where HAIL comes in.

“We aren’t trying to shut the LifeWise Academy down, but I do think a lot of school districts don’t realize when they open the door for one religion, they open it for all of them,” Everett said.

Everett said HAIL is a monthly program because the Satanic Temple has fewer resources and a smaller budget than LifeWise, which often partners with local churches. Marysville’s program is the Satanic Temple’s first release program in Ohio, but its sister program, the After School Satan Club, has operated in Dayton, Wilmington and Lebanon, she said.

Everett said many people misunderstand HAIL and the Satanic Temple. The church, and its associated school program, are built on the Seven Fundamental Tenets of The Satanic Temple, summarized below:

“We aren’t worshipping the devil and sacrificing babies and using blood. It’s actually the opposite,” Everett said.

Everett said although HAIL is not trying to shut down LifeWise, it is often a response to the program. LifeWise CEO and founder Joel Penton said HAIL is a good example of why LifeWise supports Ohio House Bill 445, which would require school districts to implement a release instruction policy. Penton said HB 445 would grant clarity on how to implement those programs.

“LifeWise isn’t fearful of other organizations offering RTRI,” Penton said. “We believe all families should have the opportunity to choose religious study during school hours and we trust parents to make the best choice for their children.”

Both LifeWise and HAIL have open enrollment for Marysville parents available online.