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Coach Profile

Woody Hayes

1951-1978 • Ohio State

One defining program at Ohio State.

Woody Hayes's coaching record is 205-61-10, highlighted by seasons at Ohio State from 1951 to 1978.

Woody Hayes coached 28 seasons, won 76.1%, and posted an average SRS of 18.9. Best season: 1973 Ohio State. The profile was balanced with a highly volatile profile. One primary stint defined the run.

Compare this coachAll coach recordsRanked opponent recordJump to seasons
Career record
205-61-10
Career win rate
76.1%
Average SRS
18.9
Peak SRS
36.3

Career Dossier

One glance at the full arc.

The profile below keeps the headline numbers visible, then moves into tenure shape, school impact, and full season detail.

Seasons coached
28
Career span
28 years
Best finish
#1
Consistency
28.6

Primary school anchor

Ohio State

Balanced profile with 1 program stop and a peak score of 99.3.

Quick Answers

Records fans search first

Headline records use countable season rows after completed-game fallback. Partial seasons and provisional placeholders are called out separately.

Compare Woody Hayes
Overall record
205-61-10

276 countable games, 76.1% win rate.

Ohio State record
205-61-10

28 countable seasons at Ohio State.

Full-season record
205-61-10

28 full season rows; partial and backfilled current rows are separated.

Vs AP Top 25
32-37-7

76 games using AP ranking at game time.

Vs AP Top 10
15-29-6

50 games using AP ranking at game time.

Vs AP Top 5
7-19-3

29 games using AP ranking at game time.

Vs Michigan
16-11-1

The Game games in this dataset.

Postseason / bowl record
5-6

11 scored postseason games in this dataset.

CFP record
0-0

0 College Football Playoff-labeled games since 2014.

National titles
2

Matched by coach team-season against the national championship dataset.

Record definition and data status

Career records use countable coach-season rows. Zero-game placeholders are excluded from aggregates until a completed-game fallback can verify the record.

Completed-game fallback uses scored games joined by coach, team, and season; advanced ratings are left blank when the season summary has not supplied them.

Latest completed coached game in this dataset: Dec 29, 1978. Current and future zero-game placeholders are kept visible but excluded from headline records.

Career Arc

Track how the coach's season-to-season performance changed over time, where the peak landed, and where each school stint appears.

Focus on where peaks separate, where floors hold, and how the shape of each career changed over time.

Woody Hayes
EliteStrongAverageLean
1951Actual season year • SRS range -0.6 to 36.31978

Active comparison point

Woody Hayes • 1973

Selected

1973 Ohio State

Best season

10-0-1 • SRS 36.3 • SP Overall 30.2

Win %

95.5%

YoY SRS

+20.1

SP Off / Def

40.6 / 10.7

Finish

#2

Comparison context

Focus a point to inspect how it stacks up against the rest of the field.

Ranked opponent record

Track career record against ranked opponents with switchable poll source and ranking timing.

Using AP Top 25 rankings at the time of each game; week-one games use the week-one ranking release when available.

Poll source
Ranking timing

Top 25

32-37-7

Games
76
Win rate
46.7%

Top 10

15-29-6

Games
50
Win rate
36.0%

Top 5

7-19-3

Games
29
Win rate
29.3%
View ranked game results76
1978 Regular Week 13Ohio StateMichigan#5L3-14
1978 Regular Week 7Ohio StatePurdue#19L16-27
1978 Regular Week 3Ohio StatePenn State#3L0-19
1978 Postseason Week 1Ohio StateClemson#6L15-17
1977 Regular Week 12Ohio StateMichigan#4L6-14
1977 Regular Week 4Ohio StateOklahoma#1L28-29
1977 Postseason Week 1Ohio StateAlabama#2L6-35
1976 Regular Week 12Ohio StateMichigan#2L0-22
1976 Regular Week 5Ohio StateUCLA#5T10-10
1976 Regular Week 4Ohio StateMissouri#12L21-22
1976 Regular Week 3Ohio StatePenn State#11W12-7
1976 Postseason Week 1Ohio StateColorado#16W27-10
1975 Regular Week 12Ohio StateMichigan#4W21-14
1975 Regular Week 5Ohio StateUCLA#13W41-20
1975 Regular Week 3Ohio StatePenn State#7W17-9
1975 Regular Week 2Ohio StateMichigan State#11W21-0
1975 Postseason Week 1Ohio StateUCLA#5L10-23
1974 Regular Week 12Ohio StateMichigan#3W12-10
1974 Regular Week 6Ohio StateWisconsin#13W52-7
1974 Postseason Week 1Ohio StateUSC#2L17-18
1973 Regular Week 13Ohio StateMichigan#4T10-10
1973 Postseason Week 1Ohio StateUSC#8W42-21
1972 Regular Week 12Ohio StateMichigan#3W14-11
1972 Postseason Week 1Ohio StateUSC#1L17-42
1971 Regular Week 11Ohio StateMichigan#3L7-10
1971 Regular Week 3Ohio StateColorado#10L14-20
1970 Regular Week 13Ohio StateMichigan#7W20-9
1970 Postseason Week 1Ohio StateStanford#8L17-27
1969 Regular Week 11Ohio StateMichigan#7L12-24
1969 Regular Week 10Ohio StatePurdue#17W42-14
1968 Regular Week 11Ohio StateMichigan#4W50-14
1968 Regular Week 8Ohio StateMichigan State#16W25-20
1968 Regular Week 5Ohio StatePurdue#1W13-0
1968 Postseason Week 1Ohio StateUSC#4W27-16
1967 Regular Week 6Ohio StatePurdue#2L6-41
1966 Regular Week 6Ohio StateMichigan State#2L8-11
1965 Regular Week 6Ohio StateMichigan State#2L7-32
1963 Regular Week 7Ohio StateWisconsin#8W13-10
1963 Regular Week 5Ohio StateIllinois#7T20-20
1962 Regular Week 6Ohio StateNorthwestern#3L14-18
1960 Regular Week 10Ohio StateIowa#2L12-35
1960 Regular Week 8Ohio StateMichigan State#17W21-10
1960 Regular Week 6Ohio StatePurdue#10L21-24
1959 Regular Week 10Ohio StateIowa#16L7-16
1959 Regular Week 7Ohio StateWisconsin#10L3-12
1959 Regular Week 6Ohio StatePurdue#14W15-0
1959 Regular Week 5Ohio StateIllinois#13L0-9
1959 Regular Week 4Ohio StateUSC#6L0-17
1958 Regular Week 10Ohio StateIowa#6W38-28
1958 Regular Week 9Ohio StatePurdue#8T14-14
1958 Regular Week 8Ohio StateNorthwestern#4L0-21
1958 Regular Week 7Ohio StateWisconsin#8T7-7
1958 Regular Week 3Ohio StateSMU#17W23-20
1957 Regular Week 10Ohio StateIowa#8W17-13
1957 Regular Week 3Ohio StateTCU#18L14-18
1956 Regular Week 11Ohio StateMichigan#7L0-19
1956 Regular Week 10Ohio StateIowa#3L0-6
1956 Regular Week 6Ohio StatePenn State#18L6-7
1955 Regular Week 10Ohio StateMichigan#6W17-0
1955 Regular Week 9Ohio StateIowa#20W20-10
1955 Regular Week 6Ohio StateWisconsin#15W26-16
1955 Regular Week 5Ohio StateDuke#11L14-20
1954 Regular Week 10Ohio StateMichigan#12W21-7
1954 Regular Week 8Ohio StatePittsburgh#20W26-0
1954 Regular Week 6Ohio StateWisconsin#2W31-14
1954 Regular Week 5Ohio StateIowa#13W20-14
1954 Regular Week 3Ohio StateCalifornia#18W21-13
1954 Postseason Week 1Ohio StateUSC#17W20-7
1953 Regular Week 8Ohio StateMichigan State#4L13-28
1953 Regular Week 4Ohio StateIllinois#9L20-41
1952 Regular Week 9Ohio StatePittsburgh#16L14-21
1952 Regular Week 5Ohio StateWisconsin#10W23-14
1952 Regular Week 4Ohio StatePurdue#9L14-21
1951 Regular Week 10Ohio StateIllinois#4T0-0
1951 Regular Week 5Ohio StateWisconsin#14T6-6
1951 Regular Week 4Ohio StateMichigan State#3L20-24

Tenure map

Each stint expands by seasons coached. Deeper color signals a stronger average SRS over that stretch.

Length = seasons coachedDeeper color = stronger stint

Ohio State

1951-1978 • 28 seasons

Avg SRS 18.9 • Win % 76.1%

Longest tenure
Ohio State • 28 seasons
Best tenure
Ohio State • 18.9 SRS
Best tenure win rate
Ohio State • 76.1%

Style and Strength Profile

Compare strength, identity, steadiness, and ceiling through normalized bars with raw SP and SRS context underneath.

These bars are normalized against the full coach dataset. Raw SP and SRS values stay visible so the profile reads as evidence, not decoration.

Overall Strength

Start with total quality before splitting style and variance.

Woody Hayes sets the reference point in overall strength.

Overall Strength

Decisive edge

Woody Hayes sets the reference point in overall strength.

Normalized score; raw SP overall stays underneath for reference.

Woody Hayes

Elite

Raw avg SP Overall
21.9
Percentile
98th pct

Elite

Normalized against the full tracked coach pool.

Impact by school

See how each stint compared with what that program usually looked like outside that same span.

Ohio State

1951-1978 • 205-61-10

Compared with this school's baseline outside that stint over the prior 5 seasons (5 baseline seasons found).

Avg SRS 18.9Win % 76.1%

Avg wins

Higher is better

7.3 during vs 5.0 baseline

+2.3

Avg SRS

Higher is better

18.9 during vs 15.7 baseline

+3.2

Avg SP Overall

Higher is better

21.9 during vs — baseline

—

Ranked finish rate

Higher is better

64.3% during vs 100.0% baseline

-35.7%

Career highs and lows

High Points

Best Season

Ohio State 1973

10-0-1 • SRS 36.3

Biggest Improvement

Ohio State 1968

10-0 • 21.4 SRS

Best Offensive Season

Ohio State 1973

10-0-1 • SP Off 40.6

Best Defensive Season

Ohio State 1976

9-2-1 • SP Def 10.0

Setbacks

Lowest SRS Season

Ohio State 1966

4-5 • SRS -0.6

Biggest Drop

Ohio State 1966

4-5 • -13.6 SRS

Season-by-season results

Full transparency into every season in the coaching record. Positive YoY values indicate improvement from the prior season.

Ohio State19781274162.5%#7—14.811.433.223.2-8.8-12.5%Season summary
Ohio State19771293075.0%#5#1123.622.733.811.7+0.7-4.2%Season summary
Ohio State19761292179.2%#4#622.925.835.010.0-3.8-12.5%Season summary
Ohio State197512111091.7%#4#426.727.337.610.9-1.1+8.3%Season summary
Ohio State197412102083.3%#2#427.825.340.116.3-8.5-12.1%Season summary
Ohio State197311100195.5%#2#236.330.240.610.7+20.1+13.6%Season summary
Ohio State19721192081.8%#3#916.215.431.917.5-1.0+21.8%Season summary
Ohio State19711064060.0%#11—17.214.227.413.4-10.2-30.0%Season summary
Ohio State19701091090.0%#1#527.424.736.212.1-3.7+1.1%Season summary
Ohio State1969981088.9%#1#431.1———+7.3-11.1%Season summary
Ohio State1968101000100.0%#11#123.8———+21.4+33.3%Season summary
Ohio State1967963066.7%——2.4———+3.0+22.2%Season summary
Ohio State1966945044.4%——-0.6———-13.6-33.3%Season summary
Ohio State1965972077.8%#10—13.0———-3.20.0%Season summary
Ohio State1964972077.8%#5#916.2———+2.3+16.7%Season summary
Ohio State1963953161.1%#10—13.9———-7.8-5.6%Season summary
Ohio State1962963066.7%#1—21.7———-0.5-27.8%Season summary
Ohio State1961980194.4%#2#222.2———-2.9+16.7%Season summary
Ohio State1960972077.8%#16#825.1———+17.8+38.9%Season summary
Ohio State1959935138.9%#7—7.3———-12.0-38.9%Season summary
Ohio State1958961277.8%#1#819.3———-3.8-12.2%Season summary
Ohio State19571091090.0%#17#223.1———+6.1+23.3%Season summary
Ohio State1956963066.7%#5#1517.0———+1.4-11.1%Season summary
Ohio State1955972077.8%#4#515.6———-11.6-22.2%Season summary
Ohio State1954101000100.0%#20#127.2———+15.7+33.3%Season summary
Ohio State1953963066.7%#7—11.5———-4.40.0%Season summary
Ohio State1952963066.7%#20#1715.9———+4.5+11.1%Season summary
Ohio State1951943255.6%#3—11.4—————Season summary

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