Cleveland PD
FIESTA BOWL Ohio State vs. Notre Dame, 5 p.m today, WEWS Ch. 5
Woody's way holds sway: Rivalry won't be a reality
Monday, January 02, 2006 Doug Lesmerises
Plain Dealer Reporter
Woody Hayes probably wouldn't be too happy about Ohio State facing Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl today. But at least the game's not in Ohio.
Ask why the Fighting Irish have regular rivalries with Big Ten foes Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue, but are playing the Buckeyes for only the fifth time in more than 100 years, and the answer comes back to the coach in control of Ohio State football from 1951 to 1978.
"Woody used to say that people are Catholic first," Ohio State two-time Heisman winner Archie Griffin said, "and you wouldn't want your own fans rooting against you."
Former Notre Dame coach Ara Parseghian started his coaching career under Hayes at Miami (Ohio) and succeeded him when Hayes left for Ohio State. Parseghian faced Hayes when he coached at Northwestern, but the Akron native never had the chance again while winning 95 games at Notre Dame from 1964-1974.
"We tried to get together and came within an eyelash of getting it scheduled," Parseghian said. "I felt it would have been a great matchup for the Midwest. But it didn't happen, and I was led to believe Woody did not want too strong of nonconference opponents, because he wanted to concentrate on his conference games."
Earl Bruce, the Hayes assistant who followed him as the Buckeyes head coach in 1979, said Notre Dame actually was placed on the schedule at one point while Hayes was still in charge.
"Someone told Woody they scheduled Notre Dame, and he told them, You get rid of that game,' " Bruce said.
Bruce agreed that Hayes didn't want to divide the faithful, forcing Buckeye fans to choose one love over another. But Bruce said Hayes' decision went beyond fans and schedule strength. He didn't want to aid an enemy just 280 miles away from campus, easy driving distance from Ohio's talent hotbed.
"Woody didn't want a kid to go to Notre Dame knowing he could come back and play in our stadium," Bruce said. "To have Notre Dame come in recruiting, saying you can play in that stadium, we've got them scheduled . . . what are you talking about? You can't help the opponent come into your state and take your players."
Bruce himself said he would have had no problem playing Notre Dame while he was head coach, but he was never asked about it. Hugh Hindman, a former Parseghian teammate at Miami, finally scheduled the two-game 1995-96 series while he was athletic director at OSU in the late '70s and early '80s. While that series in the '90s took place, Notre Dame AD Mike Wadsworth and OSU AD Andy Geiger talked about another contract for a series that would have taken place around this time.
But that never happened. Now, first-year OSU AD Gene Smith, a former Notre Dame football player and assistant coach, and Notre Dame AD Kevin White are talking again. But there's little action.
Smith called White in the early summer after fielding steady questions from fans about trying to set a series in motion. "It's not going to happen in the near future," Smith said. "But we agreed to keep talking and if an opportunity presents itself, we'll take advantage of it."
Those opportunities are likely to be quite limited. Under a new philosophy, Notre Dame plans to create a 12-game schedule featuring seven home games and an eighth game at a neutral site, against a lesser opponent, in the South or Southwest. With the three existing Big Ten associations, continuing agreements with Southern Cal, Stanford and Navy, a deal that will soon kick in to play three Big East teams each year, and a desire to make the schedule less difficult as a whole, a home-and-home with Ohio State is far from a priority.
Of course, there's always the idea of Notre Dame joining the Big Ten, which Smith would like to see. Bruce thinks Big Ten teams should tell the Irish to get in the conference or forget about playing them. But the Irish are scheduling like they'll continue as an independent for a long time to come. And that schedule doesn't contain Ohio State.
Woody wouldn't have it any other way.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
[email protected], 216-999-4748
