Ohio State football: Ryan Day named Big Ten Football Coach of the Year

He is the first Ohio State coach to win that award since Earle Bruce in 1979.

That year Bruce, like Day, led the Buckeyes to an undefeated regular season in his first as head coach in Columbus.

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The only other Buckeye mentor to receive the honor, which began in 1972, is Woody Hayes. The Clifton native won it in 1973 and ’75.

Minnesota’s P.J. Fleck was named the coach of the year by the coaches, who have never selected an Ohio State coach for the award, which was given from 1982-91 and revived in 2011.

The Buckeyes have won the Big Ten championship 15 times since 1982 and 23 times since ’72.