Ryan Day

Current head coach · 2018–present

The numbers

No contract for Ryan Dayis in this corpus, so these are the school's own reported figures.

Total pay

$12.57M

$12,575,000

School pay $12,500,000 · Maximum bonus $1,550,000

USA TODAY salary database, FY2025

Buyout

$70.92M

$70,916,667

USA TODAY salary database, FY2025

These are school-reported contract terms, not realized compensation, and the buyout is a contractual maximum rather than money paid. Source ↗

The fine print

One clause we can quote, grouped by what it covers. Each line is the plain-English reading; the contract's own words sit one click beneath it.

Aircraft · 1

50hours / yr

50 personal jet hours a year on top of 50 business hours — and empty deadhead legs count against the total.

Reported by media; primary document not held. This has not been read off a contract we hold.

What the contract says

“As additional compensation, Ohio State agrees to arrange for fifty (50) hours of such jet aircraft use by Coach for his personal use each contract year during the term of this Agreement. Each hour the aircraft is contracted for either business or personal use, including but not limited to, empty 'deadhead' legs of the flight, will count toward the fifty (50) hours per year (except Ohio State shall only count the 'deadhead' hours if Ohio State is charged for such 'deadhead' hours).”

Every clause here is quoted from the document it cites. A clause that cannot be re-checked against the scan is not published.

The flights

Contract grants 50 personal flight hours a year (reported) → Published reporting on Ohio State Buckeyes aircraft during this tenure:

Ohio State-Linked Jet Left Manassas as College-Sports Markup ApproachedJun 17, 2026 · N600CH

read the report →

Ohio State aircraft fits Big Ten spring meetings travelMay 19, 2026 · N614WD

read the report →

Ohio State Buckeyes Team Charter Matched a Football Travel WindowNov 8, 2025 · N37468

read the report →

Ohio State Buckeyes Aircraft Documented Around Big Ten Spring Meetings 2025May 21, 2025 · N876AD

read the report →

A jet clause is eligibility; a tracked flight is evidence; the join is presented as contract-next-to-reporting, never as proof the coach was aboard.

How this page is sourced

Where a contract for this coach is in the corpus, the headline figures are read off that document at the page each card cites, and USA TODAY's figure runs alongside as a cross-check. Where no contract is held, the figures are school-reported contract terms from USA TODAY's coaches salary database for the most recent fiscal year on file. Neither is W-2 compensation, and neither is comparable to Form 990 totals for private schools.

Clause text is transcribed verbatim from the cited document at the cited page. Where a term is attributed to published reporting rather than a document we hold, the card says so explicitly.

Flight reports linked here are attributed to the program and the date, not to a passenger. Nothing on this page claims a coach exercised a clause or was aboard an aircraft.