Carroll Curtis Widdoes (December 3, 1903 – September 22, 1971) 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 ...

coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head coach 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 ...

(1944–1945) and

Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...

(1949–1957), compiling a career record of 58 wins, 38 losses and 5 draws. Widdoes's 1944 Ohio State team went undefeated and was retroactively named national champion by the National Championship Foundation and the Sagarin Ratings.

Early life

Widdoes was the son of the Rev. and Mrs. Howard W. Widdoes. The Widdoes were missionaries to the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

for the United Brethren Church, a predecessor denomination of the

United Methodist Church The United Methodist Church (UMC) is a worldwide mainline Protestant denomination based in the United States, and a major part of Methodism. In the 19th century, its main predecessor, the Methodist Episcopal Church, was a leader in evangelical ...

, and Carroll was born there in 1903. Carroll and his brothers and sister came to live at Otterbein in 1916.

Coaching career

After graduating from

Otterbein College Otterbein University is a private university in Westerville, Ohio. It offers 74 majors and 44 minors as well as eight graduate programs. The university was founded in 1847 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ and named for United Bre ...

Westerville, Ohio Westerville is a city in Franklin and Delaware counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. A northeastern suburb of Columbus, the population was 39,190 at the 2020 census. Westerville is the home of Otterbein University. Westerville was once known a ...

in 1926, Widdoes was an assistant football coach under

Paul Brown Paul Eugene Brown (September 7, 1908 – August 5, 1991) was an American football coach and executive in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). Brown was both the co-founder and first coach of the Clevela ...

Massillon Washington High School Washington High School, commonly referred to as Massillon High School or Massillon Washington High School, is a 9th to 12th grade secondary school within the Massillon City School District in the city of Massillon, Ohio, United States. The schoo ...

Massillon, Ohio Massillon is a city in Stark County, Ohio, Stark County in the U.S. state of Ohio, approximately west of Canton, Ohio, Canton, south of Akron, and south of Cleveland. The population was 32,146 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Mass ...

. He followed Brown to

as an assistant and assumed the head coaching job in 1944 when Brown joined the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

, leading the Buckeyes to an undefeated season. That season, he coached Ohio State's first

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and hard ...

winner,

Les Horvath Leslie Horvath (October 12, 1921 – November 14, 1995) was an American football quarterback and halfback who won the Heisman Trophy while playing for Ohio State University in 1944. Horvath was the first Ohio State player to win the Heisman, an ...

. In two seasons at Ohio State, Widdoes posted a 16–2 record. After the 1945 season, Widdoes left Ohio State, choosing his

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

Paul Bixler Paul O. Bixler (January 25, 1907 – November 18, 1985) was an American football player, coach, and administrator and basketball coach. He served as the head football coach at Ohio State University for one season in 1946 and at Colgate Universit ...

, to be his successor. Widdoes took over as head football coach at

in 1949, eventually becoming

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

as well. In nine seasons as head coach, he led the

Bobcats The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...

to a 42–36–5 record and 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 ...

title in 1953.

Later life and death

Widdoes retired in 1969 and moved to

Lake Worth, Florida Lake Worth Beach, previously named Lake Worth, is a city in east-central Palm Beach County, Florida, United States, located about north of Miami. The city's name is derived from the body of water along its eastern border known as the Lake Worth ...

. He died at his home there on September 22, 1971.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Widdoes, Carroll 1903 births 1971 deaths Ohio Bobcats athletic directors Ohio Bobcats football coaches Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches Otterbein University alumni People from Lake Worth Beach, Florida American people in the American Philippines