Ohio State football coach Ryan Day does not wear nipple rings, but he finds it absolutely hysterical that fans thought otherwise after a viral hoax.
Speaking to veteran Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman and former Buckeyes star Cam Heyward on the ‘Not Just Football’ podcast, the 47-year-old Day didn’t seem bothered by the online trickery.
The incident took place during the Buckeyes’ opener against the Texas Longhorns on August 30. When Barstool Sports podcaster Dan Katz posted a screen grab of Day’s on-field interview, followers were stunned to see the impression of a nipple ring poking through the coach’s black shirt.
Alas, the photo proved to be a total fake created by an unknown culprit, not that Day cared all that much.
‘I mean, I kind of thought it gave me some street cred there for a second,’ Day laughed. ‘But unfortunately no, I’m not that cool. I don’t know.’
It’s a subject that has come up repeatedly in the Steelers locker room, which includes other former OSU stars like Will Howard and Jack Sawyer, both of whom attended that game in Columbus.
Despite phony photos suggesting the contrary, Ryan Day does not wear nipple rings
Cam Heyward, a former OSU star, couldn’t help but ask Day about the allegations
‘Hey, the amount of times I’ve been asked that question,’ Howard told Heyward on a previous podcast episode.
‘Didn’t we mess with him a couple times about that?’ Sawyer told Heyward and Howard during the previous ‘Not Just Football’ episode.
‘Oh yeah,’ Howard laughed, ‘I’m hoping it was just a really bad angle I really haven’t gotten confirmation.’
Just 15 months removed from his first national championship, Day heads into the 2026 season under a peculiar set of circumstances for a Buckeyes coach.
As always, there is a mandate to beat Michigan, which replaced fired Sherrone Moore with former Utah coach Kyle Whittingham. But now both the Buckeyes and the Wolverines are looking up at Indiana, a long-time ‘basketball school’ coming off its first football national championship.
Up next for Ohio State is the annual spring game on April 18. Then they Buckeyes will open the 2026 season on September 5 when Ball State visits the Horseshoe in Columbus.
