From Woody's Couch

This Sunday, you can watch a number of former OSU players or assistant coaches pacing the sidelines as head coaches, leading their teams to either victory or defeat in an NFL game: Pete Carroll (Seattle Seahawks), Dick Lebeau (Pittsburgh Steelers), and Lovie Smith (Chicago Bears) all did stints at OSU. But OSU coaches have been making the transition to the NFL as far back as the 1950s:

Legendary coach Sid Gillman played for and was an assistant coach at OSU in the 1930s. Gillman went on to become head coach at Miami University, then the University of Cincinnati. In 1955 he made the transition to the NFL and became head coach of the Los Angeles Rams. In 1960, Gillman became the first coach of the AFL Los Angeles Chargers, remaining in that position through the team’s move to San Diego and the merger of the NFL. His career continued as head coach of the Houston Oilers. Gillman’s love of the game can be traced to his influence on modern football. He was one of the first coaches, if not the first coach, to study game footage to prepare for games; he insisted on using the deep downfield pass during games; and he pushed for a championship game between the AFL and NFL teams in the early 1960s. Gillman is the only person to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and College Football Hall of Fame as a coach.

Sid Gillman, 1933

Joe Bugel was an assistant coach at Ohio State in 1974 before his career in the NFL began. During most of his career Bugel was an assistant coach, helping many teams reach the playoffs and the Super Bowl. In 1982 he began calling his Washington Redskins offensive line the “Hogs,” a nickname that has carried on as a Redskins tradition. Bugel continued coaching in the NFL as head coach of the Phoenix Cardinals, and as an assistant at the Oakland Raiders, San Diego Chargers. He then returned to the Redskins as offensive line coach until his retirement in 2010.

Joe Bugel, 1974

Gary Moeller also has had a long coaching career in college and pro football. Moeller played for the Buckeyes as a linebacker and center from 1961 to 1963. He began his coaching career in 1967 as an assistant at Miami University and continued on to the University of Michigan. Moeller was head coach of the University of Illinois and the University of Michigan before switching to the NFL. In the NFL, Moeller served as an assistant coach for Cincinnati, Detroit, Jacksonville and Chicago. In 2000, he became interim head coach of the Lions for a year, and later served as linebackers coach for the Chicago Bears.

Gary Moeller, 1960

Wes Fesler, 1947

College football has had many legendary head coaches – Bobby Bowden, Paul “Bear” Bryant, and Woody Hayes, just to name a few. Other coaching legends got their start here at OSU as assistants: Lou Holtz, Bo Schembechler, and Glen Mason, for example. The list also includes Earle Bruce, Jim Tressel, Luke Fickell, and Urban Meyer, who all returned to OSU as head coaches.

This week we’re highlighting some of the lesser-known college coaching stories that began here at Ohio State:

Wes Fesler was a three-sport letter winner while a student at Ohio State, and continued on to become a coach in two of those sports. After serving as an assistant when Sam Willaman was head coach at OSU in the early 1930s, Fesler became head football coach at Wesleyan University, then University of Pittsburgh, then Ohio State, where he served as head coach from 1947 to 1950. Next up was the University of Minnesota, where he served as head coach for three years. Fesler also coached basketball at Harvard and Princeton.

Bill Mallory served as an assistant coach under Woody Hayes from 1966-1968. Mallory went on to coach at Miami (OH), Colorado, and Northern Illinois. In 1984 Mallory began his term at Indiana University and went on to become its most successful coach with 69 wins. Mallory left Indiana in 1996.

Bill Mallory with football group, 1968

Glen Mason also served under Hayes as an assistant. Mason went on to coach at Kent State, Kansas, and Minnesota. After coaching, Mason worked as an analyst and broadcaster on the Big Ten Network.

Glen Mason, 1978

Ron Zook had a long coaching career in both the NCAA and the NFL. Zook was an assistant for seven college teams before becoming an assistant for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1996. After moving around in the NFL, Zook was named head coach at the University of Florida in 2002. In 2005 Zook took over as head coach of the University of Illinois, where he led the Illini to their first ever back-to-back bowl game wins.

Ron Zook, 1989

Currently you can watch the following former assistant coaches – Nick  Saban (Alabama), Mark Dantonio (Michigan State), and Mark “Bo” Pelini (Nebraska) – pace the sidelines each Saturday.

But that’s not where Ohio State’s influence in football coaching ends. Read about former OSU assistant coaches who later hit the big time in the NFL in next week’s blog.