As head coach in 1986 and ’87, Bruce mentored a young graduate assistant on his staff named Urban Meyer, who is now Ohio State’s head coach, winner of a national championship in 2014. “I’ve made it clear many times that, other than my father, Coach Bruce was the most influential man in my life,” Meyer said in a statement after the death. “Every significant decision I’ve made growing up in this profession was with him involved in it.” Bruce was born on March 8, 1931, in Pittsburgh and raised in Cumberland, Md. He went to Ohio State in the fall of 1949 to play football but sustained a knee injury that effectively ended his playing days and got him to thinking about becoming a coach. Photo Bruce talked to quarterback Mike Tomczak during a game in Columbus in 1984. Credit Tim Revell/The Columbus Dispatch, via Associated Press He made his…
Continue Reading: Earle Bruce, a Winning Ohio State Football Coach, Dies at 87
