Hart saw it all in 46- year career
As an offensive guard at Ohio State, Randy Hart once incurred the wrath of Woody Hayes by calling the wrong blocking scheme for the line in practice.
The fiery head coach kicked Hart the rear while he was in his stance. Then Hayes told Hart to “go stand in the corner.”
So Hart stood in the corner of the field during a scrimmage until he was allowed to return. As was Hayes’ custom, he showered with the players, and that’s where he later told Hart why he’d embarrassed him.
“If you’d made that same mistake in the Michigan game and cost
us the Big Ten championship and a chance to win the Rose Bowl, you’d feel a lot worse than you do now.”
Said Hart: “I went from wanting to kill the guy to thanking him for abusing me on the field.”
After Hart’s playing days were done, Hayes hired him as a graduate assistant. That led to a 46- year career as an assistant coach with six schools, a career that ended Tuesday when Hart announced his retirement from Stanford.
Hart, 67, spent the past six years as defensive line coach for the Cardinal. He helped build consistently powerful defenses. He had spent 21 years as line coach at Washington and also worked at Tampa, Iowa State, Purdue, Ohio State and Notre Dame. He coached in 28 bowl games and took part in 10 Rose Bowls as either a coach or a player.
“I am honored and blessed to have been at so many great places with so many fantastic coaches, student- athletes and fans,” Hart said in a statement. “And for that, I’m one of the luckiest coaches ever.”
Hart was one of the most popular people in the Stanford athletic department, and he had a knack of turning out formidable linemen. Without a returning starter in 2015, his line anchored a defense that ranked among the nation’s most productive. In his final game, the Rose Bowl, the line dominated Iowa's offensive line and held the Hawkeyes to 1.3 yards per carry.
Hart had a hand in Stanford’s NCAA- best and school- record 57 sacks in 2012. In 2011, the Cardinal were third in the the nation in rushing defense ( 84.4 yards per game).
“Randy’s career speaks for itself when you look at a national championship, Rose Bowls and all of the players he helped get to the NFL,” Stanford head coach David Shaw said. “It has been a privilege for me to watch him push young men to be their best athletically, as well as academically, and prepare them for life.”
Hart played for Hayes on the Buckeyes’ 1968 national- championship team. Hayes drew widespread criticism for his tirades and antics and was eventually fired at Ohio State after punching a Clemson player who had intercepted a pass in the final minutes of the 1978 Gator Bowl.
Hart, however, called him “a delightful man.” According to Hart, Hayes “wasn’t himself” during the Gator Bowl because of a problem with his diabetes. “He was a master of getting the best out of you, whether it was in the classroom or on the field,” Hart said.
Hart and his wife, Linda, have two sons. He said of his four grandchildren: “They’re at the age where I’m hot stuff to them. It won’t last long.”