Threats against Ryan Day and his family are the result of Michigan writer’s deceptive reporting.
Threats against Ohio State Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day and his family surfaced last week after Michigan writer Chris Balas of The Wolverine published a report claiming that Day’s family had connections to the private investigators handling the NCAA’s probe into Michigan’s purported sign-stealing scheme. This report turned out not to be accurate.
Balas asserted in a Friday piece in The Wolverine that “several sources at Michigan and in the media” were compiling details on two private investigators connected to Day’s family who they thought were conducting the Michigan investigation.
The Balas report went viral on Friday and throughout the weekend. In fact, according to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports, Day and his family members received threats as a result of the story. The report’s falsity is the issue, though.
Dellenger was able to dispute the allegation on Monday by presenting evidence from the NCAA and the Big Ten indicating that Day and his family had nothing to do with the investigation.
According to senior officials at the Big Ten and NCAA, Tony Petitti, the commissioner of the Big Ten, contacted NCAA officials on Monday to inquire about the claim. Day and his family were not involved in any way, according to an NCAA confirmation, Dellenger reported for Yahoo Sports on Monday.
It’s important to note that Balas has not withdrawn his report in any way following Dellenger’s debunking of it. Actually, it looks like Balas posted multiple times on On3’s premium message boards, indicating that his report was accurate but asserting that the NCAA has no desire to look into the situation more.
