Desmond Howard criticizes 'thin-skinned' OSU coach Ryan Day for comments on Lou Holtz
After a week in which Washington State's Jake Dickert and Ohio State's Ryan Day took aim at Lee Corso and Lou Holtz, respectively, ESPN closed its ranks on "College Gameday" on Saturday.
"College GameDay" analyst Desmond Howard said from Durham, North Carolina that Dickert and Day were out of line for responding to comments made about the coaches' respective schools. Dickert took issue with Corso calling Washington State vs. Oregon State (a game between the Pac-12 remnants) the "No One Watches" Bowl (though that may be a misquote from the "No One Wants Us" Bowl) last week.
Day passionately extolled the toughness of Ohio State after Holtz said on "The Pat McAfee Show" Ohio State wasn't tough enough to run with Notre Dame.
"The last thing [Day] should've did was come after Lou Holtz," Howard said on the air. "Enjoy the moment, talk about the success of your team, don't come after an elderly old man the way that he did Pat. I understand trying to motivate your team.
"Why would you come after Lee Corso? Why would you say anything about Lee Corso? Lee Corso has done so much for this sport. I mean these are two legends. You talk about Lee Corso and Lou Holtz. Hall of Famers. Legends. Built this sport up. And you're gonna come after them because they didn't pat your team on the back when they were doing bad? They gave their honest criticism of your team and what they saw? So I was just turned off by it. I thought that it was thin-skinned. They were hyper-sensitive. And it wasn't their best moments at all."
While Day's comments are well-worn ground at this point — the Buckeyes coach gave an impassioned postgame interview asking where Holtz was after the 17-14 walk-off win — Dickert's comments in particular likely rankled the powers that be at ESPN. His comments toward Corso were part of a bigger criticism that the network was responsible for the dissolution of the Pac-12, and later in the week he said he "meant no disrespect to Coach Corso the person," per Yahoo.
Holtz, for his part, doubled down on his comments about the Buckeyes this week.
“I honestly felt that Notre Dame was the better football team and more physical," Holtz said on the "Pat McAfee Show." "And I'm sorry that Coach Day was offended by it and I hope he goes on, has a wonderful year. I don't think they'll be a great football team, I really don't. I felt Notre Dame won the football game."
Notre Dame, of course, has bigger things to worry about than the wisps of this feud. It plays ranked Duke on Saturday as it looks to avoid another two-loss season.