Ohio State Coach Ryan Day Reveals Secret Ties With Las Vegas Raiders’ Coach Over Saratoga Connection

Sometimes, the biggest stories don’t come from the football field; they slip out in casual conversation on a sunny day at the races. When Ryan Day, the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, made headlines recently for hiring former NFL coach Matt Patricia as his new defensive coordinator, most fans were focused on Patricia’s past stumbles in Detroit and Philadelphia. But while Day was praising Patricia for his relationship-building and leadership, another unexpected story quietly surfaced, one that had nothing to do with playbooks and everything to do with Saratoga Springs. Turns out, Ryan Day’s off-season hideaway might just reveal more than anyone expected. And it involves a very familiar NFL name.

That revelation came due to a short but telling clip posted by NYRA on X. Ryan Day was a guest on Saratoga Live! with the FOX Sports crew when a host asked him what brought him out to the iconic upstate New York racetrack. With no hesitation, Day dropped the connection: “You know I’ve been coming to Saratoga now for about, you know, five or six years. Chip Kelly’s the one that kind of introduced me to Saratoga and just fell in love with it. I think it’s one of the best venues in all of America.” Wait…Chip Kelly? The same Chip Kelly who’s now the offensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders? Yep. Their bond runs deeper than football, and Saratoga is where it all began. Could this be where football minds retreat to plan, reconnect, or just unwind?

Day didn’t stop there. He continued, painting a picture of why Saratoga isn’t just another pit stop on the summer calendar. “And then I started bringing my wife here a few years ago. We love it. We’ve had great weather here this week, and man, it’s a beautiful place and a great place to spend a weekend.” For a man under constant pressure in Columbus, Saratoga seems to be his escape, an off-the-grid kind of peace where football talk can fade into sunsets, mint juleps, and stretch runs down the final furlong. And maybe, just maybe, that’s where the real game plans are whispered.

Funny enough, Ryan Day’s appearance came during a headline-making weekend at the track. On July 18, Sacred Goddess, a 2-year-old filly owned by former MLB All-Star Jayson Werth, stunned in her maiden debut. Big names from across the sports world were present, watching, mingling, and blending their worlds. Saratoga wasn’t just hosting horse races; it was quietly becoming a sanctuary for sports royalty. So next time you hear Saratoga, think twice; it’s not just about horses, it’s where the sports world’s biggest names cross paths. But even as Day soaked in the energy of the track, his mind couldn’t be too far from Columbus because back home, Ohio State is staring down a tricky preseason with big shoes to fill and even bigger expectations.

Ryan Day finds football lessons at the horse racetrack

When the Ohio State Buckeyes brought in Matt Patricia to replace Jim Knowles as defensive coordinator, the move turned heads and raised the pressure. Now, with August creeping up and a high-stakes season opener against the Texas Longhorns just weeks away. The Buckeyes are feeling the heat. Sure, they’re coming off a national championship run that ended with a win over Notre Dame, but this year’s team has a whole new look. Fourteen players got drafted, and nearly 16 starters are gone. That’s a lot to replace. Head coach Ryan Day isn’t sugarcoating it.

“The guys have been working really hard this summer,” he told The Bobby Carpenter Show. “But the biggest challenge has been leadership figuring out who’s going to step up.” There’s still plenty of talent on deck. Like Jeremiah Smith, Caleb Downs, and Sonny Styles, but Day knows it takes more than skill. It takes chemistry and voices in the locker room that others follow. Interestingly, Ryan Day has found perspective in an unexpected place: horse racing. At Saratoga recently, the Ohio State head coach (yep, same name!) joined FOX Sports for a segment at the track.

When a host drew a parallel between coaching athletes and training racehorses, Coach Day didn’t hesitate. “Coming here to Saratoga has been great to learn a little bit about the industry… You have to deal with setbacks… figure out what went wrong, you get it fixed,” he said. “Horse racing is a lot like football in the fact that it takes everybody. All you see is the athletes on the field. All you see is the horse and the jockey out there on the racetrack. But it takes everybody from the beginning to the end to go through all that, making sure everybody’s on the same page.”

In that moment, you realize, whether it’s the racetrack or the football field, it’s always about teamwork and knowing how to bounce back.