‘Had to Hate You’: Pat McAfee Puts Ryan Day on Awkward Spot as Kirk Herbstreit Forced to Clear Up Misunderstanding

Pat McAfee’s feud with Ryan Day grabbed headlines earlier this year. The Buckeyes’ head coach avoided ESPN host The Pat McAfee Show last season. That included Ohio State’s run of interviews after they won the national championship. Day went everywhere except to the McAfee show. Was there some smoke? Day finally appeared on the show a few days ago, but the host wasn’t there. Instead, former Buckeye Kirk Herbstreit was serving as the guest host.

When McAfee returned, he noted Day’s presence and revealed that his earlier efforts to get him on the show were all in vain. Herbstreit tried to explain that Ohio State head coach’s peculiar absence and theorized that it could have been just miscommunication rather than anything deeper. McAfee didn’t buy that. “I’m not saying nasty things,” McAfee said. “I’m just letting him know that I don’t like him.” The statement quickly put the Ohio State coach in an unusual spotlight, especially as speculation brewed about why Day wasn’t joining the set. But was the snub intentional?

And Day finally appeared on The Pat McAfee Show, leading to a moment of levity. “We thought you hated us, so we, in return, had to hate you,” McAfee admitted. “Very thankful that you don’t hate us because we did not want to hate you.” But he didn’t stop there. With former Ohio State player AJ Hawk (also a key member of the show) beside him, McAfee gave Ryan Day his flowers, especially with how his ultimate achievement came about.

“I understand the state of Ohio has loved the Buckeyes for a very long time. But what we have watched you have to go through, with the success that you’ve had and then the failures that have happened, and then the reaction, and the criticism, and how it felt like the entire state was on fire, and then you were able to lead the boys to get a national championship. It’s like you should be commended.” And then came the ultimate closing line. “You are somebody we like,” he said.

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