History of Ohio State University
The Ohio State University was founded in 1870 as a land-grant university in accordance with the Morrill Act of 1862 under the name of Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College. Initially, it was thought that one of Ohio's two existing public universities (Ohio University and Miami University) would be designated as the land-grant institution, and each engaged in a vigorous competition to win over the state legislature. At the strong urging of Republican stalwart Governor Rutherford B. Hayes, however, it was ultimately decided to establish a new university to be located near the legislature in Columbus. Hayes' role in founding the university is recognized in Hayes Hall (named after Rutherford, not Woody), the oldest building still standing on the campus. Hayes later noted that the founding of Ohio State was one of his two greatest achievements—the other being Ohio's ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment.
The school was originally situated within a farming community located on the northern edge of Columbus, and was intended to matriculate students of various agricultural and mechanical disciplines. From its inception, a debate was waged between those in favor of broadening the university's focus to encompass the liberal arts and sciences and those who favored a more limited focus. Governor Hayes viewed the selection of the university's location as key to keeping the university free of excess influence by the state's agricultural interests. As such, he worked strongly behind the scenes to ensure that the campus would be located in the city of Columbus rather than the more agriculturally oriented towns of Springfield or Urbana. The campus' location near the state capital combined with Hayes' plan of an expanded board of trustees based upon one member from each of the state's congressional districts ensured that his vision for the new university's curriculum would be put into place. Subsequently, the new board of trustees voted on the spectrum of disciplines to be offered. The ("broad-gauge") faction was led by university trustee Joseph Sullivant. When the votes were completed, it had been decided to offer seven fields of study: agriculture, ancient languages, chemistry, geology, mathematics, modern languages, and physics. Only the ancient languages curriculum came down to a close vote, passing by a margin of 8–7. Later that year, the university welcomed its first class of twenty-four students, including three women. In 1878, and in light of its expanded focus, the college permanently changed its name to the now-familiar "The Ohio State University." To this day, "The" is part of Ohio State's official name.
Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State wrestling was established at the University in 1921. Formerly the coach of Hofstra University for 11 years, the current Head Coach of the team is Tom Ryan. He has been coaching Ohio State since the 2006-2007 wrestling season. His coaching ability led the Buckeye Wrestling team to 5 NCAA Championship appearances and as the runners-up twice in the NCAA Championships in 2008 & 2009 in 8 years with the team. The team has a practice facility named Steelwood Athletic Training Facility and competes on campus in the St. John Arena (capacity of over 13,000 people). Two-time NCAA wrestling champion Jeffrey Jaggers, or commonly referred to as J Jaggers, made a seamless transition from student-athlete to coach in 2009-10 as the volunteer assistant coach and now is in his fourth year as a full-time assistant and fifth overall. Mark Coleman was a former Buckeye wrestler and a 1988 Big Ten Conference Champion & NCAA Champion Wrestler (190 lbs). Coleman went on to become a Silver Medalist in the 1991 FILA Wrestling World Championships, who then became a UFC Hall of Fame member.