Before there was Woody Hayes, there was Paul Brown. There are few names as synonymous with the sport of football as Paul Brown — he won seven league titles in his first 10 years as a professional head coach, after all. The father of two NFL franchises in the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals, Brown got his start in high school, but also had a memorable…
It was, is, and forever will be one of the most inexplicable losses in Buckeye football history. John Cooper’s best team, absolutely loaded with veteran stars across the board, somehow blew a 24-9 lead midway through the third quarter. It happened at home against a Michigan State team that was thoroughly unimpressive for the rest of the year. But for about an hour…
It’s easy to roll your eyes at the drama surrounding some high-profile college football recruitments. In a team game like football, how much difference can one player really make? In the case of Terrelle Pryor, a 5-star quarterback recruit from Jeannette, Pennsylvania in the 2008 class, the answer is a LOT. In fact, it’s quite possible that Pryor’s decision ultimately…
As far as disastrous, unnecessary bureaucratic snafus go, this one is up there. Ohio State found itself in the NCAA’s crosshairs in 2011 after it was revealed that several high-profile Buckeyes had traded their football memorabilia for services at a Columbus tattoo parlor. There is a whole separate conversation…
The search to replace John Cooper as Ohio State head football coach dragged on longer than you probably remember. Cooper was fired on January 3, 2001, just two days after the Buckeyes no-showed the Outback Bowl against a not-very-good South Carolina team. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s obvious that Jim Tressel was the best…
