Woody Hayes resigned from his position as Ohio State's head coach two days before the end of the 1978 calendar. The program began a search for its 20th head coach.
On Jan. 12, 1979 – two week's after Hayes' resignation – Ohio State hired Earle Bruce to replace him.
Bruce the Buckeye
As a teenager, Wes Fesler recruited Bruce to play for the Scarlet and Gray. A Pennsylvania native, Bruce had his playing days cut short due to two knee injuries. Hayes, in his first year as coach, put Bruce on his staff as a graduate assistant in 1951.