Earle Bruce isn't exactly a kind old man

...for digging that up. I'd forgotten all about that.

What I find interesting about it is that all of those allegations, save the racism and lack of focus on academics, could easily be attributed to Woody Hayes. A few of them could likely be attributed to Bo and Lou Holtz and probably most of other the corches who learned their trade under him. It's just sort of stunning to see things that were run of the mill in 1972 become grounds for dismissal 20 years later.

That's one way of looking at it, but there are others. Let's ignore Woody, I think we all agree he needed to go but wouldn't have ever left by himself. I think OSU's record shows that they discovered the cold, hard truth in college football: Sometimes, drastic action is needed to turn a corner. Observe: The late Earle Bruce era has many parallels to the end of the Carr period. His teams were good, if not spectacular, but there was this underlying sense of decay. Recruiting had fallen off, OSU was benefiting from a weak Big Ten but they were still being eclipsed by newer powers like Iowa. By 1987, it was impossible to deny what had been boiling under the as the team fell from 10-3 to 6-4-1. Bruce was fired because it was realized for the first time that the team had gone into decline under his watch... his 6 consecutive 9-3 seasons were the result of not playing up to potential. John Cooper was brought in in a similar manner to Rich Rodriguez. There was a need for change, not just in the philosophy on the field but in the culture of the program. Cooper was a successful BCS conference coach who had won at every level. His first season, like RichRod's, was hampered by youth and a bare cupboard from the previous regime and he ended with just 4 wins. It took Cooper a number of years to reach the level his predecessor had performed at... but all the while, he was changing the program in ways most fans didn't pay attention to back then. His recruiting classes were insane, he managed to expand OSU's recruiting base farther than anyone ever had. He took the program from mediocrity and, by 1993, he had turned them into a consistent top 10 national program and a factory for All Americans. However, by the time he led a young team to a mediocre 6-6 year in '99 (and rebuilt them into a quality team again the next year) it became clear that his teams, as great as they were, had flaws (especially at QB) and this led to an inability to win big games. He had to go to bring the program up to the next level.