Michael Francis Ahearn (November 28, 1878 – February 5, 1948) was a British-American athlete and college athletics administrator. Ahearn played and coached

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 ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, 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 tea ...

, and was a college professor and athletics administrator at Kansas State Agricultural College, now

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

. He also helped guide the evolution of the rules of modern football, serving ten years on the college football rules committee (1922–1931), initially under Secretary

Walter Camp Walter Chauncey Camp (April 7, 1859 – March 14, 1925) was an American football player, coach, and sports writer known as the "Father of American Football". Among a long list of inventions, he created the sport's line of scrimmage and the system ...

and alongside Amos Alonzo Stagg. He was selected as a charter member of the

Kansas Sports Hall of Fame The Kansas Sports Hall of Fame is a museum located in Wichita, dedicated to preserving the history of sports in the state of Kansas. The museum provides exhibits, archives, facilities, services, and activities to honor those individuals and te ...

Career

Over the years, Ahearn served Kansas State in a variety of roles that included coach, professor, head of the Department of Physical Education, and Director of Athletics. He is considered the "Father of Kansas State athletics." In 1905, he officially became the tenth head football coach at Kansas State, but was the first to hold the position for more than one year. He was coach from 1905 until 1910, compiling a record of 39–12. His 39 wins were the most in the history of

Kansas State Wildcats football The Kansas State Wildcats football program (variously Kansas State, K-State or KSU) is the college football, intercollegiate football program of the Kansas State University Kansas State Wildcats, Wildcats. The program is classified in the NCAA Di ...

until

Bill Snyder William D. Snyder (born October 7, 1939) is a retired college football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Kansas State University from 1989 to 2005 and again from 2009 to 2018. Snyder initially retired from the p ...

passed him in 1995. His winning percentage of .765 is still the highest of any coach in program history. Ahearn was also the head basketball coach at Kansas State from 1906 to 1911, tallying a mark of 28–27, and the head baseball coach at the school from 1904 to 1910, amassing a record of 90–35–12. From 1920 until 1947, Ahearn 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 ...

at Kansas State, during which time the school built Memorial Stadium, the Wildcats home football venue from 1922 until 1967.

Personal life

Ahearn was born on November 28, 1878 in

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He attended Massachusetts Agricultural College, now the

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

, where he lettered in football, basketball, baseball, and

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

. Ahearn died on February 5, 1948 in Manhattan, Kansas.

Legacy

Kansas State honored Ahearn's coaching success in 1911 by naming its first on-campus athletic field

Ahearn Field Ahearn Field was the first on-campus athletic field for Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. It was used from 1911 to 1922 by the football team, baseball team, and track team. It was named in honor of former coach Mike Ahearn Michael ...

. The location is the current site of Memorial Stadium. The school further honored his memory in 1950 with the opening of

Ahearn Field House Ahearn Field House is one of the athletic buildings on the campus of Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. It was the former home of the Wildcats men's basketball team, and is currently home to the K-State volleyball team and indoor track ...

, which currently houses the school's volleyball and indoor track and field teams, and was home to the Kansas State basketball teams from 1950 to 1988.

Head coaching record

Football

Basketball

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahearn, Mike 1878 births 1948 deaths Kansas State Wildcats athletic directors Kansas State Wildcats baseball coaches Kansas State Wildcats football coaches Kansas State Wildcats men's basketball coaches Kansas State University faculty UMass Minutemen baseball players UMass Minutemen basketball players UMass Minutemen football players UMass Minutemen ice hockey players People from Rotherham American men's basketball players