Ohio State women’s basketball assistant coach Wesley Brooks coaches from the sidelines against Bucknell Nov. 10. Ohio State won 71-48. Credit: Gabe Haferman | Assistant Photo Editor
Wherever one lies in the rivalry, there is a distinct and fine line between supporting either Michigan or Ohio State.
Rarely are there instances for fans or players to support both teams in such a begrudging, storied rivalry. One could be seen as a traitor to switch caps between two bitter programs.
But it may be even rarer for a coach to don a jacket from both Michigan and Ohio State.
“I think the culture of both schools is totally different,” Ohio State assistant women’s basketball coach Wesley Brooks said. “I think both schools are tremendous institutions, but they’re definitely different. You can definitely tell that there’s a different feel at each place.”
From the Buckeyes’ Woody Hayes and the Wolverines’ Lloyd Carr, legends from the coaching staffs produce flashbacks to when they led their teams to glory on the gridiron.
Ohio native Bo Schembechler infamously comes to mind as someone who learned as a graduate assistant under Hayes in the early 1950s at Ohio State, then later took the helm up north at Michigan in 1969. This marked the start of “The 10 Year War,” in which the Buckeyes and Wolverines went 5-5-1 against one another and combined for 11 Rose Bowl appearances.
Over the years, Michigan and Ohio State coaches have laid the foundation of the rivalry through their game day approach and culture within their respective programs, and their effects are still felt today.
Ohio State softball head coach Kelly Kovach Schoenly talks to the opponent coach at home plate before a game. Credit: Courtesy of Ohio State Dept. of Athletics
Buckeyes softball head coach Kelly Kovach Schoenly, who pitched at Michigan from 1991-95, said she took pages from the styles of coaches like Carr and Ryan Day and applied them to her playbook.
“I was super invested in learning how Lloyd Carr did things and how he functioned as a coach. I respected the way he ran a game,” Schoenly said. “I get invested in how the coaches coach the big games. As a coach, that’s what I’m watching now.”
Eleven coaches among Ohio State’s 36 athletic programs have ties to the state of Michigan, either as alumni, coaches or natives of the region, including secondary coach Matt Barnes and linebackers coach Al Washington.
Brooks, who joined the women’s basketball program this offseason under Kevin McGuff after four years as an assistant with the Wolverines, said he doesn’t think there’s a much bigger rivalry than the one between Ohio State and Michigan, comparing it to the likes of the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, as well as Duke and North Carolina.
He said he can see similarities in the ways both programs consider the rivalry, whether it’s Ohio State’s “Our Honor Defend” and Michigan’s “Leaders and Best” mantras, or their determination to keep in-state recruits at home. Brooks said those traditions are rooted deeply in the history of The Game.
“I think the football coaches have kind of set the cultures for both programs,” Brooks said. “I think just through the history, they kind of set the athletic culture at both programs. Both schools have done a job of identifying something that they want to build culturally and then running with it.”
Schoenly said she attended The Game as a student-athlete, and Brooks said he’s followed the rivalry closely. But the turmoil between Michigan and Ohio State goes beyond just the football field.
Michigan owns a 24-5 advantage on the softball diamond since Schoenly took the reins in 2013. Despite the tilt in the records, Schoenly said she sees the importance of competing against their rival invested in each of her players.
“One of the reasons I coach is I just watch the kids rise up in big moments,” Schoenly said. “Watching our kids make those memories of beating that team and competing against that team because they care about the pride of our school, to be a Buckeye, you are taught that that’s an important moment in your career.”
On the court, the Buckeyes hold an 8-5 record when the women’s hoops teams have battled since McGuff’s hiring in 2013.
The objective is the same, no matter which sideline a coach is on: beat your rival. However, the larger goal for Michigan and Ohio State is to raise a national championship, and Brooks said he’s seen that emphasis from both programs.
“At this point in my career, you want to go somewhere where championships matter, where you’re always trying to compete for a national championship, you’re always trying to compete for a Big Ten championship,” Brooks said. “That’s what we’re playing for — championships.”
The coaching lineage at Michigan and Ohio State is rich and renowned, but it’s few and far between for those who wear the caps of the two teams at points in their careers.
Passion and vigor for The Game goes beyond the football field as the road to postseason play for Michigan and Ohio State often goes through one another. One common theme, though, is shared among the several Ohio State coaches who’ve been on both sides: There is nothing else like the rivalry.
“Michigan-Ohio State speaks for itself,” Brooks said. “You can go anywhere in the world, people are going to recognize that Block ‘O,’ people are going to recognize that Block ‘M.’”
