John Alexander Harts (September 5, 1873 – August 31, 1947) was a student and elocution teacher at the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

from Winfield, Kansas who served as the first

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

of the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Ru ...

football team in 1895. He was the primary organizer of the first OU team, which was made up of students and

Norman, Oklahoma Norman () is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma, with a population of 128,097 as of 2021. It is the largest city and the county seat of Cleveland County, and the second-largest city in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, b ...

residents. The team only played one game that year against a more experienced

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

team; the Sooners lost 34–0. Following that year, Harts left OU to prospect for

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

in the

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. Harts is the only head football coach of record at Oklahoma to complete his tenure without a win. In the one game that he coached, the Sooners failed to score a point or to make a first down.

Head coaching record

References

External links

John A. Harts
at Find a Grave 1873 births 1947 deaths Oklahoma Sooners football coaches {{UOklahoma-stub