Muddy Waters (football coach)
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Frank "Muddy" Waters (January 30, 1923 - September 20, 2006) was an American college football coach best known for his years at Hillsdale College from 1954 to 1973 and at Michigan State University from 1980 to 1982.
Born in Chico, California, Waters grew up in Wallingford, Connecticut. He played as a fullback for Michigan State from 1946 to 1949, under the training of coaches Charlie Bachman and Clarence "Biggie" Munn. His Hillsdale Dales/Chargers teams won 34 consecutive games from 1953 to 1957 while participating in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association. In 1955 his 9-0 team refused to play in the Tangerine Bowl when game officials prohibited the team's black players from participating. He was named NAIA Coach of the Year in 1957, a year in which the team played in the Holiday Bowl and was chosen by the Washington D.C. Touchdown Club as the best small college team in the country. In his final year at the school, its stadium was renamed Frank Waters Stadium. After leaving Hillsdale with a 138-47-5 record, Waters went on to serve as the first head coach of the Saginaw Valley State University Cardinals from 1975 to 1979, posting a 24-26-2 record and capturing a Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title in his final season.
In 1980, MSU hired Waters to coach the team after an NCAA probation. Waters coached for three seasons, but got fired after a 10-23 record in three seasons.[1] Despite his firing just before the last game of the season, Waters was popular enough with players and fans to be carried off the field after his final 24-18 loss to the University of Iowa.[2]
After leaving MSU's head coach position, Waters continued to live in East Lansing and participate as member of the MSU for the next two decades. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000 in the Small College category. Waters died of congestive heart failure at age 83 in Saginaw, Michigan.[3]
[edit] References
- ^ College Football Data Warehouse. All-Time Coaching Records by Year. "Frank 'Muddy' Waters". Accessed September 20, 2006.
- ^ Rexrode, Joe. "A True Spartan". Lansing State Journal. September 21, 2006. Accessed September 21, 2006.
- ^ Rexrode, Joe. "Former MSU coach 'Muddy' Waters dies". Lansing State Journal. September 20, 2006. Accessed September 20, 2006.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Darryl Rogers |
Michigan State Head Football Coach 1980–1982 |
Succeeded by George Perles |
