Stuart K. Holcomb (September 11, 1910 – January 11, 1977) 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 ...

and

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 ...

coach best known for serving as head football coach for

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the ...

(1942–1943) and

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

(1947–1955). Before coaching, Holcomb was a starting halfback at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pub ...

and the captain of the 1931 Buckeyes football team. Prior to arriving at Miami, Holcomb was the head football coach at three smaller schools: the

University of Findlay The University of Findlay (UF) is a private Christian university in Findlay, Ohio. It was established in 1882 through a joint partnership between the Churches of God General Conference and the city of Findlay. UF has nearly 80 undergraduate ...

(1932–1935),

Muskingum College Muskingum University is a private liberal arts college in New Concord, Ohio. Chartered in 1837 as Muskingum College, the institution is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Collectively, the university's alumni are referred to as th ...

(1936–1940), and

Washington & Jefferson College Washington & Jefferson College (W&J College or W&J) is a private liberal arts college in Washington, Pennsylvania. The college traces its origin to three log cabin colleges in Washington County established by three Presbyterian missionaries t ...

(1941). He also served as the head basketball coach at

for four seasons, 1932–33 through 1935–36 and at the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

from 1945 to 1947. After retiring from coaching, Holcomb 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 ...

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...

(1956–1966) and later the

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (A ...

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

(1971–1973).

Coaching career

Miami

Holcomb was named

's head football coach for the 1942 season succeeding

Frank Wilton Frank S. Wilton Jr. (August 17, 1905 – December 17, 1977) was an American football player and coach of football and baseball. He served as the head football coach for Miami University in Oxford, Ohio from 1932 to 1941, compiling a record of 44– ...

. His first team went 3–6 which equaled the number of wins of the three previous years for the Redskins. The next year Holcomb and the Redskins posted a winning record of 7–2–1. This team was dominated by defense, only allowing their opponents to score in double digits twice; A 34–12 win over

Bradley University Bradley University is a private university in Peoria, Illinois. Founded in 1897, Bradley University enrolls 5,400 students who are pursuing degrees in more than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 30 graduate programs in five colleges. Th ...

and a 35–0 blow out loss to Arkansas A&M. In his two years as Miami’s head coach he compiled an overall record of 10–9–1. He left Miami to become an assistant coach for Earl Blaik at the

. He was replaced as Redskins coach by future

Pro Pro is an abbreviation meaning " professional". Pro, PRO or variants thereof may also refer to: People * Miguel Pro (1891–1927), Mexican priest * Pro Hart (1928–2006), Australian painter * Mlungisi Mdluli (born 1980), South African retire ...

and

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vo ...

coach

Sid Gillman Sidney Gillman (October 26, 1911 – January 3, 2003) was an American football player, coach and executive. Gillman's insistence on stretching the football field by throwing deep downfield passes, instead of short passes to running backs or ...

who was one of Holcomb's top assistant coaches.

Army

While an assistant football coach for the

, Holcomb was head coach of the men’s basketball team for two seasons from 1945 through 1947. He led the cadets to two straight winning seasons of 9–6 and 9–7.

Purdue

During Holcomb’s tenure as Boilermakers head coach he compiled a record of 35–42–4. His best year was 1952 when he led the Boilermakers to a

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

co-championship and a #18 ranking in the final poll. Despite having only a 4–3–2 overall record, Holcomb's team played well in conference with a 4–1–1 record. Holcomb’s Purdue teams are, perhaps, best remembered for ending Notre Dame's 39-game unbeaten streak when his Boilermakers defeated the Irish, 28–14, in the second game of the 1950 season. Holcomb was known for developing solid quarterbacks including

Bob DeMoss Robert Alonzo DeMoss (January 27, 1927 – July 23, 2017) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Purdue University from 1970 to 1972, compiling a career college foot ...

Dale Samuels Dale Allen Samuels (born August 2, 1931) is a former American football quarterback who played one season with the Chicago Cardinals of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Cardinals in the third round of the 1953 NFL Draft. He ...

and

Len Dawson Leonard Ray Dawson (June 20, 1935 – August 24, 2022) was an American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL) for 19 seasons, primarily with the Kansas City Chiefs franchise. Aft ...

. These players helped grow a strong tradition at Purdue of great quarterback play. On December 12, 1955, after his nine seasons at Purdue, Holcomb left Purdue to accept the athletic director position at the

Sports administrator

Holcomb served as the Athletic Director at Northwestern from 1956-1966. He hired fellow Miami alum

Ara Parseghian Ara Raoul Parseghian (; hy, Արա Ռաուլ Պարսեղյան; May 21, 1923 – August 2, 2017) was an American football player and coach who guided the University of Notre Dame to national championships in 1966 and 1973. He is noted for br ...

to be the new Wildcats head coach in 1956, and Parseghian stayed at Northwestern until accepting the head coaching job at Notre Dame following the 1963 season. One of the reasons for Parseghian's departure was his feud with Holcomb. Holcomb was appointed as the

of the Chicago Mustangs, a

United Soccer Association The United Soccer Association was a professional soccer league featuring teams based in the United States and Canada. The league survived only one season before merging with the National Professional Soccer League to form the North American S ...

franchise owned by

Arthur Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...

and

John Allyn John Allyn (May 17, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois – April 29, 1979 in Winnetka, Illinois) was the co-owner of the Chicago White Sox of the American League with his brother Arthur Allyn, Jr. from through , and sole principal owner from through . In ...

. After the Mustangs folded following the 1968 season, Holcomb was reassigned to the

, another of the Allyn brothers' business entities, as its

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. ...

director. With the

White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

's record at 49–87 and en route to a franchise-worst 56–106 finish,"Gutteridge Is Released As White Sox Manager," ''United Press International'' (UPI), Wednesday, September 2, 1970.
Retrieved December 10, 2021 Holcomb was promoted to replace Ed Short as

on September 1, 1970. He immediately began overhauling the ball club that month with the dismissal of Don Gutteridge on the 2nd and the hiring of

Chuck Tanner Charles William Tanner (July 4, 1928February 11, 2011) was an American professional baseball player and manager. A left fielder and pinch hitter who appeared in 396 games in Major League Baseball between 1955 and 1962, he was known for his unwav ...

and Roland Hemond from the

California Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

and director of player personnel respectively two days later on the 4th.

Death

Holcomb died of a heart attack, on January 11, 1977, in

Venice, Florida Venice is a city in Sarasota County, Florida, United States. The city includes what locals call "Venice Island", a portion of the mainland that is accessed via bridges over the artificially created Intracoastal Waterway. The city is located in S ...

Family

Holcomb's three sons played college football: Chip at

, Doug at

, and Bryan at

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

and

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 ...

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holcomb, Stu 1910 births 1977 deaths American football halfbacks Army Black Knights football coaches Army Black Knights men's basketball coaches Chicago White Sox executives Findlay Oilers football coaches Findlay Oilers men's basketball coaches Major League Baseball general managers Miami RedHawks football coaches Muskingum Fighting Muskies football coaches Muskingum Fighting Muskies men's basketball coaches Northwestern Wildcats athletic directors Ohio State Buckeyes football players Purdue Boilermakers football coaches Washington & Jefferson Presidents football coaches Sportspeople from Erie, Pennsylvania Coaches of American football from Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania Basketball coaches from Pennsylvania