Sport: Violent World Of Woody Hayes

A combative coach is sacked

He had always been an outsize figure on autumn afternoons, fiercely aggressive, his chin thrust forward in defiance. He wanted to win. He wanted to win, in the end, more than anything, and it was the flaw that ruined him. The denouement came on a Friday night in a meaningless bowl game. Coach Wayne Woodrow Hayes, 65, the autocrat of Ohio State football for 28 years, was fired after assaulting an opposing player. Sadly, the incident that ended his remarkable career in disgrace surprised virtually no one who was...

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