Fritz Crisler

Bio

Fritz Crisler, the father of two-platoon football, directed his teams with a manner that rivaled a military commander. His buck lateral and spinner offense was the most dazzling in football and required precision, timing and flawless faking. A native of Earlville, IL, Crisler starred at end for the University of Chicago from 1919 until 1921, and learned the ins-and-outs of the coaching profession from his own coach, Amos Alonzo Stagg. The single wing became Crisler's offense of choice in a career which saw him compile a record of 116-32-9 at Minnesota (1930-1931), Princeton (1932-1937) and Michigan (1938-1947). The best team of Crisler's coaching career came in his final season. In that year, 1947, his Michigan Wolverines romped through a perfect nine game regular season, defeated Southern Cal, 49-0, in the Rose Bowl, and Crisler was named Coach of the Year. Crisler was Michigan director of athletics 1941-68. The school's basketball arena was named in his honor. He was a member of the football rules committee 41 years and its chairman nine years.