Buckeye!

So Joe handed me a book back around Christmas called Buckeye. It's an overview of Woody Hayes and the Ohio State Buckeye football program, published in 1974, it covers alot of ground, from Woody's personal bio to some of the more controversial moments in Woody's behavior.  

Most of you know, I'm a loyal OSU fan.  Having been raised on at least a passing rooting interest in OSU football as a kid, in late high school, I was able to begin to properly understand and respect the greatest college football program in the country.  Woody was long gone by then (he passed in 1987), but his impact on the Buckeye football program is massive, and he among all others helped build OSU into an perennial challenger.  

Let me be clear.  Woody Hayes is fantastic! He's so much better than Bobby Bowden could ever be.  Significantly more authentic than pretty much any of the coaches out there today.  A man of integrity and a true icon in the sport.  I'd also bag on some coach from Virginia or CU if they'd ever been any good at anything besides powderpuff football, but as we all know, that's not necessary.

I love how the writer bags on Lee Corso too.  Made me crack up when I read his brief two sentence overview of Corso's coaching style. 

I also was very happy to read some of the other background politics and organization structure, as it really helped me connect some dots with the way the OSU machine runs its outreach.  We all know the Senator got himself in trouble because of some stupid stuff that Pryor got away with, and his attempt to ignore the rules without realizing the NCAA was gunning for a scapegoat.  But understanding how the recruiting system works for OSU helps explain how Clarett, Pryor, and others really got recruited, and some of the rumors swirling around some of their mis-deeds.  

One of the fun things too was reading about Woody's temper.  He was famous for his temper.  He did some just fantastic things in his rages.  One of the ones I love is this. 

Clemson deserved that!

One last blurb.  Go listen to Urban Meyer explain how tough Woody Hayes was, back when Urban was a fresh faced coach.  Start at about the 3 minute mark.

Go Buckeyes!