1871 : Fielding Yost Born, Future University of Michigan Football Coach

When:
April 30, 2024 all-day
2024-04-30T00:00:00-04:00
2024-05-01T00:00:00-04:00

Fielding Yost sitting side.jpg

Yost in 1902

Fielding Harris Yost (April 30, 1871 – August 20, 1946) was an American football player, coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at: Ohio Wesleyan University, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the University of Kansas, Stanford University, San Jose State University, and the University of Michigan, compiling a college football career record of 198–35–12. During his 25 seasons as the head football coach in Ann Arbor, Yost’s Michigan Wolverines won six national championships, captured ten Big Ten Conference titles, and amassed a record of 165–29–10.

From 1901 to 1905, his “Point-a-Minute” squads had a record of 55–1–1, outscoring their opponents by a margin of 2,821 to 42. The 1901 team beat Stanford, 49–0, in the 1902 Rose Bowl, the first college football bowl game. Under Yost, Michigan won four straight national championships from 1901 to 1904 and two more in 1918 and 1923.

In 1921, Yost became Michigan’s athletic director and served in that capacity until 1940. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1951. Yost was also a successful business person, lawyer, and author; but he is best known as a leading figure in pioneering the development of college football into a national phenomenon.

Fielding Yost’s first contract called for U-M to pay him a $2,300 salary and required him to coach the team “to the best of his knowledge and ability” beginning in September 1901 “and continuing until the last game is played.”

1901 Michigan Football Team

Source :

Fielding H. Yost wikipedia entry

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