Frank Robert Burns (March 16, 1928 – July 14, 2012) 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 coach at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

from 1951 to 1952 and at

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

from 1973 to 1983, compiling a career

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 rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

record of 84–52–2. In 1978, Burns led the

Rutgers Scarlet Knights The Rutgers Scarlet Knights are the athletic teams that represent Rutgers University's New Brunswick campus. In sports, Rutgers is famously known for being the "Birthplace of College Football", hosting the first ever intercollegiate football ...

to their first

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

, the now-defunct

Garden State Bowl The Garden State Bowl was an annual post-season college football bowl game played at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, from 1978 until 1981.Foldesy, Jody. "Bowls burgeon as big business", ''The Washington Times''. December 21, 1997 ...

Playing career

Raised in

Roselle Park, New Jersey Roselle Park is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Union County, New Jersey, Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 13,297,Roselle Park High School Roselle Park High School is a four-year public high school located in Roselle Park, in Union County, New Jersey, United States, operating as the lone secondary school of the Roselle Park School District. Since 2007, Roselle Park High School se ...

, serving as captain of the football and basketball teams, and winning state championships in both of those sports. Burns played football as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for four years, from 1945 to 1948. There he ran the

T formation 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 quarterba ...

under head coach

Harvey Harman Harvey John Harman (November 5, 1900 – December 17, 1969) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Haverford College (1922–1929), Sewanee: The University of the South (1930), the University of Pennsylvania (19 ...

, completing 117 of 270 passes for 2,389 yards and 35 touchdowns with a 27–7 career record. He was drafted by the Redskins in the 2nd Round of the

1949 NFL draft The 1949 National Football League Draft was held on December 21, 1948, at The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia. The draft was preceded by a secret draft meeting held November 15, 1948, at the Hotel Schenley in Pittsburgh. This was the ...

(19th overall) but never played.

Coaching career

Burns coached football at

from 1951 to 1952 and at

from 1973 to 1983. Burns has the second-most wins of any head coach in

Rutgers Scarlet Knights football The Rutgers Scarlet Knights football team represents Rutgers University in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA). Rutgers competes as a member of the East Division of the Big Ten Conference. ...

history with a record of 78–43–1 including an undefeated 11–0 campaign in 1976. He led Rutgers to a 13–7 upset victory over

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

in 1979. During Burns's tenure as head coach, Rutgers began playing outside of its traditional schedule of Eastern teams such as

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...

opponents, Colgate, and Lehigh. Burns was dismissed from Rutgers in 1983 after three consecutive losing seasons.

Later life and death

Burns retired to the Twining Village Continual Care Retirement Village in

Holland, Pennsylvania Holland is an unincorporated area, unincorporated community in Northampton Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Northampton Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located next to Newtown, Bucks Coun ...

. He died there on July 14, 2012.

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burns, Frank R. 1928 births 2012 deaths American football quarterbacks Johns Hopkins Blue Jays football coaches Rutgers Scarlet Knights baseball players Rutgers Scarlet Knights football coaches Rutgers Scarlet Knights football players High school football coaches in New Jersey Roselle Park High School alumni People from Roselle Park, New Jersey Players of American football from Union County, New Jersey