The former Ohio State football coach got the best out of a great running back.
Woody Hayes kind of had a strong personality. Okay, bit of an understatement. He certainly didn’t like taking no for an answer. He REALLY didn’t like taking no for an answer when it came to Ohio’s best high school football players turning down Ohio State and going elsewhere. Even when he was no longer the head coach of the Buckeyes, his attitude did not change. The best players in Ohio should play for the Ohio State football program.
Woody was getting impatient. It was January of 1982, national signing day was just a month away, and the state’s best running back had not yet told current Ohio State football coach Earle Bruce he was coming. Woody loved fullbacks and this 6’2”, 225-pound kid from Dayton could play both fullback and tailback.
He was fast and athletic. The high school All-American averaged over eleven yards per carry as a senior. Woody could not figure out why the product of Roth High School was taking so long to make up his mind. As far as he was concerned, the decision was easy. Woody decided to take matter into his own hands and picked up the phone.
When the phone rang, Keith Byars’ sister answered it and told her brother Coach Hayes was calling for him. He thought his sister was playing a joke on him, but quickly learned that was not the case when he heard the voice on the other end of the phone. Byars tells the story of the phone call this way in the National Football Foundation’s Footballetter Spotlight,
"“He’s yelling at me because I hadn’t committed to Ohio State,” Byars said, laughing. “He said, ‘Don’t you want to be great, young man? I heard a lot of great things about you.’ I’m like, ‘You heard about me?’ He said, ‘All great players in Ohio stay in Ohio!’ So I was blown away.”"
Although he was ready to commit during that phone call, he decided to wait until he had lunch with Hayes and Bruce in Columbus. Even then, he still waited. Byars called Bruce later on to finally deliver the good news. He calls the decision to go to Ohio State one of the best decisions he ever made,
"“My heart and my head were saying Ohio State,” Byars said. “That’s not a decision I ever regretted. From day one, I knew I chose the right college all along. So being able to play for a Hall of Fame coach in Earle Bruce was a blessing. He taught me a lot. We had a great coaching staff while I was there, too, and just a perfect storm of friends.”"
As we all know, Byars went on to a storied career with the Buckeyes. As a junior in 1984, he led the nation in rushing with a then-school record 1,764 yards, all-purpose yards (2,441), and scoring (144 points). In a game against Illinois where the Buckeyes fell behind 24-0, Byars nearly single-handedly brought the team back for a 45-38 win. He ran for 274 yards (a school record at that time) and five touchdowns.
One of those touchdowns came on a 67-yard run where he lost a shoe and still outran Illinois defensive backs to the end zone (watch that play here and notice the block fullback Barry Walker throws to spring him). Byars would also run for a touchdown, catch a touchdown pass, and throw for a touchdown in a win over Iowa that season. He was named the Big Ten’s MVP and, thanks to CBS openly campaigning for Doug Flutie, finished only second in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy. A broken bone in his foot caused Byars to struggle through his senior year of 1985, but it still ended on a high note when the Buckeyes defeated defending national champion BYU in the Florida Citrus Bowl.
He twice beat Michigan. He won a Big Ten championship and went to a Rose Bowl. He was the conference’s MVP and an All-American. But, Byars’ best memory of being a Buckeye is this,
"“I never went to a college football game until my freshman year of Ohio State,” Byars said. “That was my first college football game, so I didn’t take any of those unofficial visits to go see a game on Saturday because I was just too busy. And so I had heard all the stories about running out of Ohio Stadium when the stadium’s jam-packed — at the time it held 90,000 people — and to run out and see that many people, I really don’t remember my feet hitting the ground; you come busting out of the locker room.”"
Byars was drafted in the first round by the Philadelphia Eagles, In his thirteen year NFL career he ran for over 3,000 yards and caught 610 passes. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 1993 as a member of the Miami Dolphins. Byars caught four passes for 41 yards and a touchdown in New England’s Super Bowl XXXI loss to Green Bay.
In 2020 Byars became the 26th Buckeye to be elected to the College Football Hall of Fame. He gives all credit for his success to the foundation his late parents provided him growing up.
Although he probably becomes a Buckeye anyway, Woody certainly pushed the decision along. Byars is one of the best Ohio State running backs I’ve seen yet. Take the time to see for yourself by watching his highlights here.