Earle Bruce
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Earle Bruce | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Sport | American football | |
| Born | March 8, 1931 | |
| Place of birth |  Pittsburgh, PA |
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| Career highlights | ||
| Coaching stats | ||
| College Football DataWarehouse | ||
| Playing career | ||
| 1951 | Ohio State University | |
| Position | Running Back | |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | ||
| 1972 1973-78 1979-87 1988 1989-92 |
University of Tampa Iowa State University Ohio State University University of Northern Iowa Colorado State University |
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| College Football Hall of Fame, 2002 | ||
Earle Bruce (born March 8, 1931) is a former college football and arena football coach from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Bruce was the successor to legendary Ohio State head coach Woody Hayes, and was an excellent college football coach in his own right. In 2002, Earle Bruce was inducted in the College Football Hall of Fame.
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[edit] As a player and player/coach
Bruce played running back at Ohio State University until 1951, when he suffered a torn meniscus, ending his football career. Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes asked Bruce to join the coaching staff, which he did until his graduation in 1953. He was a member of the Chi Phi Fraternity while attending Ohio State.
[edit] Coaching career
Bruce would accumulate a collegiate coaching record of 144-88-2 with a total of five universities.[1] Preceding that, however, Earle Bruce was also one of the most successful high school football coaches in Ohio history, accumulating a record of 82-12-3 in 10 seasons of head coaching positions with three Ohio high schools.[2] He led four different college teams to bowl games, where he had a 12-5 record.
[edit] High school coaching
Upon graduating from Ohio State, Bruce accepted a position as an assistant coach at Mansfield High School in Mansfield, Ohio.[3] In 1956, Bruce accepted his first head coaching position, at Salem High School in Salem, Ohio. Over the next four seasons, he led the Quakers[4] to a record of 28-9.[3] From 1960 until 1963, Bruce coached the Blue Streaks at Sandusky High School, Sandusky, Ohio. He compiled a record at Sandusky of 34-3-3.[3][2]
Massillon High School then hired Bruce as head coach, where his teams went undefeated in 1964 and 1965.[3] Though the Massillon Tigers have gained national fame for their football teams over the years,[5] Bruce remains the only undefeated head football coach in Massillon High School history.[2]
[edit] College coaching
Hayes then hired Bruce back to Ohio State as a position coach for the offensive line and later defensive backs. After five seasons the University of Tampa brought Bruce on as head coach in 1972. During his first season, Tampa went 10-2, including a win in the Tangerine Bowl. Bruce moved into the head coaching position at Iowa State University following his success at Tampa. Iowa State experienced some success in six seasons with Bruce as head coach. In 2000, Iowa State inducted Bruce into their school hall of fame, named the Louis Menze Hall of Fame.
[edit] Ohio State
After Woody Hayes was fired from Ohio State, Bruce was offered that head coaching position. Bruce coached Ohio State from 1979-1987. In the first year, Ohio State went undefeated in the regular season and played in the Rose Bowl, losing the game and the national championship by a single point. In 1987, he was fired just prior to the last game of the season—against Michigan—but was allowed to finish out the year. Bruce was able to defeat Michigan at Ann Arbor. This is something Ohio State would not do again until 2001 under head coach Jim Tressel. After the game, Bo Schembechler told Bruce, "I always mind losing to Ohio State but I didn't mind so much today."
[edit] After Ohio State
Bruce took over the head coaching position at the University of Northern Iowa for one year, and then finished his intercollegiate coaching career at Colorado State University before moving to the Arena Football League, where he coached the Cleveland Thunderbolts in 1994 and the St. Louis Stampede in 1995 and 1996 before retiring.
[edit] Head Coaching Record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iowa State (Big 8) (1973 – 1978) | |||||||||
| 1973 | Iowa State | 4-7-0 | 2-5 | T-6th | |||||
| 1974 | Iowa State | 4-7-0 | 2-5 | 6th | |||||
| 1975 | Iowa State | 4-7-0 | 1-6 | 7th | |||||
| 1976 | Iowa State | 8-3-0 | 4-3 | T-4th | 18 | 19 | |||
| 1977 | Iowa State | 8-4-0 | 5-2 | T-2nd | L 14-24 Peach | ||||
| 1978 | Iowa State | 8-4-0 | 4-3 | T-3rd | L 12-28 Hall of Fame Classic | ||||
| Iowa State: | 36-32-0 | ||||||||
| Ohio State (Big Ten Conference) (1979 – 1987) | |||||||||
| 1979 | Ohio State | 11-1-0 | 8-0 | 1st | L Rose † | 4 | 4 | ||
| 1980 | Ohio State | 9-3-0 | 7-1 | T-2nd | L Fiesta † | 15 | 15 | ||
| 1981 | Ohio State | 9-3-0 | 6-2 | T-1st | W Liberty | 12 | 15 | ||
| 1982 | Ohio State | 9-3-0 | 7-1 | 2nd | W Holiday | 12 | 12 | ||
| 1983 | Ohio State | 9-3-0 | 6-3 | 4th | W Fiesta † | 8 | 9 | ||
| 1984 | Ohio State | 9-3-0 | 7-2 | 1st | L Rose † | 12 | 13 | ||
| 1985 | Ohio State | 9-3-0 | 5-3 | T-4th | W Citrus | 11 | 14 | ||
| 1986 | Ohio State | 10-3-0 | 7-1 | T-1st | W Cotton | 6 | 7 | ||
| 1987 | Ohio State | 6-4-1 | 4-4 | 5th | |||||
| Ohio State: | 81-26-1 | ||||||||
| Northern Iowa (Gateway Conference) (1988 – 1988) | |||||||||
| 1988 | Northern Iowa | 5-6-0 | 3-3 | 4th | |||||
| Northern Iowa: | 5-6-0 | ||||||||
| Colorado State (Western Athletic Conference) (1989 – 1992) | |||||||||
| 1989 | Colorado State | 5-5-1 | 4-3 | T-5th | |||||
| 1990 | Colorado State | 9-4-0 | 6-1 | 2nd | W Freedom | ||||
| 1991 | Colorado State | 3-8-0 | 2-6 | T-8th | |||||
| 1992 | Colorado State | 5-7-0 | 3-5 | T-7th | |||||
| Colorado State: | 22-24-1 | ||||||||
| Total: | 144-88-2 | ||||||||
| National Championship Conference Title Conference Division Title | |||||||||
| †Indicates BCS bowl game. #Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season. | |||||||||
[edit] Post-Retirement
In 2004, Bruce came out of retirement to return to become the head coach for the Arena Football League's Destroyers, who were moving from Buffalo to Columbus that year. He retired to a front office position after coaching the Destroyers to a 6-10 record in 2004, and was replaced as head coach by Chris Spielman, who played for Bruce at Ohio State. Bruce finished with a 19-25 record over four seasons in the AFL.
Today, Bruce works as an Ohio State football analyst for WTVN 610AM in Columbus as well as being an analyst for ONN on their OSU programming.
In his private life, Earle Bruce is married with four daughters.
[edit] References
- ^ All-Time Coaching Records by Year, cfbdatawarehouse.com. Retrieved November 17, 2007.
- ^ a b c Massillon Tigers CyberRevue. Retrieved on 2007-11-17.
- ^ a b c d Park, Jack (2003). The Official Ohio State Football Encyclopedia: National Championship Edition. Sports Publishing LLC. ISBN 1582616957.
- ^ SalemHistoryMakers.com, accessed November 17, 2007.
- ^ Greatest HS Football Rivalries, a documentary series produced by NFL Films. Summary at Versus' website. Accessed November 17, 2007
[edit] External links
- College Football Hall of Fame biography of Earle Bruce
- Ohio State University announcement of Hall of Fame induction
- Iowa State Louis Menze Hall of Fame
| Preceded by Johnny Majors |
Iowa State University Head Football Coaches 1973-1978 |
Succeeded by Donnie Duncan |
| Preceded by Woody Hayes |
Ohio State University Head Football Coaches 1979-1987 |
Succeeded by John Cooper |
| Preceded by Joe Paterno |
Paul "Bear" Bryant Award 1979 |
Succeeded by Vince Dooley |
| Preceded by Leon Fuller |
Colorado State University Head Football Coaches 1989-1992 |
Succeeded by Sonny Lubick |
| Preceded by Ron Selesky |
Columbus Destroyers Head Football Coaches 2004 |
Succeeded by Chris Spielman |
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