Fritz Crisler

Herbert Orin "Fritz" Crisler ( ; January 12, 1899 – August 19, 1982) was an American college football coach who is best known as "the father of two-platoon football", He was also the head basketball coach at Princeton for two seasons from 1932 to 1934, tallying a mark of 32–11.

Crisler's 1947 Michigan Wolverines football team, dubbed the "Mad Magicians," had an undefeated campaign, ending with a 49–0 triumph over the USC Trojans in the 1948 Rose Bowl. Afterwards, the team was selected the national champion by the Associated Press in an unprecedented post-bowl vote. Crisler retired from coaching after the 1947 season and served as the University of Michigan's athletic director from 1941 to 1968. Crisler was also a member of the NCAA football rules committee for 41 years and its chairman for nine years.

Crisler Center, home of the Michigan men's and women's basketball teams, was renamed in honor of Crisler in 1970. In addition, one "extra" seat in Michigan Stadium was added to honor Crisler for his special place in the history of Michigan football. However, its location is unknown.

University of Chicago athlete

Crisler was born in Earlville, Illinois in 1899. He participated in football at Mendota High School and was an outstanding student. a second-team All-American by Football World (based on a poll of 267 coaches), and a third-team All-American by Walter Camp. Crisler became an all-around athletic star at the University of Chicago, winning a total of nine varsity letters, three each in football, baseball and basketball. Based on his achievements in multiple sports, Crisler was awarded the Big Ten Medal of Honor, one of the most prestigious conference awards in college athletics.

Football coach

Chicago (1922–1929)

After receiving his degree from the University of Chicago in 1922, Crisler accepted a position as assistant coach at his alma mater, working as an assistant to his mentor, Amos Alonzo Stagg. Crisler remained an assistant coach at Chicago for eight years.

Minnesota (1930–1931)

In 1930, Crisler was hired as the athletic director and head football coach at the University of Minnesota. Crisler was the head coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers football program for two seasons in 1930 and 1931. In the 1930 season, Crisler's team won three games, lost four and tied one. Guard Biggie Munn was awarded the Team MVP Award. In 1931, Crisler's team improved to a record of 7–3. Munn later became Crisler's rival as the football coach at Michigan State University from 1947 to 1953.

Princeton (1932–1937)

Crisler was the head football coach at Princeton from 1932 to 1937 where he compiled a record of 35–9–5. Two of his teams, the 1933 and 1935 teams, compiled perfect 9–0 records and were recognized by some as national champions. The 1933 team was invited to the Rose Bowl, but administration turned down the offer. Columbia, which had lost only one game, to Princeton, accepted the invitation and defeated Stanford. Crisler introduced two innovations that later came into general usage. The first was his development of a faster starting stance for offensive linemen, and the second was a practice of having his quarterback stand apart from the huddle until ready to call a play.

In his ten years as coach, the Wolverines compiled a record of 71–16–3. His Michigan teams finished lower than second in the Big Ten Conference only twice. The 1943 team won the school's first Big Ten championship in ten years with an 8–1 record, losing only to Notre Dame, a game which would spark another 30 years of Michigan refusing to schedule a game against Notre Dame. His 80.5 winning percentage ranks him second in school history behind only Fielding H. Yost (minimum 50 games coached).

Crisler's most noted players at Michigan included Heisman Trophy winner Tom Harmon, Bob Chappuis, Forest Evashevski (who later became athletic director at Iowa), Bump Elliott, Pete Elliott, Albert Wistert, Bob Westfall, Ed Frutig, and Julius Franks. Led by team captain, Bruce Hilkene, quarterback Howard Yerges, and All-American halfbacks Bob Chappuis and Bump Elliott, the 1947 Wolverines outscored their opponents, 394–53. The Wolverines victory in the 1948 Rose Bowl tied Michigan's final in the first ever 1902 Rose Bowl, as the most points scored, and the largest margin of victory, in the history of the "Granddaddy of Them All".

The 1947 Michigan team was also the first fully to embrace the concept of defensive and offensive specialization. Crisler established fully separate offensive and defensive squads. Only Bump Elliott and Jack Weisenberger played on both squads. In November 1947, Time magazine ran a feature article about the 1947 Wolverines (with Bob Chappuis’ photograph on the cover) called, "The Specialist." The Time article focused on the new era of specialization marked by Crisler's decision to field separate offensive and defensive units.

University of Michigan athletic director (1941–1968)

thumb|165px|right|Crisler from 1962 Michiganensian

When Crisler was recruited from Princeton to Michigan, it was agreed that he would also take over as Michigan's athletic director when Fielding H. Yost retired. Yost retired in 1941, and Crisler became the athletic director at that time. He continued to hold that position for 27 years until his retirement in 1968. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1954.

Men's swimming — six national championships (1941, 1948, 1957–1959, 1961) and 25 finishes in the top four in the country;
Football — two national championships (1947 and 1948), six Big Ten championships (1943, 1947–1950 and 1964) and three Rose Bowl victories (1948, 1951 and 1965);
Baseball — two national championships (1953 and 1962) and ten Big Ten championships (1941–1942, 1944–1945, 1948–1950, 1952–1953 and 1961);
Basketball — two appearances in the Final Four (1964 and 1965) and four Big Ten championships (1948 and 1964–1966);
Men's gymnastics — one national championship (1963) and seven Big Ten championships (1961–1966 and 1968);
Men's tennis — one national championship (1957) and 12 Big Ten championships (1941, 1944–1945, 1955–1962 and 1965–1966);
Wrestling — 17 Big Ten championships (1943, 1944, 1951–1957, 1960–1967); and
Track and field — 18 Big Ten team championships (11 indoor and 7 outdoor) and nine individual NCAA event championships

As athletic director, Crisler also led two expansions of Michigan Stadium, helping to make it the nation's largest college stadium. Through subsequent renovations, Michigan has continued the tradition of ending official seating capacity numbers with the digit 1, and the final seat has been said to be reserved in Crisler's honor.

At the time of Crisler's retirement in 1968, the Associated Press credited him with helping to "lift college football from a 'rah, rah' campus pastime in the 1930s into the modern multimillion dollar enterprise of today." Crisler was succeeded as Michigan's athletic director by Don Canham, whom Crisler had hired as the school's track coach in the late 1940s.

Later years

After retiring in 1968, Crisler continued to live in Ann Arbor. When Bo Schembechler took over as Michigan's football coach in 1969, he recalled that he went out of his way to get to know Crisler. Schembechler considered Crisler "a giant" and made time to go over to Crisler's house and sit in his basement, listening to Crisler's theories and stories. In 1978, Crisler and Fielding H. Yost became the first coaches inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor; the only persons inducted ahead of Crisler and Yost were athletes, Gerald Ford, Bill Freehan, Tom Harmon, Ron Kramer, Bennie Oosterbaan, Cazzie Russell, and Bob Ufer. He died in Ann Arbor in 1982 at age 83. He had been hospitalized twice in his final months, once for pneumonia.

Head coaching record

Football

Basketball

Coaching tree

Played under:

Amos Alonzo Stagg: Chicago (1919–1921)

Coached under:

Amos Alonzo Stagg: Chicago (1922–1929)

Assistant coaches who became head coaches:

Archie Kodros: Whitman (1949–1950), Hawaii (1951) (Kodros also played for Crisler at Michigan)
Biggie Munn: Syracuse (1946), Michigan State (1947–1953) (Munn also played for Crisler at Minnesota)
Bennie Oosterbaan: Michigan (1948–1958)
Arthur Valpey: Harvard (1948–1949), Connecticut (1950–1951)

Former players who went on to become head coaches

Jerry Burns: Iowa (1961–1965), Minnesota Vikings (1986–1991)
Wally Dreyer: Wisconsin–Milwaukee (1960–1969)
Bump Elliott: Michigan (1959–1968)
Pete Elliott: Nebraska (1956), California (1957–1959), Illinois (1960–1966), Miami (FL) (1973–1974)
Forest Evashevski: Washington State (1950–1951), Iowa (1952–1960)
Bob Hollway: St. Louis Cardinals (1971–1972)
Bob Ingalls: Connecticut (1952–1963)
Ralph Kohl: Franklin (1955–1956), Eastern Illinois (1957–1964)
David M. Nelson: Hillsdale (1946–1947), Maine (1949–1950), Delaware (1951–1965)
Jack Petoskey: Hillsdale (1949–1950), Western Michigan (1953–1956)
Tubby Raymond: Delaware (1966–2001)
Fred Trosko: Eastern Michigan (1952–1964)
Jack Wink: Stout State (1952–1955), St. Cloud State (1956–1964)
Irv Wisniewski: Hillsdale (1951)

References

External links

Profile at Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan Athletics History