Francis Schmidt

Template:Short description Francis Albert Schmidt (December 3, 1885 – September 19, 1944) was an American football player and coach of football, basketball, and baseball. He served as the head football coach at the University of Tulsa (1919–1921), the University of Arkansas (1922–1928), Texas Christian University (1929–1933), Ohio State University (1934–1940), and the University of Idaho (1941–1942), compiling a career college football head coaching record of Template:Winning percentage.

Schmidt's teams were known for trick plays involving multiple laterals and non-standard tackle-eligible, and even guard-eligible, formations. The press labeled Schmidt's approach as the "razzle-dazzle offense". Because Schmidt's teams were known for high scoring, the media nicknamed him Francis "Close the Gates of Mercy" Schmidt. Schmidt was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1971.

Schmidt also served as the head basketball coach at Tulsa (1915–1917, 1918–1922), Arkansas (1923–1929), and Texas Christian (1929–1934), compiling a career record of Template:Winning percentage, and the head baseball coach at Arkansas (1923–1929), tallying a mark of Template:Winning percentage.

Playing career and education

Schmidt was born in Downs, Kansas, and played college football at the University of Nebraska. He earned a varsity letter with the Nebraska Cornhuskers in 1905 and received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Law a few years later.

Coaching career

From 1915 through 1916, Schmidt joined the football coaching staff as an assistant at the University of Tulsa. World War I, however, interrupted Schmidt's coaching career. He served in the United States Army and rose to the rank of captain. Schmidt was hired as the Tulsa head football coach in 1919. In his first season, Tulsa finished with a record of 8–0–1 and outscored its opponents 592–27. Schmidt's record at Tulsa was 24–3–2 in three seasons. Schmidt had defeated Arkansas by a score of 63–7 in 1919, and the Razorbacks hired Schmidt away from Tulsa in 1922. In seven years at Arkansas (1922–1928), his record was 41–21–3. While at Arkansas, he was also the coach of the basketball and baseball teams; it was not uncommon during that time for coaches at major universities to coach more than one sport.

Schmidt's most memorable years, however, were at Texas Christian and Ohio State. In five years at TCU (1929–1933), he won two Southwest Conference championships and had a record of 47–6–5 (Template:Winning percentage). In seven seasons at Ohio State (1934–1940), Schmidt won two Big Ten Conference titles and was 39–16–1 (Template:Winning percentage).

Schmidt's most notable contribution to popular culture came in his first year at Ohio State. The Columbus press asked Schmidt about the team's chances of beating rival Michigan. Schmidt replied, "Those fellows put their pants on one leg at a time, the same as everyone else." This phrase had previously been a Texas regionalism, but because of the press attention given to Schmidt, it soon became an internationally known cliché. Ohio State beat Michigan the first four years Schmidt coached there. Since that time, any Ohio State player that defeats Michigan is awarded a "Gold Pants Charm", a gold lapel pin shaped like football pants.

Schmidt finished his football coaching career with a two-year stint at Idaho (1941–1942), then a member of the Pacific Coast Conference, with a 7–12 record. With male civilian enrollment extremely curtailed due to World War II, Idaho (and four of the five other northern division teams) discontinued football before the 1943 season.

Death

While still living in Moscow, Schmidt's health began to fail in the spring of 1944. He spent his last three weeks at St. Luke's Hospital in Spokane, Washington, where he died on September 19 at age 58. He was buried in Kansas, at Riverview Cemetery in Arkansas City.

Head coaching record

Football

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	AP#
Kendall / Tulsa Orange and Black (Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference) (1919–1921)
1919	Kendall	8–0–1	5–0–1	1st
1920	Kendall	10–0–1	6–0–1	1st
1921	Tulsa	6–3	5–1	2nd
Tulsa:		24–3–2	16–1–2
Arkansas Razorbacks (Southwest Conference) (1922–1928)
1922	Arkansas	4–5	1–3	6th
1923	Arkansas	6–2–1	2–2	T–4th
1924	Arkansas	7–2–1	1–2–1	7th
1925	Arkansas	4–4–1	1–2–1	T–5th
1926	Arkansas	5–5	2–2	T–3rd
1927	Arkansas	8–1	2–1	3rd
1928	Arkansas	7–2	2–1	2nd
Arkansas:		41–21–3	11–13–2
TCU Horned Frogs (Southwest Conference) (1929–1933)
1929	TCU	9–0–1	4–0–1	1st
1930	TCU	9–2–1	4–2	3rd
1931	TCU	9–2–1	4–1–1	2nd
1932	TCU	10–0–1	6–0	1st
1933	TCU	9–2–1	4–2	T–2nd
TCU:		46–6–5	22–5–2
Ohio State Buckeyes (Big Ten Conference) (1934–1940)
1934	Ohio State	7–1	5–1	2nd
1935	Ohio State	7–1	5–0	T–1st
1936	Ohio State	5–3	4–1	T–2nd
1937	Ohio State	6–2	5–1	2nd		13
1938	Ohio State	4–3–1	2–3–1	6th
1939	Ohio State	6–2	5–1	1st		15
1940	Ohio State	4–4	3–3	T–4th
Ohio State:		39–16–1	30–9–1
Idaho Vandals (Pacific Coast Conference) (1941–1942)
1941	Idaho	4–5	0–4	10th
1942	Idaho	3–7	1–5	9th
Idaho:		7–12	1–9
Total:		157–58–11
National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth
Template:Plainlist #Rankings from final AP Poll.

Men's basketball

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
1915–16	Kendall	5–2
1916–17	Kendall	5–3
1918–19	Kendall	5–3
1919–20	Kendall	16–3
1920–21	Kendall	18–2			National AAU tournament
1921–22	Tulsa	14–4
Tulsa:		Template:Winpct
1923–24	Arkansas	17–11	3–9	7th
1924–25	Arkansas	21–5	10–4	3rd
1925–26	Arkansas	23–2	11–1	1st
1926–27	Arkansas	14–2	8–2	1st
1927–28	Arkansas	19–1	12–0	1st
1928–29	Arkansas	19–1	11–1	1st
Arkansas:		Template:Winpct	Template:Winpct
1929–30	TCU	7–10	4–8	7th
1930–31	TCU	18–4	9–3	1st
1931–32	TCU	18–4	9–3	2nd
1932–33	TCU	16–4	9–3	2nd
1933–34	TCU	13–2	10–2	1st
TCU:		Template:Winpct	Template:Winpct
Total:		Template:Winpct
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

Baseball

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
1923	Arkansas	5–11
1924	Arkansas	3–11
1925	Arkansas	5–11
1926	Arkansas	4–13
1927	Arkansas	8–5
1928	Arkansas	7–6
1929	Arkansas	6–7
Arkansas:		Template:Winpct
Total:		Template:Winpct
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

External links

• [[[:Template:College Football HoF/url]] College Football Hall of Fame profile]