Reading between the lines, it looks pretty simple.
He visited (a few times), we came with a strong offer.
Word gets to OSU, their head coach comes out with a statement that they need a lot more money to compete on the NIL front.
A few weeks later things come together for them.
I don't think he set out from the beginning to use us to get a great offer. I think we put something in front of him that really made us hard to turn down. Ohio State made themselves harder to turn down. It's a testament to our coaches and Spyre that we were even in it. We'll just have to continue to make these decisions hard for these guys, and give our side more resources to make ourselves harder to turn down.
https://www.spyresports.com/volunteer-club-levels