University of Michigan Football Coaches
Fielding H. Yost
1901-1923, 1922-1926
165-29-10
In his 25 years as head coach of the Wolverines, Yost's accomplishments rank among the most legendary in collegiate football history. Beginning with his inaugural club of 1901, Yost led the Michigan football program on an unprecedented victory run over a five year period. Known as the "Point-a-Minute" teams, those Yost led squads played 56 consecutive games without a loss fro1901-1905, which remains the longest winning streaks in school history In those five season the Wolverines outscored their opponents 2,821 to 42 an average Michigan victory of 50-1. In his first season, 1901, Yost led the Wolverines to a perfect 10-0 record, a Big Ten Championship, a 49-0 victory over Stanford in the the First Rose Bowl game and the school's firt national championship. The Wolverines went on to win the national title again in 1902, 1903, and 1904. Under Yost, the maize and blue won ten Big Ten championships and 20 of his players earned All-American recognition.
Along with his accomplishments as the head football coach, Yost served as Michigan's Director of Athletics from 1921-41. For his leadership of the athletic department, Yost is viewed by many as the consummate pioneer and visionary of the field. Yost conceived and engineered today's modem athletic campus in Ann Arbor. Among the projects constructed under Yost's direction were Michigan Stadium, the university's 18-hole golf course, the nation's first Intramural Sports Building and the nation's first multi-purpose field house-now known as Yost Ice Arena.
Yost received a law degree from the University of West Virginia, yet also attended school at Ohio Northern University and Lafayette. He began his coaching career at Ohio Wesleyan University and led them to the school's only victory over Ohio State. After leaving Ohio Wesleyan, Yost held brief coaching stints at the University of Kansas and the University of Nebraska. In 1900, he continued his move to the west coast and took the over as the head coach at Stanford University, where he remained for a year before Stanford enacted a rule allowing only graduates to coach its football teams.
Fielding Yost photos | Yost's First Contract, 1901 | Yost's Second Contract, 1901-1904