Tom Nugent
Biographical details | |
---|---|
Born | Lawrence, Massachusetts, U.S. | February 24, 1913
Died | January 19, 2006 Tallahassee, Florida, U.S. | (aged 92)
Playing career | |
1930s | Ithaca |
Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
?–1948 | Hopewell HS (VA) |
1949–1952 | VMI |
1953–1958 | Florida State |
1959–1965 | Maryland |
Head coaching record | |
Overall | 89–80–3 (college) |
Bowls | 0–2 |
Accomplishments and honors | |
Championships | |
1 SoCon (1951) | |
Thomas N. Nugent (February 24, 1913 – January 19, 2006) was an American
Early life
Nugent, a native of Lawrence, Massachusetts, attended Ithaca College in upstate New York, where he played baseball, basketball, football, and track, and earned ten varsity letters.[1] He graduated from Ithaca in 1936.[2]
During World War II, Nugent served in the United States Army Air Corps and attained the rank of captain.[1] He worked as a fitness instructor for deploying officers, and later, as the director of entertainment of a military installation in Missouri.[1]
Coaching career
VMI and the "I" formation
Nugent began his football coaching career at the interscholastic level in Virginia.[1] In January 1949, while coaching at Hopewell High School, he was hired by the Virginia Military Institute to replace head coach Slick Morton who had resigned to take over at Mississippi State.[3]
In his first game as a collegiate coach,
Before the 1951 season, VMI was said to have "the finest assortment of material since Bosh Pritchard and Joe Muha."[5] The Keydets finished 7–3 for a share of the Southern Conference co-championship.[6] In January 1952, the Washington State University was reportedly interested in hiring Nugent as its head coach.[7]
Florida State
Nugent took over as head coach at Florida State University in 1953, and brought with him the I formation.[4] 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."[4] The Florida State football program was less than a decade old, and the previous season's team had only managed one win.[8]
In 1954, Florida State finished with an 8–3 record and earned an invitation to the
During his tenure at Florida State, Nugent served as athletic director and coached ESPN analyst Lee Corso and actor Burt Reynolds.[9] Reynolds said, "He put FSU on the map in the early years."[1] His overall record at Florida State was 34–28–1.[10]
Maryland
At the first practice before the 1959 season, Nugent addressed his team, "Hi, I'm Tom Nugent and I hate West Virginia."[11] The Mountaineers were Maryland's first opponent of the season, and Nugent guided the Terrapins to a 27–7 victory in that game.[11]
In 1961, Nugent's Maryland team became the first college football program in the nation to put players' names on the back of their
Nugent amassed a 36–34 record during his tenure at Maryland.[10] He remained the last Maryland coach to win his inaugural game with the team until Ralph Friedgen matched that feat in 2001.[14]
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
In 1970, Ithaca College inducted Nugent into its Ithaca Sports Hall of Fame.[2] The Florida State University Hall of Fame inducted Nugent in 1983.[15] He has also been inducted into the Florida Sports Hall of Fame.[16] In 1998, he received the Ithaca College Alumni Association's Lifetime Achievement Award.[17] The National Football Foundation bestowed upon him the Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football Award in 2000.[18]
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.
Head coaching record
College
Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
VMI Keydets (Southern Conference) (1949–1952) | |||||||||
1949 | VMI | 3–5–1 | 3–2–1 | 6th | |||||
1950 | VMI | 6–4 | 5–1 | 3rd | |||||
1951 | VMI | 7–3 | 5–0 | T–1st | |||||
1952 | VMI | 3–6–1 | 2–3–1 | 9th | |||||
VMI: | 19–18–2 | 15–6–1 | |||||||
Florida State Seminoles (NCAA University Division independent) (1953–1958) | |||||||||
1953 | Florida State | 5–5 | |||||||
1954 | Florida State | 8–4 | L Sun | ||||||
1955 | Florida State | 5–5 | |||||||
1956 | Florida State | 5–4–1 | |||||||
1957 | Florida State | 4–6 | |||||||
1958 | Florida State | 7–4 | L Bluegrass | ||||||
Florida State: | 34–28–1 | ||||||||
Maryland Terrapins (Atlantic Coast Conference) (1953–1958) | |||||||||
1959 | Maryland | 5–5 | 4–2 | 3rd | |||||
1960 | Maryland | 6–4 | 5–2 | 3rd | |||||
1961 | Maryland | 7–3 | 3–3 | T–3rd | |||||
1962 | Maryland | 6–4 | 5–2 | 3rd | |||||
1963 | Maryland | 3–7 | 2–5 | 5th | |||||
1964 | Maryland | 5–5 | 4–3 | T–3rd | |||||
1965 | Maryland | 4–6 | 3–3 | T–3rd | |||||
Maryland: | 36–34 | 26–20 | |||||||
Total: | 89–80–3 | ||||||||
National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth |
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Former Head Football Coach Tom Nugent Dies In Tallahassee; Tom Nugent coached the Seminoles from 1953-58 and invented the I-formation offense Archived February 2, 2013, at archive.today, Florida State University, January 19, 2006.
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ VMI Signs Tom Nugent, Prep Coach in Virginia, The Milwaukee Journal, January 18, 1949.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l No Doubt About It; The I's Have It, The Orlando Sentinel, December 28, 1986.
- ^ Maryland Appears Team To Beat In Southern Conference Grid, The Dispatch, August 30, 1951.
- ^ Coaching Records Game by Game: 1951 Archived 2012-10-20 at the Wayback Machine, College Football Data Warehouse, retrieved August 29, 2010.
- ^ Coaching Rumors Fly at NCAA Convention, The Milwaukee Journal, January 10, 1952.
- ^ a b c Tom Nugent, Feb. 24, 1913 - Jan. 19, 2006, College Football Innovator Dies, The Orlando Sentinel, January 20, 2006.
- ^ Tom Nugent, I-Formation Creator, Dies at 92, The New York Times, January 21, 2006.
- ^ a b Thomas N. "Tom" Nugent Records by Year Archived 2014-08-19 at the Wayback Machine, College Football Data Warehouse, retrieved August 23, 2010.
- ^ a b c d Bill Free, Ex-Terps coach Nugent dies, The Baltimore Sun, January 20, 2006.
- ^ Dan Steinberg, When Maryland football first put players names on jerseys, The Washington Post, August 2, 2011.
- ^ Year-By-Year Results (PDF), 2007 Terrapin Football Record Book, p. 9, University of Maryland, 2007.
- ^ Maryland Shocks UNC, The Orlando Sentinel, September 2, 2001.
- ^ Tom Nugent Hall of Fame Biography Archived February 9, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Florida State University, retrieved August 23, 2010.
- ^ Florida Sports Hall of Fame Inductees Archived February 9, 2014, at the Wayback Machine (PDF), Florida Sports Hall of Fame, retrieved August 23, 2010.
- ^ Four Receive Alumni Association Awards, Ithaca College, May 22, 1998.
- ^ Dickson To Receive OCAF Award[permanent dead link], National Football Foundation, May 3, 2004.