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Earle Bruce (OSU HOF, CFB HOF, R.I.P.)

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cgallon said:
How did he only manage to go 9-3 all those years and not win a national title?? I was reading up on the history of OSU football, getting ready for the TSUN game this weekend when i ran across some information. He had the following assitant coaches during his tenure as head football coach ...

Jim Tressel
Pete Carroll
Nick Saban
Urban Meyer
Dom Capers

Those are 4 of the top coaches in college football during the 90s and 2000s along with one of the greatest NFL Defensive Coordinators for the 3-4 defense ever.
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dantonio (in his first stint at ous, later under tressel), mason,
 
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cgallon;1819402; said:
How did he only manage to go 9-3 all those years and not win a national title?? I was reading up on the history of OSU football, getting ready for the TSUN game this weekend when i ran across some information. He had the following assitant coaches during his tenure as head football coach ...

Jim Tressel
Pete Carroll
Nick Saban
Urban Meyer
Dom Capers

Those are 4 of the top coaches in college football during the 90s and 2000s along with one of the greatest NFL Defensive Coordinators for the 3-4 defense ever.
Click to expand...

1984....:2004:

Over half that team went on to be NFL starters with multiple Pro Bowlers and one sure and couple of borderline hall of famers. Keith Byers had one of the great seasons for a running back of all time winning the triple crown (leading the nation in rushing, all-purpose yards and scoring) and was ripped off of the Heisman because voters saw the chance to finally give it to a quarterback/white guy in Flutie.
 
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ORD_Buckeye said:
1984....:2004:

Over half that team went on to be NFL starters with multiple Pro Bowlers and one sure and couple of borderline hall of famers. Keith Byers had one of the great seasons for a running back of all time winning the triple crown (leading the nation in rushing, all-purpose yards and scoring) and was ripped off of the Heisman because voters saw the chance to finally give it to a quarterback/white guy in Flutie.
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http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/ohio-state/1984-schedule.html

between 79 and 87 ohio state had a top 7 ranking at one point all but one year (when they peaked at 12)
http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/schools/ohio-state/
 
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Michigan Week Questions and Answers with Earle Bruce
By Brandon Castel

Brandon Castel: What do you remember most about coaching against Michigan?

Earle Bruce Earle Bruce: I think it?s really an exciting time that week, its really exciting. There?s a lot of pressure, there?s a lot of good things that happen and a lot of lead up to the game that is unbelievable. The way the kids want to approach the game, they always want to work hard and do a good job and get ready for a tough game. I guess mainly the fact that the game is really important. It isn?t just another football game, it is the game. Its one that does really matter to a lot of people on both sides, they are very much interested in the winning and losing of that game and how its done. I think you get some kids that play way above themselves.

Castel: What was your most memorable moment?

Bruce: The apprehension and excitement when you?re fired and preparing for that game. It?s unbelievable. The response of the kids during the course of that game and how they gave great effort to achieve. Sometimes it?s great achievement and sometimes it?s not enough to win the game, but most certainly there?s an output of emotion and enthusiasm and hard work and dedication to the cause.

Castel: How has rivalry kept its intensity over the years?

Bruce: I think the tradition of the game is such. Even when you leave, you?re interested in how the Michigan game comes out. If you?re a former player or coach, there?s a lot of talk about ?this is the way we did it or that?s the way it should be done or boy, we had success doing this or this was tougher than most. We had an outstanding team and we did this or they had an outstanding team and they did this to us.? Things are pretty common in that game.

So many times in my approach to it, the people that were on the other side were Ohio people on the coaching staff. Bo and Moeller and guys like that and most of their staff were from Ohio, so that had a lot of the same things working for them that were working for the other side.

Cont...
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http://www.the-ozone.net/football/2010/Michigan/EarleQ_A.html

OSU?s Bruce Earle Still In Columbus, As Fiery As Ever

He?s known more for the controversial end to his coaching tenure at Ohio State, but Earle Bruce has done so much more as a coach at both the college and high school levels that to defined by one moment in time would be unfair. So whatever happened to the players? coach who ended his Ohio State run on the shoulders of his players following a win over Michigan in 1987? We examine.

An Ohio State football player whose career was ended by injury, Bruce joined Woody Hayes? staff at OSU until he graduated in 1953. Bruce?s head coaching career actually began in Ohio high school football when he took the job as the head coach at Salem High School in Salem, OH, in 1956.

After a decade at the prep ranks, Hayes brought Bruce back as an assistant in 1966. Using that entrance into college football, Bruce made the jump into head coaching with the University of Tampa in 1972. He quickly left to become the head football coach at Iowa State in ?73 and stayed there until 1979 when Ohio State offered him the head coaching job after firing Hayes for punching a Clemson player during the Gator Bowl.

Bruce?s Ohio State tenure seemed like it was going well. After going 11-1 his first season and security a trip to Pasadena, the Buckeyes got stuck in mediocrity, going exactly 9-3 for six straight years. After a 10-3 record in 1986, Ohio State struggled mightily in ?87 and heading into the Iowa game, they were just 5-3-1. That?s when ?The Play? happened ? a 28-yard touchdown on 4th and 23 with six seconds remaining ? and cost Bruce his job.

Ohio State president Edward Jennings ordered Bruce to be fired and athletic director Rick Bay made the announcement on the Monday of Michigan week and resigned in protest. Joe Paterno and Bo Schembechler publicly criticized the decision. The Ohio State community rallied behind Bruce.

Said Bruce last year: ?That week was really hard. I?ve got a tape of the band playing in my front yard. They played well, too. Some fans came to the stadium and had a rally in my support. In a lot of ways, it was an incredible week.?

Cont...
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http://www.lostlettermen.com/lost-c...uce-earle-still-in-columbus-as-fiery-as-ever/
 
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Ari Wasserman
Staff Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio - In the most difficult time for Jim Tressel during his 10-year tenure at Ohio State, former head coach Earle Bruce couldn't be more confident in the man leading the program he loves.

722864.jpg

Associated Press
Earle Bruce stood by Tressel despite the NCAA violations.
Despite an ongoing NCAA investigation looking into a recent situation where Tressel withheld information about players committing violations, Bruce hasn't questioned Tressel's integrity and what he means to the Ohio State program.

"We have the right guy in charge of our program that will move forward," said Bruce, who moments earlier spoke at a high school coach's clinic in Value City Arena Friday morning.

Cont..
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http://www.ohiostate.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1214864
 
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"Jim probably feels like his whole life has been taken away from him, really, because when you are the football coach at Ohio State, that is your life. It has to be," Bruce said. "But you know, check the record, and it is fired or resigned under pressure for Ohio State coaches.

"The job is something else. I don't know who would want this job. I remember hearing that after Woody was fired."

Bruce took it anyway in 1979, replacing Woody Hayes, because of allegiance to his alma mater.

"But other guys talk about it being a nemesis and wouldn't even consider it," Bruce said.

He outran the nemesis for almost nine seasons. But after being fired, he still had one game to play, which turned out to be one of Ohio State's greatest wins over Michigan.

"I don't think they (Jennings and the administrators) thought we could win that game after I was fired," Bruce said. "But I wanted to coach against Michigan, because I thought our only chance would be if I was the coach, because I could put that aside and concentrate on Michigan while a lot of people on my staff had a lot of difficulty putting it aside."
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Bruce, now 80, was 56 when he was fired. He went on to coach at Northern Iowa and Colorado State before ending his career coaching arena football for two years, including the Columbus franchise in 2004.

"I needed to keep coaching," Bruce said.

Tressel, 58, who was making $3.7 million per year, likely doesn't need to keep coaching from a financial standpoint. But if he wants to work in college athletics, he is obligated to appear Aug.12 in front of the NCAA Committee on Infractions. It likely will issue some level of "show cause" penalty, which would make him effectively unemployable by another college for a specified period. After that time had passed, he could pursue other jobs.

But what job comes after Ohio State?

"Reality sets in. You're probably not going to get one of those premier jobs like you had," Cooper said. As for the sting of being relieved of duty, "I don't think you ever get over that."

Bruce said, "If he's gone through Michigan games and won them and dealt with the day-to-day pressures of that job, he for sure can handle the pressures of what's happened to him now. But I would have to tell you this: It's a real kick in the (butt), slap in the face and everything else, and it really hurts."

Bruce was having trouble coming to grips with the departure of Tressel, his one-time protg. At Ohio State, Tressel won seven Big Ten titles, including a record-tying six straight, and a national championship.

"I can't fathom firing Jim," Bruce said. "If you list all the good things he did on the left side, then list all the bad things he did on the right side, I'd think, 'My god, are you kidding?' The good far outweighs the bad.

"I'd tell the NCAA they are off base, that we're going to support him, that we're going to clean up this program where it needs to be cleaned, that we're going to make sure he doesn't make that mistake again. But get rid of him? No, because he has done so many things right."
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http://www.dispatch.com/live/conten...ow-what-tressel-is-going-through.html?sid=101
 
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Buckskin86;1934270; said:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/conten...ow-what-tressel-is-going-through.html?sid=101
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I had a very nice, although brief, conversation this past fall with coach Bruce. My oldest boy (he's nine) was with me. I mentioned how growing up we didn't have the kind of TV exposure that we do now and how i lived for the Earl Bruce show that played Sunday mornings during the season in Toledo. The conversation then turned to my son and how he so much loves JT. I explained to him that EB was 'my JT.' I think at that point both of them understood how big of a EB fan i am.

Suffice it to say, i have a couple of pictures of my son and coach Bruce. I immediately emailed them to my dad. I mentioned to my son that some day i would love to get an email from him with a picture of his son with JT.

I can't say that's changed one bit.

:oh:
 
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