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Before finding themselves at the epicenter of the college football world, Ryan’s day and his wife, Ninathere were only two kids playing teeball in Manchester, New Hampshire.
Day, 45, is now the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes, and Nina, who married in June 2005, recently reflected on their time growing up together in the Northeast.
In an August 2024 interview with Columbus’ WBNS 10 TVNina 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 Ryan and Nina attending the University of New Hampshire, where Ryan was a quarterback on the football team.
“There was a note that we saved – I think I was in the 7th grade – that I wrote and I said I was going to marry Ryan,” Nina said. “We’ve always been best friends.”
Nina even took a picture from 1985 when they were on the same youth tee ball team. “This is Ryan, this is my twin, Kelly, and this is me,” he said pointing to the trio.
Before Ryan was named head coach at Ohio State in 2018, his coaching career took him and his growing family – he and Nina are the parents of a son RJ and women Grace a Nia – 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 period of 15 years, we moved 11 times,” Nina told WBNS. “In that time, we had 3 children. So, it was a lot. From probably the year we got married when we got to Ohio State, every year or every two years we moved. It was very unstable for a long time.”
For a full timeline of Ryan and Nina’s relationship, keep reading.
2005
Ryan and Nina married while he was working as a graduate assistant at the University of Florida.
“We dated off and on and then after we graduated college, we got back together and the rest is history,” Nina told WBNS.
He added, “There was always a comfort level with him. We are still best friends. I think that’s the best 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.
Harry How/Getty Images Ohio State quarterback Will Howard seals his team’s Rose Bowl victory with a kiss. After Howard, 23, and the Buckeyes dominated the Oregon Ducks 41-21 on Wednesday, January 1, the quarterback made his way over to his girlfriend, Lauren Leiker, for a hug. Howard turned his brand new Rose (…)
“From 1st to 5th grade, he started school in one state and ended up in another school in another state,” he told WBNS. “He was in seven different elementary schools.”
He added, “But it’s made it much more durable.”
RJ is busy following in his 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 returned to Boston College as the school’s offensive coordinator following one season as the offensive coordinator at Temple University.
2020
Ryan lived apart from Nina and her three children for three months during the COVID-affected college football season to reduce the threat of contagion.
“It hasn’t been easy,” said Nina The dispatch of Columbus in January 2021. “Most of my life I was able to plan things and look forward to the next week or the next three or four games. This year, we have literally lived by the 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?’”
Courtesy of Mady Barnes/Instagram/Instagram University of Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and his girlfriend, Mady Barnes, have already survived one of the toughest tests of a relationship: going to rival colleges. Barnes, 21, is currently a student at the University of Oklahoma while her boyfriend, Ewers, 21, is one of the college’s most recognizable faces (…)
Nina honestly admitted that it was even harder to have her husband in the house after the Big Ten suspended the start of its season due to the pandemic.
“Those were very difficult weeks,” says Nina. “Although he was at home on the first day of school for the first time ever, and although he could make the children’s soccer and football games on the weekends and pick them up from school, it was a huge void. And it was very difficult to be around Ryan those weeks.”
2023
Before beginning his fifth full season as Ohio State’s head coach, Ryan shared a photo via Instagram of his family coming home from holiday alongside a photo of the same location, four years earlier.
“Time flies,” Ryan wrote. “1st photo: Winter 2019 before first season as HC. 2nd Photo: Today on our way back to Columbus. 5th season just 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.
