Page 164 - Toledo Football Media Guide - 2012

HISTORY 165

Dan Simrell

1982-89

Record: 50-37-2 (.567) Best year: 9-2 (1983)

Dan Simrell recorded 50 victories in his eight seasons at Toledo, the second-most wins of any coach in school history.

He led UT to a Mid-American Conference title in 1984 and a berth in the California Bowl, as the Rockets posted a 9-2-1 record. In 1983, Toledo raced to a 9-0 start before dropping its fnal two games of the season.

Inadditiontothe leaguetitle, Simrell’s teams fnishedsecond inconferenceplay threetimes (1983, 1986, 1989).

A native of Toledo, Simrell was the frst UT alumtocoach the football team. He letteredas a quarterback from 1962-64, and also served as an assistant coach from 1971-81.

Jim Nicholson

1930-35

Record: 20-16-4 (.550) Best year: 6-2-1 (1935)

Jim Nicholson be-came UT’s frst full-time football coach in April of 1930, when the cur-rent campus was under

construction. He upgraded the schedule and instituted organized recruiting, eventually building UT into a powerful and respected football program. In 1935, his fnal season, the Rockets fnished 6-2-1, including a 63-0 win overBowlingGreenthat ledtoa13-year cessa-tion of the rivalry between the two schools. He helped design the Glass Bowl, and after his retirement as coach participated in reor-ganizing the Varsity ‘T’ Club. He later became an industrialist and civic leader in the City of Toledo.

Coaching Greats

Clarence Spears

1936-42

Record: 38-26-2 (.591) Best year: 7-3 (1939)

ClarenceSpears’38career victories stood as a UT record for 30 years before being surpassed by Frank

Lauterbur’smarkof48wins.Whenfootballwas suspended at UT because of WWII, he left to take the head coaching job at Maryland. Fol-lowingthewar,Clarence,betterknownas“Doc,” left coaching toengage in aprivatepracticeof medicine, mostly in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Prior to coming to Toledo, Spears had head coaching stops at Dartmouth, West Virginia, Minnesota (where he coached Bronko Nagur-ski), Oregon andWisconsin.

A graduate of Dartmouth, where he was a Walter Camp All-America guard, Spears at-tended Rush Medical College of Chicago.

Bill Orwig

1946-47

Record: 15-4-2 (.762) Best year: 9-2 (1947)

Bill Orwig coached the Rockets for just two sea-sons, but in that time establishedoneof thebest

winning percentages in school history. Orwig is one of the few coaches in UT his-tory tooversee two sports at once, also taking the reins of the basketball team during the 1946-47 season. He returned to Michigan, his alma mater, in 1948 as a member of the athletic administration, and became athletics director at Nebraska in 1954. He took the AD job at Indiana in 1961, hiring Bob Knight as basketball coach in 1971.

Frank Lauterbur

1963-70

Record: 48-32-2 (.598) Best year: 12-0 (1970)

Frank Lauterbur presided over the most glorious era of UT football. Lauterbur coached the Rockets to

the frst MAC title in school history in 1967, followedby leaguechampionshipsandperfect seasons in1969 and1970. Lauterbur’s Rockets could score readily, but won by stopping their opponents, twice leading the nation in total defense.

In 1970, Toledo fnished 12th in the AP poll and 17th in the UPI poll. After capping that season with a second straight Tangerine Bowl victory, “FXL” as he was afectionately known, took the head coaching job at Iowa.

Jack Murphy

1971-76

Record: 35-32 (.522) Best year: 12-0 (1971)

JackMurphy, anassistant under Frank Lauterbur, took over the coaching reins in 1971, promptly

leading the Rockets to another MAC title and a 12-0 record. That was also the year Toledo’s famed winning streak reached 35 games, as the Rockets’ fnished 13th in the UPI poll and 14th in the AP poll.

Murphy’s perfect campaign came during his frst season as a Division I-A head coach, a feat not equaled until Auburn’s Terry Bowden turned the trick in 1993.

Nick Saban

1990

Record: 9-2 (.818)

Nick Saban was head coach for one season, lead-ingToledotoa9-2recordand a MAC co-championship in 1990.

Saban came to UT from the Houston Oilers, wherehehadservedasdefensivebackscoach.He left Toledo after the 1991 season to become the Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator. Saban has sincebeen thehead coachatMichiganState (1995-99), LSU (2000-04), the NFL’s Miami Dol-phins (2005-06) and Alabama (2007-present).

Gary Pinkel

1991-2000

Record: 73-37-3 (.659) Best year: 11-0-1 (1995)

Gary Pinkel has the most wins (73) and the second-best winning percentage (.659) among UT coaches

who led the program for at least four years. In 1995, Pinkel led the Rockets to an 11-0-1 record, a victory in the Las Vegas Bowl and a top 25 ranking in both the AP and coaches’ polls. In 1997, Pinkel led the Rockets to the frst-ever MACWest title and a trip to the MAC Champion-ship Game. The Rockets fnished the season 9-3 and were ranked as high as No. 18 at one point in the season.

Pinkel’s Rockets repeated as MACWest cham-pions in 1998, earning UT’s third post-season appearance in four seasons.

In Pinkel’s fnal season in 2000, the Rockets went 10-1, includinga 24-6 victory at PennState, and were ranked No. 25 in the nation in both fnal regular-season polls. Following the 2000 season, Pinkel took the head coaching position at Missouri.

Tom Amstutz

2001-08

Record: 58-41 (.586) Best year: 10-2 (2001)

“Toledo”TomAmstutz led theRockets tosomeof their fnest moments, including two MAC Championships,

fourWestDivision titles and four bowl appear-ances.

A native of Toledo who also played for the Rockets,Amstutzspentnearlyhisentirecoach-ing career as an assistant at UT beforemoving into the big chair following the departure of Gary Pinkel at the end of the 2000 season. Duringhiseight seasonsasheadcoach, Am-stutz led his team to victories over Michigan, No. 9 Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Kansas and Iowa State, as well as dramatic comebackwins over Marshall inthe2001MACChampionshipGame and Bowling Green in the 2004 season fnale that clinched the MACWest title.