Frank Crawford

Frank Crawford was a college football coach at Michigan, Wisconsin, Nebraska, and Texas. In 1891, he (with Mike Murphy) coached the Michigan team to a 4-5 record; this was the first year the Michigan team had coaches. In 1892, he coached at Wisconsin, and compiled a 4-3 record. He was a graduate of Yale, and is rumored to have attended Michigan State.

At Nebraska

He coached at Nebraska from 1893 to 1894, serving as the school's first head football coach. As the head coach, he compiled a 10-4-1 record. In 1893, after losing consecutive games to Kansas and Missouri, his team was 2-2-1. The next game was against the powerhouse Iowa team. One of the most memorable moments, was when the coach himself was the starting half-back. He scored three rushing touchdowns that game, as Nebraska upset Iowa 20-18.

His 1894 team saw more of the same. After starting the season 2-2, the team won five consecutive games to finish the season 7-2. This included a 36-0 wacking of Iowa, to earn the schools first ever conference championship. Following the 1894 season, he moved on to Texas.

At Texas

Texas had just came off its first loss in school history, an 0-28 home loss to Missouri, when it fired its previous head coach. After months of searching, they finally landed Crawford. As a coach, he stressed physical conditioning, and brought forth the Yale style of play. The school played just five games that season, but went 5-0 and outscored their opponents by a combined 96-0 margin. Texas's all-time football record moved to 15-1.

External links

* [http://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/coaches/crawford.htm Frank Crawford and Mike Murphy at Michigan, from the Bentley Historical Library]