COLUMBUS, Ohio - If you thought expectations were high going into his first season as head coach, just wait until Ryan Day hits the field for his second year.

His first season as head coach required him to overcome the shadow of Urban Meyer and not skip a beat as he took the helm.

He passed the test with flying colors as he advanced the Buckeyes to their first College Football Playoff appearance since 2016, and after the season concluded, he completed his first recruiting class, ranked fifth in 2020.

After all that success in the last calendar year, how does Day look to keep building on expectations going into his second year?

“Just the expectations, first off, that you set for the whole program and that you have for yourself,” Day said. “And our program is all built on fighting and competing every single day to be the best version of yourself, the best version of your unit, the best version of your team.”

Part of setting expectations for 2020 includes an acknowledgement that Ohio State did not reach its goal in 2019.

Day led them to a Big Ten Championship and College Football Playoff appearance, but the expectations at Ohio State year-in and year-out are to win championships.

While there are many positives to build on from Day's first season as head coach, the motivation for year two will come from knowing they came up short.

“We know what the expectations are here. That's part of this thing,” Day said. “When you wake up every day you know what it is. And we're hungry. We felt like we got a good foundation set underneath us this past season. But we didn't reach all our goals, and so there's still a lot of work to be done.”

There is plenty of inspiration on the field to keep Day and team engaged in 2020, but an additional push may come via Day's recently announced contract extension.

The new three-year contract extension will keep Day under contract through 2026 and features a rising yearly salary, culminating in a $7.6 million pay day in 2023 before the Director of Athletics and Board of Trustees determine his compensation beyond that.

This keeps not only Day happy, but his family is excited to stay locked down in Columbus for the foreseeable future.

“I think the person and the people that were the most excited about that were my kids because they knew that they weren't going to be the new kid in school for a long time again and that's the idea is that we're here for a long time,” Day said. “And I certainly couldn't be more grateful for the Board of Trustees, President Drake and obviously Gene Smith, who I owe everything to him, and obviously Urban Meyer, to be in this position, because that's a big deal.”

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Even with the contract extension, rumors will run rampant about where Day may be in a few years as the possibility of the NFL calling will always be present.

However, Day has given absolutely no indication that he wants to leave Columbus any time soon, and that desire to stay with Ohio State will continue to fuel him.

“That changes our life as a family. And we don't take that lightly,” Day said. “But the number one thing that we're the most excited about as a family is we get to be in Columbus again for hopefully the next seven to 10 years, hopefully 20 years. We want to be here as long as we can. We love it here. The kids love the school system. They have a set of friends. Nina loves it here and that's what's most exciting about this.”