Former Ohio State football coach Earle Bruce has died at the age of 87. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in 2017.
Bruce was a long-time assistant under Woody Hayes from 1966-71, then left Ohio State for head coach jobs elsewhere. Bruce became head coach at OSU when Woody Hayes was fired following the 1978 Gator Bowl.
Bruce took the Buckeyes to an unbeaten regular season in his debut in 1979, before losing to USC in the Rose Bowl.
Bruce was one of the more winning active coaches in the Big Ten during his tenure at OSU and had a 4-3 record vs Michigan. However, he became labeled as "9 & 3 Earl" after many of his teams experienced (9-3) seasons- keeping his OSU teams out of the Big Ten title race and national spotlight.
Bruce was fired at the end of the 1987 season.
He also coached at Tampa, Iowa State, Northern Iowa and Colorado State. Bruce had an overall record of 154-90-2.