141-553: Glenn Edward " Bo " Schembechler Jr. ( / ˈ ʃ ɛ m b ɛ k l ər / SHEM -bek-lər ; April 1, 1929 – November 17, 2006) was an American college football player, coach, and athletic administrator. He served as the head football coach at Miami University from 1963 to 1968 and at the University of Michigan from 1969 to 1989, compiling a career record of 234 wins, 65 losses and 8 ties. Only Nick Saban , Joe Paterno and Tom Osborne have recorded 200 victories in fewer games as
282-512: A tackle at Miami University, where in 1949 and 1950 he was coached by Woody Hayes , for whom he served as an assistant coach at Ohio State University in 1952 and from 1958 to 1962. In his first ten years at Michigan, Schembechler's teams squared off in a fierce rivalry against Hayes's Buckeyes squads . During that stretch in the Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry , dubbed the " Ten-Year War ," Hayes and Schembechler's teams won or shared
423-500: A 0–0 tie. The Army–Navy game of 1893 saw the first documented use of a football helmet by a player in a game. Joseph M. Reeves had a crude leather helmet made by a shoemaker in Annapolis and wore it in the game after being warned by his doctor that he risked death if he continued to play football after suffering an earlier kick to the head. In 1879, the University of Michigan became the first school west of Pennsylvania to establish
564-541: A 38–14 victory. His second season with the Rams, which saw them trade away future defensive star Andy Robustelli in the offseason, was a disaster, as the team lost eight of their first ten games for a 4–8 overall record, their first losing mark since 1944 when the team was still in Cleveland. The 1957 season was the last for both Van Brocklin (traded to Philadelphia after the season) and receiver Elroy Hirsch , each future members of
705-566: A 40-minute interview in which he was offended that the hiring committee didn't take his candidacy seriously, he contacted athletic director Ivy Williamson to withdraw his name from consideration. Assistant coach John Coatta , who was the favorite to replace Bruhn from the start, was promoted. Schembechler continued to coach at Miami for two more seasons. His negative experience was a major factor in his convincing Bob Knight to reject Wisconsin's offer to become men's basketball head coach in 1968. Schembechler became Michigan 's 15th head coach after
846-456: A 56-game undefeated streak that included a 1902 trip to play in the first college football bowl game , which later became the Rose Bowl Game . During this streak, Michigan scored 2,831 points while allowing only 40. Organized intercollegiate football was first played in the state of Minnesota on September 30, 1882, when Hamline was convinced to play Minnesota . Minnesota won 2 to 0. It
987-473: A Michigan man as Slade. That was the goal at Michigan, not national championships." Schembechler finished by exhorting them to remember "the team, the team, the team!" The next day, on November 17, 2006, Schembechler collapsed in a restroom stall at WXYZ-TV just prior to the taping of Big Ten Ticket around 9:15 am. He was taken to Providence Hospital in Southfield, Michigan where he was pronounced dead. He
1128-485: A bowl, however, were a shade short of perfection, losing a total of three games while compiling a combined record of 39-3-1. One loss was by three points and a second was lost in the last seconds when a 33-yard FG attempt was ruled to be just wide of the goalposts. Following the 1980 season, Schembechler gained the first of his two Rose Bowl victories by beating the Washington Huskies . The 1980 Michigan team featured
1269-705: A career record of 123–104–7 in the National Football League and the American Football League . Gillman's 1963 San Diego Chargers won the AFL Championship. Sidney Gillman was born in Minneapolis , Minnesota , to a Jewish family. He played college football at Ohio State University under coach Sam Willaman , forming the basis of his offense. He was a team captain and All-Big Ten Conference end in 1933. While attending Ohio State, Gillman
1410-433: A clause that gave him final approval of the moves that Phillips wanted to make, but this clause was asked to be removed by Phillips in a meeting between him and Adams when Gillman was out of town, which was accepted. Later, with the support of Adams, Phillips had Gillman barred from being able to attend practice or be in the locker room. Gillman appealed to Adams about the changes but resigned when Adams sided with Phillips, who
1551-477: A coach in major college football. In his 21 seasons as the head coach of the Michigan Wolverines , Schembechler's teams amassed a record of 194–48–5 and won or shared 13 Big Ten Conference titles. Though his Michigan teams never won a national championship , in all but one season they finished ranked, and 16 times they placed in the final top ten of both major polls. Schembechler played college football as
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#17330847465451692-503: A college football team. On May 30, 1879, Michigan beat Racine College 1–0 in a game played in Chicago. The Chicago Daily Tribune called it "the first rugby-football game to be played west of the Alleghenies ." Other Midwestern schools soon followed suit, including the University of Chicago , Northwestern University , and the University of Minnesota . The first western team to travel east
1833-554: A consultant for the USFL's Los Angeles Express in 1984. He later did work for the Eagles in 1985 before serving as an unpaid consultant to the University of Pittsburgh football team (as coached by Mike Gottfried ) in 1987. Even when he was out of coaching by 1991, Gillman was still at the helm of looking at tapes of game film, with a number of teams regularly sending him coaching tapes for him to view through multiple VCRs. Gillman's influence on
1974-576: A five-game losing streak. Midway through the season, Gillman and the Oilers acquired defensive tackle Curley Culp and a first-round draft choice in 1975 from the Kansas City Chiefs for John Matuszak (each player had threatened to jump to the World Football League ). They then won four games in a row to get to 5–5 before trading wins and losses in the last four games of the year, which included
2115-447: A great deal to Harvard's rugby. They decided to play with 15 players on each team. On November 13, 1875, Yale and Harvard played each other for the first time ever, where Harvard won 4–0. At the first The Game (as the annual contest between Harvard and Yale came to be named) the future "father of American football" Walter Camp was among the 2000 spectators in attendance. Walter, a native of New Britain, Connecticut , would enroll at Yale
2256-537: A hiatal hernia only to come back to coach the first ten games of the 1971 season. Gillman served as a quality control coach for the Dallas Cowboys in 1972. In March 1973, Bud Adams hired Gillman to serve as executive vice president and general manager of the Houston Oilers (to replace John W. Breen ) after head coach Bill Peterson won one game in his inaugural season as coach. The 1973 season turned out to be
2397-451: A historic No. 1 versus No. 2 showdown. Outside of football, Schembechler came to posthumous public notoriety after 2018, when it was revealed that he was one of several high-ranking University of Michigan officials who covered up accusations of sexual assault against team doctor Robert Anderson . Anderson sexually assaulted more than 600 University of Michigan athletes, along with hundreds more individuals at other institutions. Schembechler
2538-536: A liking to the rugby game, and its use of the try which, until that time, was not used in American football. The try would later evolve into the score known as the touchdown . On June 4, 1875, Harvard faced Tufts University in the first game between two American colleges played under rules similar to the McGill/Harvard contest, which was won by Tufts 1–0. The rules included each side fielding 11 men at any given time,
2679-553: A losing season during his tenure. As such, "Those Who Stay Will Be Champions" remains a beloved team slogan for the Michigan Wolverines and has been immortalized into the tradition and mythology of Michigan football. On January 15, 1982, Texas A&M offered Schembechler nearly $ 3 million for 10 years—the richest contract in the history of college athletics at that time—to become the school's football coach and athletic director. Schembechler turned it down. "Frankly, I've come to
2820-523: A loss in the Divisional Round. However, Gillman resigned after the year when his ideas about opening up the offense was rejected. For four months of 1978, Gillman was the coach of the football team at United States International University ; one of the coaches he hired was Tom Walsh , who would coach the team when Gillman left in early 1979. Philadelphia Eagles coach Dick Vermeil hired Gillman in 1979 to take over an offense ranked 27th, 19th, and 18th
2961-555: A men's locker room regardless of their job description" and suggested "the whole thing was a scam orchestrated by you people to create a story." Schembechler was fired by the Tigers in early August 1992, via fax. Schembechler maintained an office at the University of Michigan's football facility, which is named Schembechler Hall. His former assistants, Gary Moeller (1990–94) and Lloyd Carr (1995–2007), followed him as head coach. Schembechler
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#17330847465453102-578: A mere 75 emerging from the grueling camp and choosing to embrace Schembechler's system. Schembechler's subsequent successes and legacy of propelling the Michigan football program to further national prominence immortalized his promise to his players after accepting the head coaching position at Michigan. Every Michigan football player who played for Bo Schembechler and stayed at Michigan for four years left Michigan with at least one Big Ten championship ring. Furthermore, not once did any Michigan player under Bo endure
3243-487: A new code of rules based on the rugby game first introduced to Harvard by McGill University in 1874. Three of the schools—Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton—formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, as a result of the meeting. Yale initially refused to join this association because of a disagreement over the number of players to be allowed per team (relenting in 1879) and Rutgers were not invited to
3384-499: A player to pick up the ball and run with it whenever he wished. Another rule, unique to McGill, was to count tries (the act of grounding the football past the opposing team's goal line; there was no end zone during this time), as well as goals, in the scoring. In the Rugby rules of the time, a try only provided the attempt to kick a free goal from the field. If the kick was missed, the try did not score any points itself. Harvard quickly took
3525-477: A pro football career and entering coaching upon leaving college, with the Boston Redskins offering him a contract while Willaman wished to hire him as end coach at Western Reserve University . His participation in the inaugural Chicago College All-Star Game caused him to arrive late for Redskins training camp, and he would fail to make the team. He played one year in the American Football League (1936) for
3666-462: A professional roster spot as an undrafted free agent . Despite these opportunities, only around 1.6% of NCAA college football players end up playing professionally in the NFL. Even after the emergence of the professional National Football League (NFL), college football has remained extremely popular throughout the U.S. Although the college game has a much larger margin for talent than its pro counterpart,
3807-409: A rallying cry to his players: "Those who stay will be champions!" This slogan foreshadowed the challenges Michigan football players would endure from the dramatic culture change initiated by Schembechler, who emphasized toughness and introduced practices and conditioning far more rigorous than any of the players had been exposed to before. His first training camp in 1969 saw around 140 players enter but
3948-504: A rougher version of football called "the Boston Game" in which the kicking of a round ball was the most prominent feature though a player could run with the ball, pass it, or dribble it (known as "babying"). The man with the ball could be tackled, although hitting, tripping, "hacking" and other unnecessary roughness was prohibited. There was no limit to the number of players, but there were typically ten to fifteen per side. A player could carry
4089-524: A round ball instead of a rugby-style oblong ball. This series of games represents an important milestone in the development of the modern game of American football. In October 1874, the Harvard team once again traveled to Montreal to play McGill in rugby, where they won by three tries. In as much as Rugby football had been transplanted to Canada from England, the McGill team played under a set of rules which allowed
4230-406: A school-record 194 games, lost only 48, and tied five for a winning percentage of .796. His teams never posted a losing season. In Big Ten Conference play, he had a record of 143–24–3 for a winning percentage of .850. His Michigan teams won or shared 13 Big Ten titles and made 10 Rose Bowl appearances. His 96–16–3 (.848) record during the 1970s was the best of any Division I coach. Schembechler led
4371-764: A son, Glenn III (Shemy). Millie Schembechler died August 19, 1992, at University Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, after an eight-month battle with a rare form of cancer. She was 63. Played under: Coached under: Assistant coaches who became head coaches: Former players who went on to become head coaches Although neither served as a head coach, Dave Brandon , Jim Hackett , and Warde Manuel played under Schembechler and went on to become University of Michigan's athletic directors. # denotes interim head coach # denotes interim head coach # denotes interim athletic director College football NAIA : NJCAA : College football ( French : football universitaire )
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4512-454: A taping of the WXYZ-TV program Big Ten Ticket in late October 2006, Schembechler collapsed and was taken to the hospital. Following the episode, he had a heart pacemaker implanted into his chest to regulate his heartbeat. As late as a week before his death, he had stated his doctors were still adjusting the device, which covered about half his chest. On Thursday, November 16, 2006, although he
4653-411: A team Hayes later considered his best, beating Ohio State 24–12 . In a single afternoon, Schembechler and his charges resurrected Michigan's football tradition and returned the program among college football's elite. Both Schembechler and Hayes, who remained personal friends until Hayes' death in 1987, agreed it was Hayes' best team and Schembechler's biggest victory. Michigan's win over Ohio State in 1969
4794-537: A team be required to advance the ball a minimum of five yards within three downs. These down-and-distance rules, combined with the establishment of the line of scrimmage, transformed the game from a variation of rugby football into the distinct sport of American football. Camp was central to several more significant rule changes that came to define American football. In 1881, the field was reduced in size to its modern dimensions of 120 by 53 1 ⁄ 3 yards (109.7 by 48.8 meters). Several times in 1883, Camp tinkered with
4935-463: A touchdown over the course of their last five games, giving up nine points total. Perhaps spurred by Carter's success, Schembechler's teams began to pass more during the 1980s, but Schembechler never completely shed his image as a run-first offensive coach. (A favorite saying of Schembechler was that "there are three things that can happen when you pass, and two of them are bad.") At the same time, his teams continued to enjoy consistent success throughout
5076-593: A tour of duty in the U.S. Army , Schembechler served as an assistant at Presbyterian College in 1954, followed by a year as freshman coach at Bowling Green . When Schembechler's former college teammate Ara Parseghian , Hayes' successor at Miami University, was hired as head coach at Northwestern in 1956, Schembechler joined him and spent the next two seasons there as a defensive assistant. In 1958, Hayes hired Schembechler to serve again on his staff at Ohio State. Schembechler spent five more years at Ohio State and became one of Hayes' most trusted assistants. During that time
5217-627: A win over the Cleveland Browns to close the season at 7-7 (.500), their first non-losing season in four years. He was awarded the AFC Coach of the Year by UPI after the season before electing to move back to the GM position while Phillips was promoted to head coach. The matter of who would do what for personnel proved to key in the eventual departure of Gillman. The contract that Phillips had signed with Gillman had
5358-463: A worse disaster, as the Oilers continued their losing ways. Before the fourth game, Gillman took over the duties of offensive coordinator. After a fifth straight loss to start the season, Gillman took over as coach by firing Peterson, which saw them win once the rest of the way. In 1974, Gillman hired Bum Phillips (the defensive coordinator for the 1967-71 Charger teams) to serve as defensive coordinator. The 1974 team won on opening day before going on
5499-505: A youth, he excelled in sports like track , baseball, and association football, and after enrolling at Yale in 1876, he earned varsity honors in every sport the school offered. Following the introduction of rugby-style rules to American football, Camp became a fixture at the Massasoit House conventions where rules were debated and changed. Dissatisfied with what seemed to him to be a disorganized mob, he proposed his first rule change at
5640-488: Is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football first gained popularity in the United States . Like gridiron football generally, college football is most popular in the United States and Canada. While no single governing body exists for college football in the United States, most schools, especially those at
5781-537: Is considered to be one of the greatest upsets in college football history and the most significant win for a Michigan team ever. The Wolverines and Buckeyes proceeded to engage in a fierce " Ten Year War " that elevated an already storied Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry into one of college football's greatest annual grudge matches. For ten years the two dominated the Big 10, splitting ten conference titles between them and finishing second eight times. They were so dominant that
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5922-525: Is generally considered to be the second tier of American and Canadian football; ahead of high school competition , but below professional competition . In some parts of the United States, especially the South and Midwest , college football is more popular than professional football. For much of the 20th century, college football was generally considered to be more prestigious than professional football. The overwhelming majority of professional football players in
6063-558: Is interred at Forest Hill Cemetery in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Before his death, Schembechler had agreed to be an honorary pallbearer for former Michigan Wolverine and University of Michigan alumnus President Gerald Ford . Ford, himself a center at Michigan in the 1930s, died on December 26, 2006. A pew inside Washington National Cathedral was draped with a University of Michigan stadium blanket in Schembechler's memory. Beginning in 2018, hundreds of former student-athletes who played at
6204-658: Is widely regarded as having originated with a game played in Montreal, in 1865, when British Army officers played local civilians. The game gradually gained a following, and the Montreal Football Club was formed in 1868, the first recorded non-university football club in Canada. Early games appear to have had much in common with the traditional " mob football " played in Great Britain. The games remained largely unorganized until
6345-432: The 1968 season , succeeding Bump Elliott . He was hired in fifteen minutes. It took athletic director Don Canham that long "to sense the intensity, the enthusiasm of a man destined to be a winner." Besides a stellar record at Miami he also "brought a unique five-man angle defense and a guarantee that he would make it work within five years." At Michigan, Schembechler became one of college football's greatest coaches. He won
6486-544: The Cleveland Rams . He became an assistant coach at Denison University , Ohio State University, and was an assistant coach to Earl Blaik of Army , then head coach at Miami University and the University of Cincinnati . He spent 21 years as a college coach or head coach, and his total record for these years was 79–18–2. He became a professional head coach for the first time with the Los Angeles Rams in 1955 after
6627-692: The Dallas Texans and Kansas City Chiefs from 1960 through 1974). Gillman approached NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle in 1963 with the idea of having the champions of the AFL and the NFL play a single final game, but his idea was not implemented until the Super Bowl (originally titled the AFL-NFL World Championship Game ) was played in 1967. Gillman left the Chargers nine games into the 1969 season due to
6768-556: The NFL and other leagues previously played college football. The NFL draft each spring sees 224 players selected and offered a contract to play in the league, with the vast majority coming from the NCAA . Other professional leagues, such as the CFL and UFL , additionally hold their own drafts each year which also see primarily college players selected. Players who are not selected can still attempt to obtain
6909-662: The Old Main lawn on campus in State College, Pennsylvania . They compiled a 12–8–1 record in these seasons, playing as an independent from 1887 to 1890. In 1891, the Pennsylvania Intercollegiate Football Association (PIFA) was formed. It consisted of Bucknell University , Dickinson College , Franklin & Marshall College , Haverford College , Penn State, and Swarthmore College . Lafayette College , and Lehigh University were excluded because it
7050-589: The Pro Football Hall of Fame . A multi-player deal with the Cardinals for Ollie Matson did not help matters. The season ended on a middling note as the Rams won their last two games of the year to finish at .500. The 1958 season was the closest the Rams got to the top of the division, finishing one game behind the Baltimore Colts . The 1959 season saw the Rams close the year with eight straight losses that led to
7191-459: The Rose Bowl in 1990 . He decided to retire at the relatively young age of 60 because of his history of heart problems and was succeeded by Michigan's offensive coordinator Gary Moeller , whom he handpicked. Schembechler was also the athletic director at Michigan from 1988 until early 1990. Just before the 1989 NCAA basketball tournament , men's basketball head coach Bill Frieder announced that he
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#17330847465457332-725: The United States Football League (USFL) expansion team the Oklahoma Outlaws . Gillman agreed to serve as director of operations and signed quarterback Doug Williams , who later led the Washington Redskins to victory in Super Bowl XXII . Although Gillman signed a roster of players to play for the Tulsa, Oklahoma -based franchise, he was fired by Tatham six months later in a dispute over finances. Gillman then served as
7473-526: The biggest games in the history of the Michigan–Ohio State football rivalry . He was not planning to attend the November 18 game in Columbus . Instead, Bo and his wife, Cathy, had packed the car and had planned to drive to suburban Dayton, Ohio to watch the game with his former Miami teammate and friend, Bill Gunlock. The university's Regents approved a plan for the renovation and expansion of Michigan Stadium on
7614-439: The '60s, were these notable players: wide receiver Lance Alworth ; offensive tackle Ron Mix ; running back Paul Lowe ; quarterback John Hadl ; and defensive linemen Ernie Ladd and Earl Faison (Alworth and Mix are Hall of Famers ). Gillman was one of only two head coaches to hold that position for the entire 10-year existence of the American Football League (the other being fellow Hall of Fame coach Hank Stram , who coached
7755-425: The 1940s. The resurrection of the rivalry was facilitated by Schembechler's close friendship with Ara Parseghian, Notre Dame's coach at the time of Bo's arrival. Schembechler, however, never had a chance to coach against his former mentor, as scheduling commitments prevented the series from resuming until 1978, after Parseghian had left Notre Dame and was succeeded by Dan Devine . Despite Schembechler's success during
7896-401: The 19th century, when intramural games of football began to be played on college campuses. Each school played its own variety of football. Princeton University students played a game called "ballown" as early as 1820. In 1827, a Harvard tradition known as "Bloody Monday" began, which consisted of a mass ballgame between the freshman and sophomore classes. In 1860, both the town police and
8037-581: The AFL Championship Game to the Houston Oilers. Injuries to Kemp and Alworth saw the only losing season by the Chargers in their AFL tenure, and when Kemp was put on waivers to try and hide him, Buffalo bought his rights and made him their starting quarterback from 1963 until his retirement in 1969. John Hadl had been drafted in 1962 as quarterback, but the 1963 season would have 35-year old Tobin Rote as
8178-455: The AFL became the genesis of modern professional football. "Sid Gillman brought class to the AFL," Oakland Raiders managing general partner Al Davis once said of the man he served under on that first Chargers team. "Being part of Sid's organization was like going to a laboratory for the highly developed science of professional football." Others however, painted Gillman as who kept the team under pressure at all times regardless of how it felt for
8319-562: The AFL franchise he planned to operate in Los Angeles. When the team's general manager , Frank Leahy , became ill during the Chargers' founding season, Gillman took on additional responsibilities as general manager. As the first coach of the Chargers, Gillman gave the team a mercurial personality that matched his own. He had much to do with the AFL being able to establish itself. Gillman was a thorough professional, and in order to compete with him, his peers had to learn pro ways. They learned, and
8460-485: The Big Ten Conference crown every season and usually each placed in the national rankings. In 1988, Schembechler assumed the role of athletic director at Michigan, succeeding Don Canham , the man who hired him as football coach in 1969. Schembechler retired as head football coach after the 1989 season. His longtime assistants, Gary Moeller and Lloyd Carr , helmed the team for the next 18 years. Schembechler left
8601-579: The Big Ten earned a nickname of "Big Two, Little Eight" during that era. After a decade of memorable on-field stratagems, sideline antics, and locker room psychological ploys, Schembechler held a 5–4–1 advantage. Schembechler's tenure at Michigan was also notable for the renewal of Michigan's rivalry with Notre Dame . Despite the fact that the two schools are located within 200 miles of one another and ranked first/second in both total wins and winning percentage in college football, they had not played each other since
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#17330847465458742-515: The College of New Jersey, in the first collegiate football game . The game more closely resembled soccer than football as it is played in the 21st century. It was played with a round ball , and used a set of rules suggested by Rutgers captain William J. Leggett , based on The Football Association 's first set of rules , which were an early attempt by the former pupils of England's public schools, to unify
8883-746: The Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City to codify the first set of intercollegiate football rules. Before this meeting, each school had its own set of rules and games were usually played using the home team's own particular code. At this meeting, a list of rules, based more on the Football Association's rules than the rules of the recently founded Rugby Football Union , was drawn up for intercollegiate football games. Old "Football Fightum" had been resurrected at Harvard in 1872, when Harvard resumed playing football. Harvard, however, preferred to play
9024-530: The NFL, and some of his assistants, influenced by the Gillman style, included coaches Joe Gibbs , Ernie Zampese , Tom Bass , and Russ A. Molzahn . A larger and more extended version of Sid Gillman's coaching tree, which in some ways could be called a forest, can be found here. Gillman was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983, and into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989. In 1990 he
9165-557: The NFL, are not permitted by the NCAA to be paid salaries. Colleges are only allowed to provide non-monetary compensation such as athletic scholarships that provide for tuition, housing, and books. With new bylaws made by the NCAA, college athletes can now receive "name, image, and likeness" (NIL) deals, a way to get sponsorships and money before their pro debut. Modern North American football has its origins in various games, all known as "football", played at public schools in Great Britain in
9306-730: The North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, North Carolina . On November 13, 1887, the Virginia Cavaliers and Pantops Academy fought to a scoreless tie in the first organized football game in the state of Virginia . Students at UVA were playing pickup games of the kicking-style of football as early as 1870, and some accounts even claim that some industrious ones organized a game against Washington and Lee College in 1871, just two years after Rutgers and Princeton's historic first game in 1869. But no record has been found of
9447-529: The Schembechler's quote was that only a current, 100 percent-committed university employee would coach the team, not Frieder, whose loyalties had just switched to Arizona State. Ironically, Frieder was an alumnus of Michigan, while Fisher was not. Fisher led Michigan to six straight victories in the tournament and the 1989 national championship. Schembechler witnessed the championship game, an 80–79 overtime cliffhanger vs. Seton Hall , two days after his 60th birthday (the semifinal victory over Big Ten rival Illinois
9588-504: The Tigers' flagship radio station WJR later claimed responsibility for the sacking, but Schembechler and club owner Tom Monaghan were denounced for the decision. Schembechler was an opponent of female sports reporters in the men's locker room, defending Tigers pitcher Jack Morris , who told a female Detroit Free Press reporter in 1990, "I don't talk to women when I'm naked unless they're on top of me or I'm on top of them." Schembechler stated "no female member of my family would be inside
9729-666: The University of Michigan have come forward with allegations of inappropriate and unwanted medical treatment by university doctor Robert Anderson . Anderson was employed at the university from 1966 to 2003, and died in 2008. After many lawsuits, an independent investigation was conducted by WilmerHale , LLP. Their 240-page report stated that over 600 former student-athletes at the University of Michigan experienced these assaults. One former player claims Schembechler told him to "toughen up" when he reported an incident of Anderson fondling his testicles during an examination. In June 2021, Schembechler's son Matt Schembechler came forward, saying he
9870-469: The University of Michigan in 1990 to take a job as president of Major League Baseball 's Detroit Tigers , which he held until 1992. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1993. During his later years, Schembechler remained in Southeast Michigan and hosted a sports radio show. He died in 2006 at the age of 77 on the eve of that year's Michigan–Ohio State football game ,
10011-675: The Wolverines to a total of 17 bowl games, going 5–12 in 21 years, placing him ninth in all-time bowl appearances. He was voted national coach of the year in 1969 by both the American Football Coaches Association and the Football Writers Association of America . Schembechler's greatest victory came in his first season , when he led the Wolverines to an upset victory over a standout Ohio State team coached by his old mentor, Woody Hayes. Hayes' Buckeyes dominated
10152-428: The ball only when being pursued. As a result of this, Harvard refused to attend the rules conference organized by Rutgers, Princeton and Columbia at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City on October 20, 1873, to agree on a set of rules and regulations that would allow them to play a form of football that was essentially Association football; and continued to play under its own code. While Harvard's voluntary absence from
10293-476: The ball was advanced by kicking or carrying it, and tackles of the ball carrier stopped play – actions of which have carried over to the modern version of football played today Harvard later challenged its closest rival, Yale, to which the Bulldogs accepted. The two teams agreed to play under a set of rules called the "Concessionary Rules", which involved Harvard conceding something to Yale's soccer and Yale conceding
10434-473: The bench seating). This allows them to seat more fans in a given amount of space than the typical professional stadium, which tends to have more features and comforts for fans. Only three stadiums owned by U.S. colleges or universities, L&N Stadium at the University of Louisville , Center Parc Stadium at Georgia State University , and FAU Stadium at Florida Atlantic University , consist entirely of chair back seating. College athletes, unlike players in
10575-474: The center. Later changes made it possible to snap the ball with the hands, either through the air or by a direct hand-to-hand pass. Rugby league followed Camp's example, and in 1906 introduced the play-the-ball rule, which greatly resembled Camp's early scrimmage and center-snap rules. In 1966, rugby league introduced a four-tackle rule (changed in 1972 to a six-tackle rule) based on Camp's early down-and-distance rules. Camp's new scrimmage rules revolutionized
10716-546: The city of New Haven , banned the play of all forms of football in 1860. American football historian Parke H. Davis described the period between 1869 and 1875 as the 'Pioneer Period'; the years 1876–93 he called the 'Period of the American Intercollegiate Football Association'; and the years 1894–1933 he dubbed the "Period of Rules Committees and Conferences". On November 6, 1869, Rutgers University faced Princeton University , then known as
10857-482: The college authorities agreed the Bloody Monday had to go. Harvard students responded by going into mourning for a mock figure called "Football Fightum", for whom they conducted funeral rites. The authorities held firm, and it was another dozen years before football was once again played at Harvard. Dartmouth played its own version called " Old division football ", the rules of which were first published in 1871, though
10998-456: The conclusion that there are things more important in this world than money," Schembechler said. "For that reason, I've decided to stay at Michigan." From 1990 to 1992 , Schembechler was president of the Detroit Tigers of Major League Baseball . In 1991 , he presided over the firing of Tigers' longtime broadcaster Ernie Harwell ; the move was decried by fans and the press. Management at
11139-529: The day of Schembechler's death. On November 21, 2006, the University of Michigan held a memorial service for Schembechler in Michigan Stadium. Approximately 20,000 fans, ex-players and coaches including former Schembechler player and assistant coach and then LSU head football coach Les Miles were in attendance, as well as former Ohio State head coaches Earle Bruce and John Cooper , along with then Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel and staff. Schembechler
11280-540: The decade. Jim Harbaugh , a future NFL All-Pro quarterback and former head coach of the University of Michigan, led Schembechler's 1985 team to a 10–1–1 record, a 27–23 win over Nebraska in the Fiesta Bowl , and a No. 2 ranking in the final polls, the highest finish ever for one of Schembechler's teams. Schembechler's last two teams went to the Rose Bowl, splitting two games with USC. Schembechler retired from coaching after
11421-539: The decline of the Chargers in the late 1960s. When asked about the money made by players once, Gillman responded by saying “With some of them, football is a vocation. With some, it’s an avocation. You know what football is to me? It’s blood.” Through Gillman's tenure as head coach, the Chargers went 87–57–6 and won five AFL Western Division titles. The 1960 and 1961 teams were led by Jack Kemp at quarterback to go with Paul Lowe and Keith Lincoln as backs and Lance Alworth as star receiver. They narrowly lost each time in
11562-456: The dismissal of Gillman. He then moved to the American Football League (AFL, 1960–1969), where he coached the Los Angeles and San Diego Chargers to five Western Division titles and one league championship in the first six years of the AFL's existence. His greatest coaching success came after he was persuaded by Barron Hilton , then the Chargers' majority owner, to become the head coach of
11703-552: The exam without having received the answers, missed one more question than the other applicant, and did not receive the promotion he coveted. Schembechler often told the story, saying the experience taught him more about integrity than any lecture ever could have. Schembechler attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio , where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He played football under two legendary, and completely different, coaches. Sid Gillman , his first coach at Miami,
11844-634: The first game in Virginia. On April 9, 1880, at Stoll Field , Transylvania University (then called Kentucky University) beat Centre College by the score of 13 + 3 ⁄ 4 –0 in what is often considered the first recorded game played in the South . The first game of "scientific football" in the South was the first instance of the Victory Bell rivalry between North Carolina and Duke (then known as Trinity College) held on Thanksgiving Day , 1888, at
11985-404: The first meeting he attended in 1878: a reduction from fifteen players to eleven. The motion was rejected at that time but passed in 1880. The effect was to open up the game and emphasize speed over strength. Camp's most famous change, the establishment of the line of scrimmage and the snap from center to quarterback , was also passed in 1880. Originally, the snap was executed with the foot of
12126-404: The first time. The Yale team was coached and captained by David Schley Schaff, who had learned to play football while attending Rugby School . Schaff himself was injured and unable to play the game, but Yale won the game 3–0 nonetheless. Later in 1872, Stevens Tech became the fifth school to field a team. Stevens lost to Columbia, but beat both New York University and City College of New York during
12267-454: The following year. By 1873, the college students playing football had made significant efforts to standardize their fledgling game. Teams had been scaled down from 25 players to 20. The only way to score was still to bat or kick the ball through the opposing team's goal, and the game was played in two 45-minute halves on fields 140 yards long and 70 yards wide. On October 20, 1873, representatives from Yale, Columbia, Princeton, and Rutgers met at
12408-431: The game dates to at least the 1830s. All of these games, and others, shared certain commonalities. They remained largely "mob" style games, with huge numbers of players attempting to advance the ball into a goal area, often by any means necessary. Rules were simple, and violence and injury were common. The violence of these mob-style games led to widespread protests and a decision to abandon them. Yale , under pressure from
12549-404: The game, though not always as intended. Princeton, in particular, used scrimmage play to slow the game, making incremental progress towards the end zone during each down . Rather than increase scoring, which had been Camp's original intent, the rule was exploited to maintain control of the ball for the entire game, resulting in slow, unexciting contests. At the 1882 rules meeting, Camp proposed that
12690-488: The helm and a defensive front that would have Culp for years to come alongside that draft choice used to draft Robert Brazile , the Oilers jumped to ten wins in the following season . In 1977, Gillman was hired as offensive coordinator for the Chicago Bears in 1977. The Bears, with Walter Payton leading the way in rushing yards (1,852), won 9 games and earned their first postseason appearance in 14 years, which ended in
12831-629: The highest levels of play, are members of the NCAA . In Canada, collegiate football competition is governed by U Sports for universities. The Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (for colleges) governs soccer and other sports but not gridiron football. Other countries, such as Mexico , Japan and South Korea , also host college football leagues with modest levels of support. Unlike most other major sports in North America , no official minor league farm organizations exist for American football or Canadian football . Therefore, college football
12972-401: The kitchen." Schembechler's other son (and Matt's younger half-brother), Glenn Schembechler, refused to believe Matt's version and stated, "I can tell you unequivocally no one ever told Bo", because in his opinion, "Bo would have done something." After Schembechler married Mildred (Millie) in 1968, he adopted her three sons: Donald (Chip), Geoffrey, and Matthew. Then, Schembechler and Millie had
13113-468: The last two decades of the 19th century. Several major rivalries date from this time period. November 1890 was an active time in the sport. In Baldwin City, Kansas , on November 22, 1890, college football was first played in the state of Kansas . Baker beat Kansas 22–9. On the 27th, Vanderbilt played Nashville (Peabody) at Athletic Park and won 40–0. It was the first time organized football played in
13254-493: The meeting made it hard for them to schedule games against other American universities, it agreed to a challenge to play the rugby team of McGill University , from Montreal , in a two-game series. It was agreed that two games would be played on Harvard's Jarvis baseball field in Cambridge, Massachusetts on May 14 and 15, 1874: one to be played under Harvard rules, another under the stricter rugby regulations of McGill. Jarvis Field
13395-415: The meeting. The rules that they agreed upon were essentially those of rugby union at the time with the exception that points be awarded for scoring a try , not just the conversion afterwards ( extra point ). Incidentally, rugby was to make a similar change to its scoring system 10 years later. Walter Camp is widely considered to be the most important figure in the development of American football. As
13536-452: The mid-19th century. By the 1840s, students at Rugby School were playing a game in which players were able to pick up the ball and run with it, a sport later known as rugby football . The game was taken to Canada by British soldiers stationed there and was soon being played at Canadian colleges. The first documented gridiron football game was played at University College , a college of the University of Toronto , on November 9, 1861. One of
13677-523: The modern game can be seen by listing the current and former coaches and executives who either played with him or coached for him: Numbers in parentheses indicate Super Bowls won by Gillman's "descendants" as head coach, a total of 29. Don Coryell , the coach at San Diego State University when Gillman was coaching the San Diego Chargers, would bring his team to Chargers' practices to watch how Gillman ran his practices. Coryell went on to coach in
13818-432: The modern game that it is today. He was inducted as a coach into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983, and the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989. Gillman played football as an end at Ohio State University from 1931 to 1933. He played professionally for one season in 1936 with the Cleveland Rams of the second American Football League . After serving as an assistant coach at Ohio State from 1938 to 1940, Gillman
13959-710: The nearest college to play football. It took place at Hamilton Park in New Haven and was the first game in New England. The game was essentially soccer with 20-man sides, played on a field 400 by 250 feet. Yale wins 3–0, Tommy Sherman scoring the first goal and Lew Irwin the other two. After the first game against Harvard, Tufts took its squad to Bates College in Lewiston, Maine for the first football game played in Maine . This occurred on November 6, 1875. Penn 's Athletic Association
14100-480: The next six seasons, Schembechler led the Redskins to a 40–17–3 record, winning a pair of Mid-American Conference titles and finishing second three times. The team's top season was 1966, as Miami went 9–1 overall. Miami's offense was led during those seasons by quarterbacks Ernie Kellerman and Bruce Matte. Schembechler was a candidate vying to succeed Milt Bruhn as head coach at Wisconsin in 1967. Immediately after
14241-603: The next year. He was torn between an admiration for Harvard's style of play and the misery of the Yale defeat, and became determined to avenge Yale's defeat. Spectators from Princeton also carried the game back home, where it quickly became the most popular version of football. On November 23, 1876, representatives from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia met at the Massasoit House hotel in Springfield, Massachusetts to standardize
14382-419: The participants in the game involving University of Toronto students was William Mulock , later chancellor of the school. A football club was formed at the university soon afterward, although its rules of play then are unclear. In 1864, at Trinity College , also a college of the University of Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland and Frederick A. Bethune devised rules based on rugby football. Modern Canadian football
14523-414: The players, with Dickie Post calling him a "dictator". Described as "impulsive" by quarterback John Hadl , Gillman had arguments with defensive stars Ernie Ladd and Earl Faison . When Faison was released in 1966, Gillman called the former four-time All-AFL defensive end one who "has a long way to go to become average, much less outstanding." Hadl stated that these removals were part of the beginning of
14664-636: The previous three seasons. In Gillman's three years under Vermeil, the Eagles scored the 3rd-most points in the NFL, won the 2nd-most games, reached the playoffs all three seasons, and reached their first Super Bowl in 1980, with Vermeil stating that the appearance in the Super Bowl would not have happened without the "encylcopedia" knowledge of Gillman. He had retired after the 1980 season as “Physically and mentally drained" before returning in 1982. In July 1983, at age 71, Gillman came out of retirement after an offer from Bill Tatham Sr. and Bill Tatham Jr., owners of
14805-711: The primary starter. Thar year, under an MVP season from Rote, they captured the only league championship the franchise ever won by outscoring the Boston Patriots , 51–10, in the American Football League championship game in Balboa Stadium . Gillman crafted a game plan, "Feast or Famine", that used motion , then seldom seen, to negate the Patriots' blitzes. His plan freed running back Keith Lincoln to rush for 206 yards. In addition to Lincoln, on Gillman's teams through
14946-473: The regular season, he was less successful in bowl games. His overall record was 5–12, which includes a 2–8 record in the Rose Bowl. The Wolverines lost the 1970 Rose Bowl , their first bowl game under Schembechler, while he was hospitalized after suffering a heart attack on the previous day. Michigan went on to lose their next six bowl games before winning five of the last ten they played under Schembechler. The only four of his 21 Michigan teams that did not play in
15087-522: The right to play for the 1955 NFL Championship Game (their fourth appearance in the past five seasons) against the Cleveland Browns , appearing in their sixth straight NFL Championship Game and the defending league champion. Playing at home in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum due to the rotation of the time, the Browns never trailed while forcing six Van Brocklin interceptions on their way to
15228-482: The rules of their various public schools. The game was played at a Rutgers Field in New Brunswick, New Jersey . Two teams of 25 players attempted to score by kicking the ball into the opposing team's goal. Throwing or carrying the ball was not allowed, but there was plenty of physical contact between players. The first team to reach six goals was declared the winner. Rutgers won by a score of six to four. A rematch
15369-615: The rules were changed to allow tackling below the waist, and in 1889, the officials were given whistles and stopwatches. After leaving Yale in 1882, Camp was employed by the New Haven Clock Company until his death in 1925. Though no longer a player, he remained a fixture at annual rules meetings for most of his life, and he personally selected an annual All-American team every year from 1889 through 1924. The Walter Camp Football Foundation continues to select All-American teams in his honor. College football expanded greatly during
15510-412: The rules were formulated before the game. Sid Gillman Sidney Gillman (October 26, 1911 – January 3, 2003) was an American football player, coach and executive. Gillman's insistence on stretching the football field by throwing deep downfield passes , instead of short passes to running backs or wide receivers at the sides of the line of scrimmage , was instrumental in making football into
15651-469: The run, eschewed the pass, and demanded tough, physical play from his linemen. Rather than innovation, Hayes stressed repetition—he wanted his players to run each play flawlessly. Over the next forty years, Hayes' impact on his young protege was clearly evident. Schembechler graduated from Miami in 1951 and earned his master's degree at Ohio State University in 1952 while working as a graduate assistant coach under Hayes, who had become OSU's head coach. After
15792-570: The score of this contest. Washington and Lee also claims a 4 to 2 win over VMI in 1873. On October 18, 1888, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons defeated the North Carolina Tar Heels 6 to 4 in the first intercollegiate game in the state of North Carolina . On December 14, 1889, Wofford defeated Furman 5 to 1 in the first intercollegiate game in the state of South Carolina . The game featured no uniforms, no positions, and
15933-431: The scoring rules, finally arriving at four points for a touchdown, two points for kicks after touchdowns , two points for safeties, and five for field goals . Camp's innovations in the area of point scoring influenced rugby union's move to point scoring in 1890. In 1887, game time was set at two-halves of 45 minutes each. Also in 1887, two paid officials—a referee and an umpire —were mandated for each game. A year later,
16074-422: The series during the late 1950s and for most of the 1960s as Michigan fielded a number of uncharacteristically mediocre teams. In 1968, the year before Schembechler became head coach, Hayes made it clear how far Michigan had fallen behind its traditional rival, when the Wolverines lost 50–14. At the end of the game, Hayes decided to pursue a two-point conversion rather than a simple kick for an extra point. When Hayes
16215-427: The sheer number of fans following major colleges provides a financial equalizer for the game, with Division I programs – the highest level – playing in huge stadiums, six of which have seating capacity exceeding 100,000 people. In many cases, college stadiums employ bench-style seating, as opposed to individual seats with backs and arm rests (although many stadiums do have a small number of chair back seats in addition to
16356-487: The state of Tennessee . The 29th also saw the first instance of the Army–Navy Game . Navy won 24–0. Rutgers was first to extend the reach of the game. An intercollegiate game was first played in the state of New York when Rutgers played Columbia on November 2, 1872. It was also the first scoreless tie in the history of the fledgling sport. Yale football starts the same year and has its first match against Columbia,
16497-443: The talents of Anthony Carter , a three-time consensus All-American. In 1980 Michigan stumbled early in the season, losing two of its first three games. As a result of the two losses, Michigan was eliminated from consideration for college football's national championship, finishing 4th in the end-of-season polls. But Schembechler maintained that his first Rose Bowl champions were the country's best team by season's end. They did not allow
16638-476: The team had declined in wins the previous two seasons with a team bolstered and hindered by its emphasis on explosive offense as quarterbacked by Norm Van Brocklin . A trade for Jim Cason with the San Francisco 49ers also proved helpful in the rookie season that saw Gillman's coaching described as "red-meat, un-finessed brand of football" on the way to a record of 8–3–1 that narrowly beat the Chicago Bears for
16779-479: The two cemented their lifelong friendship. Schembechler was fond of recounting the number of times that Hayes "fired" him, only to send a graduate assistant to fetch him after tempers had calmed. Schembechler, Hayes, Parseghian, and several of their " Cradle of Coaches " compatriots are the subject of the book Fields of Honor , written by coach John Pont's niece, Sally Pont. In 1963, Schembechler returned to Miami University to become head coach of his alma mater. Over
16920-466: The two schools organized a game for October 23, 1869, but it was rained out. Students of the University of Virginia were playing pickup games of the kicking-style of football as early as 1870, and some accounts even claim it organized a game against Washington and Lee College in 1871; but no record has been found of the score of this contest. Due to scantiness of records of the prior matches some will claim Virginia v. Pantops Academy November 13, 1887, as
17061-403: Was 77 years old. At a press conference a few hours after his death, it was reported by his doctor, Dr. Kim Eagle of the University of Michigan Health System , that his death was from the terminal stage of heart disease , where the heart muscle itself does not respond to the pacemaker, a common cause of death for persons afflicted with severe heart disease. Schembechler died the day before one of
17202-559: Was a brother of the Nu chapter of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity. Always deeply interested in the game, while working as a movie theater usher, he removed football segments from newsreels the theater would show, so that he could take them home and study them on a projector he had bought. This dedication to filmed football plays made Gillman the first coach to study game footage, something that all coaches do today. Gillman debated between pursuing
17343-631: Was also active in numerous private charities. He was named a Lifetime Member of the Detroit Sports Media Association. He also hosted a pre-game show "Big Ten Ticket" on the Detroit ABC affiliate, WXYZ-TV along with sports anchor Don Shane. It was devoted to his analysis of the Wolverines, the Michigan State Spartans and other Big Ten Conference teams. At Michigan's annual spring commencement on April 30, 2005, Schembechler
17484-473: Was also the first time one team scored over 100 points and the opposing team was shut out. The next week, Princeton outscored Lafayette 140 to 0. The first intercollegiate game in the state of Vermont happened on November 6, 1886, between Dartmouth and Vermont at Burlington, Vermont . Dartmouth won 91 to 0. Penn State played its first season in 1887, but had no head coach for their first five years, from 1887 to 1891. The teams played its home games on
17625-449: Was an innovative offensive mind and one of the fathers of the modern passing game. His concepts helped to form the foundation for football's West Coast offense . However, in early 1948, Gillman departed to become an assistant coach at Army , and was replaced by George Blackburn . Prior to Schembechler's last season, Blackburn left to join Gillman's coaching staff at Cincinnati , and he was replaced by Woody Hayes . The fiery Hayes embraced
17766-482: Was asked why he "went for two," he responded, "because they wouldn't let me go for three." The embarrassment of that outcome set the stage for the 1969 rematch. In 1969, the Buckeyes entered the game as defending national champions and 17-point favorites with the top ranking in the country and a 22-game winning streak. Hayes' 1969 squad included five first-team All-Americans . But Schembechler's 7–2 Wolverines dominated
17907-503: Was at the time a patch of land at the northern point of the Harvard campus, bordered by Everett and Jarvis Streets to the north and south, and Oxford Street and Massachusetts Avenue to the east and west. Harvard beat McGill in the "Boston Game" on the Thursday and held McGill to a 0–0 tie on the Friday. The Harvard students took to the rugby rules and adopted them as their own, The games featured
18048-418: Was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree. Schembechler had a long history of heart trouble. On December 31, 1969, the eve of his first Rose Bowl appearance , he suffered a heart attack, and had another in 1987 while he happened to be at University of Michigan Medical Center for tests. He had two quadruple heart bypass operations, the first in 1976 and the second following his second heart attack. During
18189-493: Was born and raised in Barberton, Ohio , a suburb of Akron . His nickname "Bo" came from his sister's attempts to say "brother" when they were young children. Schembechler's father was a firefighter. One of Schembechler's seminal experiences was seeing his father refuse to accept a stolen copy of a civil-service exam—despite the fact that the other applicant was reported to have received a stolen copy himself. Schembechler's father took
18330-527: Was felt they would dominate the Association. Penn State won the championship with a 4–1–0 record. Bucknell's record was 3–1–1 (losing to Franklin & Marshall and tying Dickinson). The Association was dissolved prior to the 1892 season. The first nighttime football game was played in Mansfield, Pennsylvania on September 28, 1892, between Mansfield State Normal and Wyoming Seminary and ended at halftime in
18471-631: Was later quoted as stating "I had control of the team. I had the right to draft, waive, trade. I had the control I needed. That’s what [Gillman] gave me. I told Sid that’s what I wanted, and he said that was fine. We didn’t have any disagreement over that. Evidently, the disagreement was with Bud. “There was a whole lot of stories running around, I guess. Believe me, I’m telling you what happened. I worked for [Gillman] for six years, and I enjoyed it for six years. If he wanted to draft somebody that I didn’t want to draft, we wouldn’t have drafted him. I had no problem with knowing my responsibilities." With Phillips at
18612-556: Was looking to pick "a twenty" to play a game of football against Columbia. This "twenty" never played Columbia, but did play twice against Princeton. Princeton won both games 6 to 0. The first of these happened on November 11, 1876, in Philadelphia and was the first intercollegiate game in the state of Pennsylvania . Brown entered the intercollegiate game in 1878. The first game where one team scored over 100 points happened on October 25, 1884, when Yale routed Dartmouth 113–0. It
18753-403: Was molested at age ten by Anderson during a routine physical in the 1960s, and that Schembechler went to "great lengths" to ensure Anderson kept his job after Matt's mother told AD Don Canham , who was ready to fire Anderson before Coach Schembechler's intervention. Upon telling his father what happened, Matt said: "That was the first time he closed-fist punched me. It knocked me all the way across
18894-539: Was not feeling well, Schembechler attended the funeral of his close friend and 1971 quarterback, Tom Slade . That night, Bo delivered his traditional Thursday night pep talk before the Ohio State game. According to The Detroit News : "Bo's speech was not about Ohio State, the Big Ten title or a national championship. The whole speech was about Tom Slade and how, if the players worked hard, listened to their coaches and stuck together as teammates, one day they might be as good
19035-542: Was played at Princeton a week later under Princeton's own set of rules (one notable difference was the awarding of a "free kick" to any player that caught the ball on the fly, which was a feature adopted from The Football Association's rules; the fair catch kick rule has survived through to modern American game). Princeton won that game by a score of 8 – 0. Columbia joined the series in 1870 and by 1872 several schools were fielding intercollegiate teams, including Yale and Stevens Institute of Technology . Columbia University
19176-434: Was played on Schembechler's birthday). Fisher submitted Bill Frieder's name to receive the championship ring, however someone, likely from Schembechler's administration, removed his name. Schembechler would coach Michigan's Rose Bowl team in 1990 while having secretly accepted the role of President for the Detroit Tigers , publicly announcing the hire after the game. Schembechler began his tenure as head coach at Michigan with
19317-413: Was taking the head coach position at Arizona State University , effective at the end of the season. Insisting on those in the program being dedicated to the school, Schembechler immediately fired Frieder and appointed assistant basketball coach Steve Fisher as interim head coach, while famously announcing that "a Michigan man is going to coach a Michigan team" in the NCAA tournament. The literal meaning of
19458-590: Was the 1881 Michigan team , which played at Harvard, Yale and Princeton. The nation's first college football league, the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives (also known as the Western Conference), a precursor to the Big Ten Conference , was founded in 1895. Led by coach Fielding H. Yost , Michigan became the first "western" national power. From 1901 to 1905, Michigan had
19599-638: Was the first game west of the Mississippi River . November 30, 1905, saw Chicago defeat Michigan 2 to 0. Dubbed "The First Greatest Game of the Century", it broke Michigan's 56-game unbeaten streak and marked the end of the "Point-a-Minute" years. Organized collegiate football was first played in the state of Virginia and the south on November 2, 1873, in Lexington between Washington and Lee and VMI . Washington and Lee won 4–2. Some industrious students of
19740-428: Was the head football coach at Miami University from 1944 to 1947 and at the University of Cincinnati from 1949 to 1954, compiling a career college football record of 81–19–2. He then moved to the ranks of professional football, where he headed the NFL's Los Angeles Rams (1955–1959), the American Football League 's Los Angeles and San Diego Chargers (1960–1969), and the NFL's Houston Oilers (1973–1974), amassing
19881-488: Was the third school to field a team. The Lions traveled from New York City to New Brunswick on November 12, 1870, and were defeated by Rutgers 6 to 3. The game suffered from disorganization and the players kicked and battled each other as much as the ball. Later in 1870, Princeton and Rutgers played again with Princeton defeating Rutgers 6–0. This game's violence caused such an outcry that no games at all were played in 1871. Football came back in 1872, when Columbia played Yale for
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