Old question. Sorry!

[OH HSKR FAN]

Was their backlash initally when John Cooper was hired following Earle Bruces firing?

Currently there are some folks that wish Solich was still the coach here. People move on! The old ball coach was not going to get the job done. Deal with it.

[DaddyBigBucks]

Some people were initially upset that Cooper had no Ohio ties. For the most part though, people were sick of mediocrity.

[HabaneroBuck]

There was not a lot of backlash against Cooper when he was hired (his Arizona State team had just recently beaten Michigan in the Rose Bowl was the selling point to the fans), but after four years of continued mediocrity (and embarrassments like losing to Air Force in the whatever bowl in Memphis), a lot of people were ready to see him leave. Kind of similar to Nebraska's window.

While Bruce was probably fired because of his relationship to the alumni association, it is unlikely that anyone was clamoring for his return a couple of years into Cooper's era. I think the majority of people wanted someone new, with ties to Ohio.