Thomas N. Nugent (February 24, 1913 – January 19, 2006) was an American
college football
College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...
coach and innovator,
sportscaster,
public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...
man. He served as the head football coach at the
Virginia Military Institute,
Florida State University
Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...
, and 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 ...
. His career record was 89–80–3. Nugent is credited with the development of the
I formation
The I formation is one of the most common offensive formations in American football. The I formation draws its name from the vertical (as viewed from the opposing endzone) alignment of quarterback, fullback, and running back, particularly when ...
.
Early life
Nugent, a native of
Lawrence, Massachusetts
Lawrence is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Merrimack River. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 89,143. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and Nort ...
, attended
Ithaca College
Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and ...
in
upstate New York
Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York (state), New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upsta ...
, where he played baseball, basketball, football, and track, and earned ten
varsity letter
A varsity letter (or monogram) is an award earned in the United States for excellence in school activities. A varsity letter signifies that its recipient was a qualified varsity team member, awarded after a certain standard was met.
Description ...
s.
[ He graduated from Ithaca in 1936.][
During ]World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, Nugent served in the United States Army Air Corps
The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical r ...
and attained the rank of captain.[ He worked as a fitness instructor for deploying officers, and later, as the director of entertainment of a military installation in ]Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
.[
]
Coaching career
VMI and the "I" formation
Nugent began his football coaching career at the interscholastic level in 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 are ...
.[ In January 1949, while coaching at Hopewell High School, he was hired by the Virginia Military Institute to replace head coach ]Slick Morton
Arthur Wilson "Slick" Morton Jr. (June 12, 1914 – April 19, 1999) was an American football player and coach. He was the head football coach at Southeastern Louisiana University (1942), the Virginia Military Institute (1947–1948), and Mississip ...
who had resigned to take over at Mississippi State.
In his first game as a collegiate coach, William & Mary routed VMI, 54–6. The Indians' head coach, Rube McCray
Ruben North McCray (June 13, 1904 – November 20, 1972) was the head football, men's basketball, and baseball coach at the College of William & Mary. He also served as their athletic director. Later in life he became a community leader in Lake Wa ...
, said he would never lose to a former high school coach.[ To counteract William & Mary's large ]defensive line
In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numb ...
and linebacker corps, Nugent began developing the I formation
The I formation is one of the most common offensive formations in American football. The I formation draws its name from the vertical (as viewed from the opposing endzone) alignment of quarterback, fullback, and running back, particularly when ...
, which he debuted the following year in 1950.[ VMI beat William & Mary, 28–23 and upset 28-point favorite Georgia Tech, 14–13.][ The Keydets posted over 400 offensive yards in both contests.][ The new formation's success prompted Notre Dame head coach Frank Leahy to send two assistant coaches to observe VMI's spring practice the following year.][ In the second quarter of the 1951 season opener against ]Indiana
Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th ...
, Notre Dame used the I formation to score four touchdown
A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...
s.[ Nugent began giving coaching clinics on the I formation, and in 1961, John McKay replaced his ]pro T
In American football, a T formation (frequently called the full house formation in modern usage, sometimes the Robust T) is a formation used by the offensive team in which three running backs line up in a row about five yards behind the quarterb ...
with the I at Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...
.[ McKay's success with the formation the following season prompted more teams to adopt it around the country.][ The I formation's invention is occasionally misattributed to McKay or Leahy, to which Nugent responded, "It's something that's long been misunderstood ... But all you have to do is look it up."][No Doubt About It; The I's Have It]
''The Orlando Sentinel'', December 28, 1986.
Before the 1951 season, VMI was said to have "the finest assortment of material since Bosh Pritchard
Abisha Collins "Bosh" Pritchard (September 10, 1919 – November 7, 1996) was an American football halfback in the National Football League who played for ten seasons for the Cleveland Rams, the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants. ...
and Joe Muha
Joseph George Muha (April 28, 1921 – March 31, 1993) was an American football player, coach, and official. He played professionally as a fullback and linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for five seasons with the Philadelphia Eagl ...
." The Keydets finished 7–3 for a share of the Southern Conference co-championship. In January 1952, the Washington State University was reportedly interested in hiring Nugent as its head coach.
Florida State
Nugent took over as head coach at Florida State University
Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...
in 1953, and brought with him the I formation.[ He said, "People were very skeptical at first. They said it would never work. But it didn't take long to realize we were onto something big."][ The Florida State football program was less than a decade old, and the previous season's team had only managed one win.][Tom Nugent, Feb. 24, 1913 - Jan. 19, 2006, College Football Innovator Dies]
''The Orlando Sentinel'', January 20, 2006.
In 1954, Florida State finished with an 8–3 record and earned an invitation to the 1955 Sun Bowl
The 1955 Sun Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game that featured the Texas Western Miners and the Florida State Seminoles.
Background
The Miners finished 3rd in the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association in their second straight ...
, the school's first postseason game on New Year's Day
New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Whi ...
. They were defeated by Texas Western
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American s ...
, 47–20.[ During his last season at FSU in 1958, Nugent led the Seminoles to a 7–3 record and earned an invitation to play ]Oklahoma State
Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, ...
in the 1958 Bluegrass Bowl, where they were defeated, 15–6.[ 1958 was also the first year that Florida State played in-state rival ]Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...
.[ Setting up the match-up required years of haggling and negotiations between the schools and with his counterpart, Florida ]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 ...
and head coach Bob Woodruff
Robert Warren Woodruff (born August 18, 1961) is an American television journalist. Since 1996, he has served as a reporter for ABC News. Woodruff co-anchored ABC World News Tonight in 2006 alongside ABC News journalist Elizabeth Vargas. He was ...
, about whom Nugent said, "It seems he wants us to promise everything but lose the game."[
During his tenure at Florida State, Nugent served as athletic director and coached ]ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
analyst Lee Corso and actor Burt Reynolds. Reynolds said, "He put FSU on the map in the early years."[Former Head Football Coach Tom Nugent Dies In Tallahassee; Tom Nugent coached the Seminoles from 1953-58 and invented the I-formation offense]
, Florida State University, January 19, 2006. His overall record at Florida State was 34–28–1.[Thomas N. "Tom" Nugent Records by Year]
, College Football Data Warehouse, retrieved August 23, 2010.
Maryland
At the first practice before the 1959 season, Nugent addressed his team, "Hi, I'm Tom Nugent and I hate West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...
."[ The Mountaineers were Maryland's first opponent of the season, and Nugent guided the Terrapins to a 27–7 victory in that game.][
In 1961, Nugent's Maryland team became the first college football program in the nation to put players' names on the back of their ]jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the ...
s. That season, he led the Terrapins to the best season of his tenure and finished with a 7–3 record.[ A highlight of the season was the 21–17 defeat of Penn State, the only Maryland victory of the 37-game series.][Bill Free]
Ex-Terps coach Nugent dies
''The Baltimore Sun'', January 20, 2006. The Terrapins also defeated seventh-ranked Syracuse, 22–21.
Nugent amassed a 36–34 record during his tenure at Maryland.[ He remained the last Maryland coach to win his inaugural game with the team until Ralph Friedgen matched that feat in 2001.
Under Nugent, in 1962, Maryland integrated its football team after Darryl Hill caught the eye of Maryland assistant coach Lee Corso, who had been encouraged by Nugent to find a black athlete to play for his team. Hill became not only the first African-American football player at Maryland but the first in the Atlantic Coast Conference and at any college or university in "the old South."
]
Later life
Upon the conclusion of his coaching career, Nugent worked as a sports broadcaster
In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio was ...
. In the late 1960s, he spent four years with ABC affiliate WPLG in Miami
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
.[ In the 1970s, he worked in ]public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. ...
, including at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida.[
In 1970, Ithaca College inducted Nugent into its Ithaca Sports Hall of Fame.][Congratulations!; And thank you. The alumni association presents its annual awards for career achievements and service to IC]
''Ithaca College Quarterly'', Volume 3, Summer 1998. The Florida State University Hall of Fame inducted Nugent in 1983. He has also been inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame
The Florida Sports Hall of Fame (FSHOF) is an association dedicated to honoring athletes with outstanding achievement in sports in Florida. It has expanded its goals to include encouraging physical fitness among Florida's citizens through the examp ...
. In 1998, he received the Ithaca College Alumni Association's Lifetime Achievement Award. The National Football Foundation bestowed upon him the Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award in 2000.Dickson To Receive OCAF Award
National Football Foundation, May 3, 2004.
Nugent was married to wife Peg in 1941, and the couple had five sons and four daughters. He survived his wife, who died in 2002.[ He retired, first to ]Indian Harbor Beach, Florida
Indian Harbour Beach is a coastal city in Brevard County, Florida, United States. The population was 8,225 at the 2010 United States Census. It is part of the Palm Bay– Melbourne– Titusville Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is no ...
in the 1980s,[ and then the Westminster Oaks Health Center in Tallahassee, Florida, where he died of ]congestive heart failure
Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...
on January 19, 2006.[
]
Head coaching record
College
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nugent, Tom
1913 births
2006 deaths
American men's basketball players
Florida State Seminoles athletic directors
Florida State Seminoles football coaches
Ithaca Bombers baseball players
Ithaca Bombers football players
Ithaca Bombers men's basketball players
Maryland Terrapins football coaches
VMI Keydets athletic directors
VMI Keydets football coaches
College men's track and field athletes in the United States
High school football coaches in Virginia
United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II
United States Army Air Forces officers
Sportspeople from Lawrence, Massachusetts
People from Indian Harbour Beach, Florida
Military personnel from Massachusetts