Dan McGugin
McGugin cropped from 1903 Michigan Wolverines team photograph
|
|
| Sport(s) | Football |
|---|---|
| Biographical details | |
| Born |
July 29, 1879 near Tingley, Iowa |
| Died | January 23, 1936 (aged 56) Memphis, Tennessee |
| Alma mater | Drake University |
| Playing career | |
| 1898–1900 | Drake |
| 1901–1902 | Michigan |
| Position(s) | Guard, tackle, punter |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1903 | Michigan (assistant) |
| 1904–1917 | Vanderbilt |
| 1919–1934 | Vanderbilt |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1934–1936 | Vanderbilt |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 197–55–19 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 9 SIAA (1904–1907, 1910–1912, 1915, 1921) 2 SoCon (1922–1923) |
|
|
College Football Hall of Fame Inducted in 1951 (profile) |
|
Daniel Earle McGugin (July 29, 1879 – January 23, 1936) was an American football player and coach, as well as a lawyer. He served as the head football coach at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee from 1904 to 1917 and again from 1919 to 1934, compiling a record of 197–55–19. He is the winningest head coach in the history of the university. McGugin was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1951 as part of its inaugural class.
Zipp Newman once wrote “I believe Dan McGugin would have gone down in history as the greatest of all coaches had he given all of his time to coaching. He was a great play-maker, but football was a sport for the beloved McGugin and law was his profession.”
McGugin was born in July 1879 on a farm near Tingley, Iowa. He was the son of Benjamin Franklin McGugin (1843–1925) and Melissa (Critchfield) McGugin (1845–1915). He was of Scottish and Irish descent.
McGugin saw the baton twirling skills of W. W. Wharton in Tingley for a Sunday evening church service one day in 1896 and was intrigued. Wharton, Drake University's first football coach, suggested he play football instead. "Come to Drake University," Wharton suggested, "and we'll make you as fine a tackle as there is."
McGugin enrolled at Drake University and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1901. He played football at Drake for two years at the guard and tackle positions and "was considered one of the best players that Drake ever had." After one victory he purchased a small brass cannon and fired it at regular fifteen-minute intervals, nodding politely to neighbors' Sabbath complaints and merrily blasting away.
After graduating from Drake, McGugin enrolled in law school at the University of Michigan. While there, McGugin played college football for Fielding H. Yost. He was a player on Michigan's "Point-a-Minute" teams that outscored their opponents, 1,211 to 12 in 1901 and 1902, and served as Yost's assistant coach at Michigan in 1903. A profile of McGugin in the 1903 University of Michigan yearbook noted:
...
Wikipedia