Frank Mills Dobson (January 10, 1885 – December 1, 1956) 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 wi ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

, and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

(1909, with James Coulter),

Clemson University Clemson University () is a public land-grant research university in Clemson, South Carolina. Founded in 1889, Clemson is the second-largest university in the student population in South Carolina. For the fall 2019 semester, the university enr ...

(1910–1912), the

University of Richmond The University of Richmond (UR or U of R) is a private liberal arts college in Richmond, Virginia. It is a primarily undergraduate, residential institution with approximately 4,350 undergraduate and graduate students in five schools: the School ...

(1913–1917, 1919–1933), the University of South Carolina (1918), the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

(1936–1939), and

The Apprentice School The Apprentice School is a four to eight-year apprenticeship vocational school founded in 1919 and operated by Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company in Newport News in the U.S. state of Virginia. The school trains students for careers in ...

(1940–1948), compiling a career record of 137–142–24. Dobson was also the head basketball coach at Clemson (1911–1913) and Richmond (1912–1917, 1919–1933) and the head baseball coach at Clemson (1911–1913) and Richmond (1915–1933).

Coaching career

Georgia Tech and Georgia

A native of

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the population was 100,011, making it the 8th most populous city in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the largest city in Virginia west of Richmond. It is ...

, Dobson was an assistant under legendary

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

head coach John Heisman. In 1909, Dobson moved to Georgia Tech's arch-rival,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. There, the new head coach, James Coulter, had no prior coaching experience. Dobson was hired as a co-coach and added new trick plays in an attempt to energize the offense. Still the team finished with a record of 2–4–2.

Clemson

Dobson moved on to

for the 1910 season, where he coached not only football, but also basketball and baseball. His overall record with the Clemson football team was 11–12–1.

Richmond and South Carolina

Dobson then moved to the

, where he was athletic director and football, baseball, and basketball coach from 1913 to 1933, with one exception: in the abbreviated postwar season of 1918, rather than coaching the Richmond football team, he took over the

South Carolina Gamecocks The South Carolina Gamecocks represent the University of South Carolina in the NCAA Division I. The University of South Carolina uses "Gamecocks" as its official nickname and mascot. While the men's teams were traditionally known as the Fighti ...

and led them to a record of 2–1–1. Dobson's overall football record at Richmond was 79–78–18, his baseball record was 153–112, and his basketball record was 153–106. Dobson was posthumously elected to the University of Richmond Athletic Hall of Fame in 1978.

Maryland

In 1935, Dobson became an assistant at

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

under head coach

Jack Faber John Edgar Faber Jr. (January 13, 1903 – January 14, 1994) was an American microbiologist and college football and lacrosse coach at the University of Maryland. Faber served as the Maryland lacrosse coach from 1928 to 1963, during which time h ...

. The following season, he was promoted to head coach and served in that position through 1939. Dobson amassed an 18–21 record at Maryland.

Apprentice

Dobson finished his career as the 11th head football coach at

in Newport News, Virginia and he held that position for nine seasons, from 1940 until 1948. His coaching record at Apprentice was 25–26–2. A highlight at Apprentice was a 7–6 upset of the

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

in 1943.

Death

Dobson died on December 1, 1956, in

Carlisle, Indiana Carlisle is a town in Haddon Township, Sullivan County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 692 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Terre Haute Metropolitan Statistical Area. Carlisle is home to the Wabash Valley Correctional Faci ...

. He was found dead in bed after suffering a coronary occlusion.

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dobson, Frank 1885 births 1956 deaths The Apprentice Builders football coaches Clemson Tigers athletic directors Clemson Tigers baseball coaches Clemson Tigers football coaches Clemson Tigers men's basketball coaches College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Georgia Bulldogs football coaches Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football coaches Maryland Terrapins football coaches Richmond Spiders athletic directors Richmond Spiders baseball coaches Richmond Spiders football coaches Richmond Spiders men's basketball coaches Richmond Spiders track and field coaches Rose–Hulman Fightin' Engineers football coaches South Carolina Gamecocks athletic directors South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches Sportspeople from Philadelphia Sportspeople from Roanoke, Virginia Baseball coaches from Virginia Basketball coaches from Virginia