By David Coble

June 1, 2012

From 1969 to 1978 The Ohio State-Michigan rivalry was known as “The Ten Year War.  Bo Schembechler was the coach at Michigan and the legendary Woody Hayes coached at Ohio State.  The rivalry between the two Big Ten schools is always heated between the fans, but when the coaches get involve the rivalry goes to another level.

Schembechler was an assistant of Hayes at Ohio State and Woody coached Bo at Miami University where he played tackle.  Hayes would never say the “University of Michigan”, he would always say “The school up north” whenever he would refer to the Wolverines.  Bo would always throw little jabs at Woody and the Buckeyes and the Michigan fans ate it up.  Now, flash forward to the twenty-first century where the rivalry between the coaches is heating up again.

Brady Hoke took over at Michigan after the 2010 season.  The Wolverines struggled under head coach Rich Rodriguez and Hoke was brought in to restore the pride in the Michigan program.  Hoke was an assistant at Michigan from 1995 to 2002 and he is what the Wolverines fans refer to a “Michigan Man.”

Hoke led Michigan to an 11-2 season in 2011, a victory over Virginia Tech in the Sugar Bowl and, most importantly, he led the Wolverines to a victory over the hated Ohio State Buckeyes.  The last time Michigan beat Ohio State was 2003.  Hoke restored Michigan to prominence by using the traditions of the Wolverines.  A solid offense and aggressive defense were the keys to the resurgence.

The 2011 season was a disappointment for the Ohio State Buckeyes.  Before the season even started head coach Jim Tressel was let go after not reporting NCAA violations.  Several key players were suspended for various lengths of the season.  Interim head coach Luke Fickell was playing catch up the whole season.  However, Ohio State showed flashes of brilliance but the inconsistent play that marked the 2011 season caught up to the Buckeyes and they finished with a 6-7 season.

After last season the Buckeyes hired former University of Florida coach Urban Meyer.  Meyer was an assistant at Ohio State during the 1986 and 87 seasons under Earle Bruce.  Meyer has brought an aggressive approach to the Buckeyes.

Before Meyer was hired at OSU, many recruiting experts stated Ohio State was heading to their worst recruiting class in many years.  Meyer turned the tide in the recruiting wars.  He added some of the best talent in the country to elevate the Buckeyes recruiting class to a top five finish according to many experts.
 
Meyer was too aggressive for some, especially other coaches in the Big Ten.  For years there was a gentleman’s agreement that once a player committed to a Big Ten school, another Big Ten coach would honor the commitment to the other school.  Meyer did not.  He plucked several players off other Big Ten recruiting classes to add to his own.  This left a bad taste in mouth of his fellow coaches and several voiced their displeasure.

Much like Bo Schembechler and Woody Hayes, Brady Hoke and Urban Meyer have similar backgrounds.  Both were born in Ohio.  Both were assistant coaches at their present schools before becoming the head coach.  They also were successful head coaches in the Mid-American Conference.  Hoke coached at Ball State and Meyer at Bowling Green.  So they are well versed at the history and importance of the rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan.

What really sets this budding rivalry apart from Hayes and Schembechler is despite all of the barbs they threw at each other, there was a deep respect between them.  Schembechler used a lot of the formulas Hayes preached to him as a player and an assistant.  Hoke and Meyer do not have that bond.  Hoke has referred to Ohio State as “Ohio” and Meyer has posted a picture comparing the majors of the players of both schools.  The intention was to paint the Michigan players as inferior academically.

This rivalry between the coaches is going to get white hot.  Both are great recruiters, and the state of Ohio with its fertile talent base is going to become a fierce battleground between the coaches.  Both have accumulated some top notch talent and rivalry, once in the favor of the Buckeyes, is going to be more balanced in the coming seasons.  This is definitely the rivalry to watch between the coaches over the next several seasons and it has the potential to exceed the hostilities between Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler.