J. Orlean Christian
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Joseph Orlean Christian (May 10, 1898 – October 21, 1979) 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, and baseball coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at the
University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...
from 1934 to 1949 and as the head baseball coach there from 1936 to 1961. Christian was also the school's
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 an ...
from 1950 to 1966 and filled in as interim head basketball coach during the 1935–36 season. He served as the first commissioner of the
Yankee Conference The Yankee Conference was a collegiate sports conference in the eastern United States. From 1947 to 1976, it sponsored competition in many sports, but was a American football, football-only league from mid-1976 until its dissolution in 1996. It is ...
, from 1966 to 1971. Christian died on October 21, 1979, at the age of 81 in a convalescent home in
Willimantic, Connecticut Willimantic is a city located in the town of Windham in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. It is a former Census-designated place and borough, and is currently organized as one of two tax districts within the Town of Windham. Known as " ...
. The University of Connecticut's home baseball field, J. O. Christian Field, is named in his honor. Christian's 66 wins as head football coach at Connecticut were the most in program history until
Randy Edsall Randy Douglas Edsall (born August 27, 1958) is a retired American football coach, formerly the head football coach at the University of Connecticut from 1999 to 2010 and again from 2017 until his abrupt retirement in 2021. He also served as the h ...
surpassed him in 2010.


Head coaching record


Football


Basketball


Baseball

The following table depicts Christian's record as head baseball coach at Connecticut.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Christian, J. Orlean 1898 births 1979 deaths UConn Huskies athletic directors UConn Huskies baseball coaches UConn Huskies football coaches UConn Huskies men's basketball coaches Yankee Conference commissioners Junior college football coaches in the United States People from Story County, Iowa