He was a head football coach in high school at Salem, Sandusky and Massillon, was an assistant at Ohio State under Woody Hayes, head coach at Tampa, Iowa State and finally Ohio State.  But Earle Bruce has always thought of Mansfield as a special place where he began his coaching career as an assistant varsity football coach at Mansfield Senior in the early 1950's under then coach Bill Peterson.  It's also where he met his late wife of 56 years Jean.

Bruce coached at Ohio State from 1979 to 1987 taking two teams to the Rose Bowl and going 5-4 against Michigan.  His 1979 team finished at 11-1, falling a point short of the national championship 17-16 to USC in the January 1, 1980 Rose Bowl.  Bruce was in Mansfield on Thursday at Oak Grove Manner telling stories of his coaching days at OSU, and made it clear to everyone that he thought the undefeated 2012 Buckeyes were one of the best teams in school history.

Bruce added, now that the bowl ban has been lifted, it's time to go after bigger and much better things in 2013.  The football Buckeyes will open with the University of Buffalo Bulls in Columbus on Saturday, August 31st.