Ohio State's Ryan Day and Wife Nina: From Tee-Ball Teammates to the Altar
Before finding themselves at the epicenter of the college football world, Ryan Day and his wife, Nina, were just two kids playing tee-ball in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Day, 45, is now the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, and Nina, whom he married in June 2005, recently reflected on their time coming of age together in the Northeast.
In an August 2024 interview with Columbus’ WBNS 10TV, Nina said she and Ryan grew up in Manchester “about a mile-and-a-half away from each other.” They went to the same elementary school, middle school and high school and college, with both Ryan and Nina attending the University of New Hampshire, where Ryan was the quarterback on the football team.
“There was a note we saved — I think I was in 7th grade — that I wrote and I said I was going to marry Ryan,” Nina said. “We’ve always been best friends.”
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Nina even pulled out a photo from 1985 when they were on the same youth tee-ball team. “This is Ryan, this is my twin sister, Kelly, and that’s me,” she said while pointing out the threesome.
Before Ryan was named head coach at Ohio State in 2018, his coaching career took him and his growing family — he and Nina are parents to son RJ and daughters Grace and Nia — all across the country, from collegiate stops at schools like Boston College and Temple, to NFL coaching jobs with the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers.
“Within a 15 year span, we moved 11 times,” Nina told WBNS. “In that time, we had 3 children. So, it was a lot. From the year we got married to probably when we got to Ohio State, every year or every two years we were moving. It was very unstable for a long time.”
For a full timeline of Ryan and Nina’s relationship, keep reading.
2005
Ryan and Nina got married while he was working as a graduate assistant at the University of Florida.
“We dated off-and-on and then once we graduated college, we just got back together and the rest is history,” Nina told WBNS.
She added, “There was always a comfort level with him. We’re still best friends. I think that’s the best way a marriage can be. You’re with your best friend every day.”
2009
The couple welcomed their first baby, son Ryan Jr. (RJ, for short), during Ryan’s time as wide receivers coach at Boston College.
Nina admitted that being a coach’s son wasn’t always easy for her son growing up.
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“From 1st to 5th grade, he started a school in one state and ended in another school in another state,” she told WBNS. “He was in seven different elementary schools.”
She added, “But it’s made him so much more resilient.”
RJ is busy following in father’s footsteps as a quarterback at DeSales High School in Columbus, Ohio.
2011
Ryan and Nina welcomed their first daughter, Grace, while Day was still working at Boston College.
2014
The couple welcomed their third child, daughter Nia, after Day had returned to Boston College as the school’s offensive coordinator following one season as the offensive coordinator at Temple University.
2020
Ryan lived separately from Nina and his three kids for three months during the COVID-impacted college football season to minimize the threat of contagion.
“It hasn’t been easy,” Nina told The Columbus Dispatch in January 2021. “Most of my life I could plan things and look ahead to the next week or the next three or four games. This year we’ve just literally lived hour by hour. I mean, every hour something comes up, and I hold my breath every time I see my husband’s name on my phone because I think, ‘Oh, goodness. Now what?’”
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Nina candidly admitted it was even more difficult to have her husband in the house after the Big Ten suspended the start of its season in the wake of the pandemic.
“Those were very difficult weeks,” Nina said. “Even though he was home for the first day of school for the first time ever, and even though he could make the kids’ soccer and football games on the weekends and pick them up from school, it was a huge void. And it was extremely difficult to be around Ryan those weeks.”
2023
Before the start of his fifth full season as the head coach at Ohio State, Ryan shared a photo via Instagram of his family coming home from vacation side-by-side with a picture from the same location, four years prior.
“Time flies,” Ryan wrote. “1st Pic: Winter of 2019 before first season as HC. 2nd Pic: Today on our way back to Columbus. 5th season right around the corner! Stronger than ever. Go Bucks!!”
2025
Nina and Grace were photographed celebrating with Ryan on the field after Ohio State defeated the Oregon Ducks in the Rose Bowl.