With Ohio State in the Nat'l Championsip game and Bobby Knight recently in the news for slaping/hitting one of his players I located video of Woody Hayes' last act of defiance. Happened in the 1978 Gator Bowl against Clemson. I remember seeing that as a kid and not understanding how that could have happened and quite frankly I still don't. I know that coaches can be competitive but to actually step onto the field and attack the other team's players, that is just weird. [MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEVJyf0ft3I[/MEDIA] I can see Bobby going that far.
Woody was a volatile coach who let's face it, just lost it on the sidelines and committed an unpardonable, stupid act. It's a shame that's what he's remembered for and he had to go out in that fashion. He deserved better, but had no one to blame but himself.
I was around 7 or 8 when that happened, but I remember being at my grandparents' house in New Roads when it went down.
While i wasn't born at the time, i've readabout it, and apparently Woody denied it when it was clear that he did do it. I'm not sure if he ever apologized for it. That is not a good way to go out for Ohio State's greatest coach, although he did end up dotting the I a while ago if i remember correctly. He's still very much respected and should be remembered for being a great coach.
I talked to Danny Ford about that incident. He simply said Woody was just too full of Ohio State and it got the best of him.
