Buckeye: A study of Coach Woody Hayes and the Ohio State football machine

by Robert Vare

Stated first edition. A VG+ copy in a very good, price-clipped dust jacket. The book's front fly leaf has been torn out. The dust jacket has a diagonal, 2" crease at the lower right corner of the inside front flap. Rubs to its spine tips and corners.

Genres: Sports, Football

243 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1974

Reviews

[John D Harbeck · Rating 4 out of 5]

My take on the book (which I brought in 1986 and recently re-read) is not as glowing as "those other people". The author mocked Hayes the first 1/3 of the book and unfairly slants his take on his behavior. The author seems not to be a football pundit or even a football fan. He tried though. T-R-Y good try. He gets his insight from disgruntled players and only states positive aspects of Hayes to give the appearance of evenhandedness. But you fail.
No one is prefect. I did like the book. A fun read. I must be a true Buckeye fan (59 years an Ohio resident) because I didn't like the criticism of Woody Hayes, but didn't mind the criticism of Michigan, Alabama, and the others.

[James Varney · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the great books on college football and a Bible for Buckeyes fans. Vare spent the 1973 season with Ohio State - another sensational group of players that fell just short of a national championship, which is an Ohio State tradition. The section retailing stories of Buckeyes fans' fanaticism in Ohio is hilarious, such as the judge throwing out an obscenity case, and Vare takes a largely sympathetic view of the legendary coach. Above all, Vare captures the importance of The Game against That Team Up North. Obviously "Buckeye" is of most interest to Ohioans, but fans of college football, the world's greatest game, will definitely enjoy it, too.

[Jerry Vanschaik Vanschaik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though I was born in Ohio and a lifelong Buckeye fan, I had never read a book on Woody. Now I have. This book was published in 1974 when Woody was a living legend. Woody is no longer living but every bit the legendary Buckeye coach. One of the things that struck me reading this half-century old account was how little has changed about Ohio State Football and even college football in general, even the age of NIL, the transfer portal and bloated conferences. One of the many lines from the book that I could have heard on a podcast or read on Instagram was on page 111 - "I thought we ought to be selling Ohio State to players instead of trying to purchase them."

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’d rate this book 4 1/2 stars. It gives an inside look at Woody Hayes as a coach during the year of 1973 that the author shadowed the legendary coach. The author seems to have a negative bias against Woody Hayes but I think overall that it still paints a fairly accurate picture of him. He refers to the Ohio State football program as “The Machine” and that it certainly was back then and still remains today.

[Ronald · Rating 5 out of 5]

This could be the Columbus resident/OSU alumnus in me talking, but I think Woody Hayes is one of the more fascinating figures ever associated with football in the U.S. Robert Vare's Buckeye goes a long way in proving that hypothesis.

While a lot of books on Hayes and the Ohio State Buckeyes football program tend to go a little overboard on rosy sentiment, Buckeye does not. As an outsider (from Manhattan, even . . . about as far away from 1970s Columbus as possible), Vare adeptly maintains a sense of objectivity. He's still critical when he needs to be, though, and he's also not afraid to extol Hayes's virtues when appropriate. The result is a gripping critical look at Big Time College Football when it was really hitting the big time. You see how a major program -- a "machine" as Vare terms it -- is funded, recruited, trained, attacked, defended, and ultimately driven to victory. Vare details the effect of the team on its players, coaches, university, hometown, and state, and while part of the book's appeal to me is how it evokes what life in my hometown was like 40 years ago, I think the book has a sweepingly broad appeal for anyone who wants to see what life was like in the Midwest in 1973.

As far as contemporaneous sports season accounts go, this has to be one of the best. Hayes granted Vare full access to his program, and while Woody ended up decrying the book (legend has it he decided after its publication that Vare was a Michigan secret agent), Vare ultimately did us all a service by faithfully recording his experience.

[Mickey Mantle · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the absolute best no holds barred books ever written about Woody Hayes.

[Joe Stufflebeam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provides a great look inside the program of a true coaching legend.

[Barry Harding · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read on a legendary coach.