Francis William Doolittle (August 10, 1923 – April 10, 2014) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

player and coach. Doolittle attended high school in

Mansfield, Ohio Mansfield is a city in and the county seat of Richland County, Ohio, United States. Located midway between Columbus and Cleveland via Interstate 71, it is part of Northeast Ohio region in the western foothills of the Allegheny Plateau. The city ...

, where he was selected as an all-state quarterback in his senior year. He enrolled at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in 1941. He enlisted in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

in 1943, served 53 months in the military and earned a

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

for his service in the

Pacific Theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

before returning to Ohio State. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the

Ohio State Buckeyes football The Ohio State Buckeyes football team competes as part of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, representing Ohio State University in the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. Ohio State has played their home games at Ohio Stadium in ...

team in 1946 and 1947. He began his coaching career in 1948 at Grandview High School in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. From 1949 to 1950, he was the backfield coach at

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, where he was

Joe Paterno Joseph Vincent Paterno (; December 21, 1926 – January 22, 2012), sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions football, Penn ...

's position coach. He was an assistant football coach at Lincoln High School in

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and ...

, in 1951 and head coach at Owosso High School in

Owosso, Michigan Owosso is the largest city in Shiawassee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 15,194 at the 2010 census. The city is mostly surrounded by Owosso Township on its west, but the two are administered autonomously. The city wa ...

, in 1952–53, where his record was 6–12. He later coached at

Flint Central High School Flint Central High School was one of the Flint Community Schools, located in Flint, Michigan, USA. Flint Central was the city's oldest school. Its first building was built in 1875, and the school moved into the present building in 1923. It was ca ...

from 1954 to 1959, compiling a record of 37–14–3 at the school and leading his team to the Class A state championship in 1958. He returned to his alma mater, Mansfield High School, as the head football coach in 1960 and 1961, where his teams went 12–6–2. In January 1962, he was hired as the offensive backfield coach for the

Army football The Army Black Knights football team, previously known as the Army Cadets, represents the United States Military Academy in college football. Army is a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) member of the NCAA. The Black Knights play home g ...

team by high school teammate Paul Dietzel. After two years as the backfield coach for Army, he was hired as the head football coach at

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. Bliss for the training of teachers ...

in January 1964. After leading the team to a

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

championship in 1966, he was named the conference's coach of the year. He spent 11 years as the head coach at Western Michigan from 1964 to 1974, compiling a record of 58–49–2 as a head coach. Doolittle resigned as the head coach at Western Michigan in November 1974. In 1975 Doolittle became the director of Western's Gary Athletic Fund. In 1988, Doolittle received the Man of the Year Award from Western Michigan's Alumni "W" Club. He was inducted into WMU's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996. He died at the age of 90 on April 10, 2014.

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doolittle, Bill 1923 births 2014 deaths American football quarterbacks Army Black Knights football coaches Brown Bears football coaches Ohio State Buckeyes football players Western Michigan Broncos football coaches High school football coaches in Michigan High school football coaches in Ohio United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II United States Marines Sportspeople from Mansfield, Ohio Players of American football from Ohio