And The Answer to RU's 40+ Head Coaches and All Coaches from the Last 100 Year

[Source]

List of Rutgers Head Football Coaches – Youngest to Oldest At Time of First Game for the Last 100 Years:

29 years, 2 months, 1 day – Jack Wallace (Dec. 28, 1895-Feb. 18, 1972)
33 years, 1 month, 5 days – Harry Rockafeller (Aug. 26, 1894-April 5, 1978)
33 years, 10 months, 7 days – John Stiegman (Dec.16, 1922-Oct. 31, 2006)
35 years, 2 months, 30 days – Greg Schiano (June 1, 1966-)
37 years, 10 months,19 days-Harvey Harman (Nov. 5, 1900-Dec. 17, 1969)
41 years, 8 months 12 days – Kyle Flood (January 20, 1971-)
43 years, 1 month 10 days – Dick Anderson (July 29, 1941-)
43 years, 3 months, 17 days – Foster Sanford (June 4, 1870-May 23, 1938)
44 years, 4 months, 1 day - J. Wilder Tasker (June 25, 1887-Mar. 14, 1974)
45 years, 6 months, 6 days – Frank Burns (March 16, 1928-July 14, 2012)
45 years, 10 months, 19 days – John Bateman(Dec. 6, 1914-Jan. 1, 1998)
45 years, 11 months, 12 days – Doug Graber (September 26, 1944-)
50 years, 2 months, 19 days – Terry Shea (June 12, 1946-),

 

[rufancoe00]

Source: by my math you may be off 10 years on Burns?

 

[brodo]

Source: by my math you may be off 10 years on Burns?

Agreed. Born in '28, became a head coach in '73. Maybe this was the reason for Source's confusion about whether the total number was 7 or 8.

 

[Source]

You guys are right. I mis-typed a 3 instead of a 4 for Frank Burns... so its 45 years and change, not 35 years. Thanks for the catch and I apologize.

Regarding the bonus question on RU's youngest head coaches in the U.S. at the time of their first games:

Greg Schiano was the youngest head coach in Division I-A football and three months past his 35th birthday when Rutgers defeated Buffalo 31-15 on August 30, 2001. John Stiegman was also the youngest coach of a major program and three months shy of his 34th birthday when Rutgers defeated Ohio Wesleyan on September 22, 1956.

Frank Burns became the youngest head coach of a major university in America when he left Rutgers to coach John Hopkins from 1951-1952 and went 6-9-1. He was 23 ½ .

 

[brodo]

...Frank Burns became the youngest head coach of a major university in America when he left Rutgers to coach John Hopkins from 1951-1952 and went 6-9-1. He was 23 ½ .

I'm amazed that Burns had a 21 year break between his first HC gig and his 2nd.

 

[Source]

You have to understand that after John Hopkins, Frank Burns coached high school throughout the fifties. He was on John Bateman's Rutgers staff from 1960 through 1972 until new Rutgers President Ed Bloustein relieved Bateman of his job and gave it to Frank Burns. Burns was on a short one or two year leash. But he came through and coached through the 1983 season. He was a Rutgers man through and through -- Rutgers star player, defensive and offensive Rutgers assistant and finally Rutgers head coach.

 

[RU62]

None better than Burns in many categories...player, coach and man!

 

[Source]

The youngest coaches of all were the guys in the 1890s through 1910s. They were mostly active or recently graduated star players from other colleges.

 

[ecojew]

I believe that Burns actually coached through the 1983 season, which IIRC correctly, ended with a 3-8 record. During his tenure, RU's schedule changed from the steady diet of what today are 1-AA or FCS teams to one that featured PSU, Pitt, SU, BC, WVU, Army, and Temple with an SEC opponent often added to the mix. But Burns had just 6 assistant coaches while the teams he faced had the full complement of 8. Not a level playing field.

At the final home game of the 1983 season, a few people paraded around the stadium with a banner that read "The Big Red is Dead with Fred at the Head." That was Fred, not Frank, pointing to the person whom many felt was the real cause of the University's problems with regard to athletics. But, alas, it was Frank who got the axe instead, and RU turned to Dick Anderson (?) and provided him with many of the resources that had always been denied to Burns.

 

[Source]

ecojew" "... At the final home game of the 1983 season, a few people paraded around the stadium with a banner that read "The Big Red is Dead with Fred at the Head..."

There was also a banner ready to fly over the Stadium with the same words. But rain caused the plane flight's cancellation.

 

[brodo]

You have to understand that after John Hopkins, Frank Burns coached high school throughout the fifties. ...

Source, it's Johns Hopkins.

 

[Source]

I didn't know that. I just always called him Johnny.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

 

[scarletschuyler]

I was a student while Frank Burns was an asst. coach under Bateman, and met him several times. A complete gentleman who represented Rutgers as well as anyone (except for Brian Leonard).

 

[letterman]

No one ever represented ru better than Frank Burns. Great coach and a good man. Accomplished so much with so little support. To have played for him was an honor never to be forgotten.