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Ohio State is used to its running backs making history. Archie and his two Heismans. Hopalong. Eddie. Zeke’s 85-yard touchdown through the heart of the South. And so on.
The Buckeyes are not nearly as accustomed to watching their running backs coach enter the record books. Yet here we are. When Tony Alford waved goodbye to Ohio State Wednesday, leaving his job as running backs coach for a similar role at Michigan, he became the first OSU football coach to go directly from the Buckeyes to the Wolverines.
Mic drop.
Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler in 1976.
Jaw drop, too.
Our beat writer Joey Kaufman found in the UM archives that only seven football coaches have worked for both schools. The most recent? Greg Mattison and Al Washington, who left Ann Arbor for Columbus after the 2018 season. But until Alford bolted, no Buckeyes football coach in more than a century had switched out scarlet and gray for Michigan colors – sacre maize and blue – and never in the same calendar year. (Note: Ohio State football assistant Steve Farrell went straight from OSU in 1912 to Michigan in 1913, but as a track coach; he did not help with UM football until 1915.)
You can imagine how Alford’s exit has gone over in Buckeye Nation. Ohio State fans defend Benedict Arnold as a loyal patriot compared to what they see as traitorous conduct by Alford. Michigan fans, meanwhile, see the move as added proof the Big House is the place to be.
Sep 2, 2023; Bloomington, Indiana, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes running backs coach Tony Alford watches warm ups prior to the NCAA football game at Indiana University Memorial Stadium. Ohio State won 23-3.
Alford’s departure was a stunner, but it remains a mere footnote compared to the voluminous treachery of Glenn Edward “Bo” Schembechler Jr., whose breach of allegiance led to a “10-Year War.”
Bo Schembechler…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/oller-bo-schembechler-not-first-154511640.html
Author : The Columbus Dispatch
Publish date : 2024-03-16 15:45:11
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