Richard Whiting Colman Jr. (November 11, 1914 – April 5, 1982) 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. He served as the head football coach at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

from 1957 to 1968, compiling a record of 75–33. Colman had been the assistant to Princeton's previous coach,

Charlie Caldwell Charles William Caldwell (August 2, 1901 – November 1, 1957) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Williams College for 15 seasons between 1928 and 1944 and at Princeton Un ...

; like Caldwell, Colman was known for his successful reliance on the

single-wing formation In American and Canadian football, a single-wing formation was a precursor to the modern spread or shotgun formation. The term usually connotes formations in which the snap is tossed rather than handed—formations with one wingback and a hand ...

offense, and ultimately he became the last major college coach to use the single wing, which Princeton gave up only after Colman's departure in 1969. After retiring from coaching, Colman was the

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 ...

Middlebury College Middlebury College is a private liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1800 by Congregationalists, Middlebury was the first operating college or university in Vermont. The college currently enrolls 2,858 undergraduates from all ...

from 1969 to 1977. Colman was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

as a coach in 1990.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* * 1914 births 1982 deaths Middlebury Panthers athletic directors Princeton Tigers football coaches Princeton Tigers men's lacrosse coaches Williams Ephs football coaches Williams Ephs football players College Football Hall of Fame inductees People from Middlebury, Vermont Players of American football from New York City {{1950s-collegefootball-coach-stub