Earle Bruce
Earle Bruce was born in Cumberland, Maryland, United States on March 8th, 1931 and is the American Football Player And Coach. At the age of 87, Earle Bruce biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 87 years old, Earle Bruce physical status not available right now. We will update Earle Bruce's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.
Bruce accumulated a collegiate coaching record of 154–90–2 with five different universities. Preceding that, Bruce was 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. He led four different college teams to bowl games, where he had a 7–5 record.
Upon graduating from Ohio State, Bruce accepted a position as an assistant coach at Mansfield High School in Mansfield, Ohio. 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 to a record of 28–9. 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.
Massillon High School then hired Bruce as head coach, where his teams went undefeated in 1964 and 1965. Though the Massillon Tigers have gained national fame for their football teams over the years, Bruce remains the only undefeated head football coach in Massillon High School history.
On the strength of his success at Massillon, Bruce returned to Ohio State in 1966 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 what would be his only 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, including the third and fourth bowl appearances in school history. He is the only coach in modern times to leave Iowa State with a winning record. In 2000, Iowa State inducted Bruce into their school hall of fame, named the Louis Menze Hall of Fame.
After Woody Hayes was fired from Ohio State, Bruce was offered that head coaching position. Bruce was Ohio State's head coach from 1979–1987. In Bruce's first year, Ohio State went undefeated in the regular season and played in the Rose Bowl, losing the game—and at least a share of the national championship—by a single point.
The Buckeyes would win at least nine games in each of Bruce's first eight years, including a 10-win season in 1986. They also won or shared three more Big Ten titles (outright in 1984, shared in 1981 and 1986). However, they would only appear in one more Rose Bowl (after the 1984 season–Ohio State's last Rose Bowl appearance until after the 1996 season) and would only tally one more top ten finish (in 1986). This rankled a fan base used to contending for a national title every year.
In 1987, Ohio State was sent reeling when star receiver Cris Carter was kicked off the team for signing with an agent. Without Carter, the school's all-time leader in receptions, the Buckeyes appeared to be a rudderless team. They lost to Indiana for the first time in 38 years, with Bruce calling the loss “the darkest day in Ohio State football”, and never recovered.
Bruce was fired just prior to the last game of the season—against Michigan—but was allowed to finish out the year. Reportedly, school president Edward H. Jennings made the move out of pique over a last-second loss to Iowa that dropped the Buckeyes to 5-4-1, meaning they needed to beat Michigan in order to be bowl-eligible. Bruce was able to defeat Michigan at Ann Arbor. After the game, Bo Schembechler told Bruce, "I always mind losing to Ohio State but I didn't mind so much today."
Bruce was the leading candidate to replace Bob Valesente as head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks after the 1987 season, but due to a contract dispute, KU did not hire him. KU instead hired Glen Mason out of Kent 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. In his second season, he led the Rams to a winning record and a victory over Oregon in the Freedom Bowl, their first bowl appearance since 1948 and their first bowl victory ever. However, this did not last, and the Rams would only win a total of eight games in the next two years. Bruce was fired after the 1992 season for, among other things, verbally and physically abusing his players and discouraging players from taking classes that conflicted with football practice.
In his final season at Fort Collins, he coached the Rams to a 17-14 victory over LSU in Baton Rouge. Five years earlier, his final Ohio State team played LSU to a 13-13 tie in Tiger Stadium in a nationally televised game.
After Colorado State, he moved on to the Arena Football League, where he coached the Cleveland Thunderbolts in 1994 and the St. Louis Stampede in 1995 and 1996 before retiring.