Someone without a sousaphone is set to dot the "i" on Saturday at Ohio Stadium.
Former Ohio State football coach and current WTVN sports analyst Earle Bruce is scheduled to join the rare air as a non-band member to dot the "i" in Script Ohio, according to WTVN's Matt McCoy. The honor of dotting the "i" is typically reserved for a fourth- or fifth-year sousaphone player.
"I was floored...I couldn't believe it," Bruce told McCoy. "I always like to talk about the band. The band is so great."
According to McCoy, The Best Damn Band In The Land is set to perform Script Ohio before the Buckeyes host Rutgers. Kickoff is set for noon and the game is slated to be televised on Big Ten Network.
Bruce is set to join an exclusive list as an individual without band ties getting the chance to dot the "i," one that includes another former coach in Woody Hayes. Hayes did it on Oct. 29, 1983, fewer than five years after the university fired him.
Boxing legend Buster Douglas, former astronaut and U.S. senator John Glenn, former president E. Gordon Gee, golfing legend Jack Nicklaus and comedian Bob Hope are other notable names on the list of individuals not in the band to dot the "i."
According to the Columbus Dispatch, a non-band member has dotted the "i" just 13 times in what is now its 80th year of Script Ohio.
After playing running back for the Buckeyes in 1949-51, Bruce served as the program's head coach from 1979-87 where he compiled an 81-26-1 overall record that included five bowl victories and a 5-4 record against Michigan. Ohio State won four Big Ten championships with Bruce at the helm. He also hired Urban Meyer as a graduate assistant in 1986.
Bruce is also the last Ohio State head coach to win the Big Ten Coach of the Year Award, doing so in 1979 after he led the Buckeyes to an 11-1 record and Rose Bowl berth.
