Second-year Ohio State head coach Ryan Day has tested positive for COVID-19, but the game continues this weekend in Illinois, the school announced Friday afternoon.
In place of Dana, defensive line coach Larry Johnson will serve as interim head coach.
The athletics department has confirmed an “increased number of positive tests for coronavirus this week”, saying it is “contradictory” to testing throughout the season. Despite the positive cases, the game will not be canceled because the positives do not reach the threshold set by the Big Ten.
Ohio State will fly the Illinois champion on Saturday morning, instead of Friday evening, due to COVID-19 pre-trip testing. All players and team staff, including coaches and support staff, were taking quick daily tests on Friday morning, and they would also take PCR testing on Friday afternoon before traveling.
Players who test positive for COVID-19 must sit out for at least 21 days before returning to competition, meaning any positive one this week will lose the final three games of the regular season. At least 10 coaches who confirm positive. So having to stay away from his team, on the day of a positive test, he could miss this weekend game against Illinois or just before he and Michigan State return to the following game. Sideline for home tilt with Michigan.
Athletic director Jean Smith said in a statement, “I’ve talked to Coach Day, and he’s doing well physically. “I feel terrible for the coaches and members of the program who have received positive testing. Coach Day and this team have been true leaders in managing things well during this epidemic. Our team wants to play this game, and we will do everything we can to help this happen. All decisions regarding the welfare of our student-athletes and staff members will be guided by our medical staff. ”
Is sending ideas and support ryandaytime, Players and coaching staff who tested positive for COVID-19. Health and Safety Protocol @OhioStateFB And @ Bigton 1st rate, our student athletes and coaching staff have worked hard. Keep fighting
– Christina M. Johnson (@PressKM Johnson) November 27, 2020
De Purdue’s Jeff Broham, Wisconsin’s Paul Christ and Maryland’s Mike Laksley are publicly announcing a positive coronavirus test as the fourth Big Ten head coach.
Ohio State did not choose to release the status report at 10 a.m. Friday for the first time since implementing it at the start of the 2019 season. Instead it will release a report – which details are unavailable and which players are game-time decisions – about two hours before Saturday afternoon’s kickoff.
