From 1901 to 1905, his "Point-a-Minute" squads had a record of 55–1–1, outscoring their opponents by a margin of 2,821–42. The1901 team beatStanford, 49–0, in the1902 Rose Bowl, the first college footballbowl game. Under Yost, Michigan won four straight national championships from 1901 to 1904 and two more in 1918 and 1923.
In 1921, Yost became Michigan'sathletic director and served in that capacity until 1940. He was inducted into theCollege Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1951.[1] Yost was also a successful business person, lawyer, and author; but he is best known as a leading figure in pioneering the development of college football into a national phenomenon.
Yost was born inFairview, West Virginia, in April 1871. Yost's family had settled in West Virginia, in 1825. He was the oldest of four children of Parmenus (sometimes Permenus) Wesley Yost (1845–1920) and Elzena Jane (Ammons) Yost (1852–1943), both natives of West Virginia. His father was a farmer and a Confederate veteran.[2] His family had been in Fairview since 1825 when his second great grandfather, David Yost, settled there and took up a grant of over 2,000 acres.[3]
Yost was educated in the local schools and became a deputy marshal in Fairview as a teenager.[4] At seventeen, he earned a public-school teaching certificate.[5]
He next enrolled at the Ohio Normal School (now known asOhio Northern University). Yost played for the Ohio Normal baseball team.[6] After three years at Ohio Normal, he returned to West Virginia to work in the oil fields.
In 1895, Yost enrolled atWest Virginia University where he studied law, earning anLL.B. He also played football for the West Virginia University football team.[7] A 6-foot, 200 pounder, Yost was a standout attackle at West Virginia into the 1896 season.
In October 1896, after his team lost three home games toLafayette, played on three different fields over the course of three days,[8] Yost became a remarkable personification of "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." He transferred in mid-season to join CoachParke H. Davis's national championship team at Lafayette. Just a week after playingagainst Davis in West Virginia, Yost was playingfor Davis in Lafayette's historic 6–4 win over thePenn Quakers.
The fortuitous timing of his appearance on the Lafayette roster did not go unnoticed by Penn officials. They called it "the Yost affair." ThePhiladelphiaLedger quoted Yost as saying that he came to Lafayette only to play football. The fact that he appeared in a Lafayette uniform only once, in the Penn game,[9] and that he returned to West Virginia within two weeks of the contest did not help appearances. He assured all concerned that he would return to Lafayette for at least three years of study.[10]
Yost began his coaching career at age 26 as head coach of the1897 Ohio Wesleyan football team. Yost's team compiled a 7–1–1 record, shut out six of its nine opponents (including a 6–0 victory overOhio State and a scoreless tie withMichigan), and outscored all opponents by a total of 144 to 32. Yost played at left tackle against Michigan, leading to a protest that Ohio Wesleyan had assured Michigan that Yost, a paid coach and non-student, would not play and had engaged in trickery by introducing another individual as Yost. One week later, Michigan announced that it would no longer schedule games against Ohio Wesleyan.[11][12]
In 1898, Yost was hired to coach theNebraska football team with compensation of $1,000 for 10 weeks of service.[13] The 1898 Nebraska team compiled an 8–3 record, including victories over Iowa State (23–10), Missouri (47–6), Kansas (18–6), and Colorado (23–10), and losses to Drake (6–5) and Iowa (6–5).
In June 1899, the University of Kansas Athletic Association offered Yost $350, and an additional $150 conditionally, to coach the school's football team.[14] After spending the summer in Colorado, Yost arrived inLawrence, Kansas, on September 4, 1899.[15] During the 1899 season, the Kansas football team "lived separate from the rest of the students and ate specially selected and prepared food . . . with Coach Yost as their only mentor".[16] The team compiled an undefeated 10–0 record, outscoring opponents 280–37. The season included victories over the Haskell Indians (12–0 and 18–0), Nebraska (36–20), and Missouri (34–6). During the 1899–1900 academic year, Kansas had Yost as its football coach andJames Naismith as its basketball coach. Naismith also served as an assistant football coach during the 1899 season.
In May 1900, Yost was hired as the football coach atStanford University,[17] and, after traveling home to West Virginia, he arrived inPalo Alto, California, on August 21, 1900.[18] Yost led the 1900 Stanford team to a 7–2–1, outscoring opponents 154–20.
Yost coached at Michigan from 1901 through 1923, and again in 1925 and 1926. He was highly successful at Michigan, winning 165 games, losing only 29, and tying 10 for a winning percentage of .833. Under Yost, Michigan won four straightnational championships from 1901 to 1904 and two more in 1918 and 1923.
Yost's firstMichigan team in 1901 outscored its opposition by a margin of 550–0 en route to a perfect season and victory in theinaugural Rose Bowl on January 1, 1902, overStanford, the team Yost had coached the year before. From 1901 to 1904, Michigan did not lose a game, and was tied only once in a legendary game with theMinnesota Golden Gophers that led to the establishment of theLittle Brown Jug trophy. Yost's teams used theshort punt formation.[21] He also developed a play called "Old 83" resembling anoption.[22]
Before Michigan finally lost a game toAmos Alonzo Stagg'sChicago Maroons squad at the end of the 1905 season, they had gone 56 straight games without a defeat, the second longest such streak in college football history. During their first five seasons under Yost, Michigan outscored its opponents 2,821–42,[23] earning the Michigan team the nickname "Point-a-Minute."[24] The team featured running backWillie Heston, who Yost called the greatest player he ever saw.[25][n 1]
In 1904,Germany Schulz stood up from the center position and created the position oflinebacker. Yost was horrified at first, but came to see the wisdom in Schulz's innovation.[27]
In 1908, Michigan lost to Penn 29–0, the worst defeat suffered by a Michigan team during the Yost era.[28] Yost said of Schulz's performance: "He gave the greatest one-man exhibition of courage I ever saw on a football field."[29]
In 1909, Michigan suffered its first loss toNotre Dame.[30] In 1910, Michigan was led by All-AmericansAlbert Benbrook andStanfield Wells and played its only undefeated season of the independent years, compiling a 3–0–3 record.[31]
In 1916,John Maulbetsch led Michigan to one of its finest records. The Wolverines won seven straight games.
At the end of the season, Yost called the 1925 Michigan team "the greatest football team I ever coached" and "the greatest football team I ever saw in action".[33] The team featured quarterbackBenny Friedman and left endBennie Oosterbaan, sometimes referred to as "The Benny-to-Bennie Show".
In tribute to the school where Yost began his coaching career, he arranged for Michigan to play its first game atFerry Field (September 30, 1905) and itsfirst game atMichigan Stadium (October 1, 1927) against Ohio Wesleyan.[34]
After retiring from coaching, Yost remained at Michigan as the school'sathletic director, a position he held until 1940, then held the title of athletic director emeritus. Under his leadership,Michigan Stadium, Yost Fieldhouse (nowYost Ice Arena), and the university's golf course were constructed.
Yost was in poor health for several years before his death and was hospitalized at theBattle Creek Sanitarium in May 1946.[35] He reportedly suffered from a stroke, but was released after two weeks and returned to his home inAnn Arbor, Michigan.[36] In August 1946, Yost died of agall bladder attack at his home. He was survived by his wife, whom he had married in 1906, a son, Fielding H. Yost, Jr., two brothers, Ellis and Nicholas, and a sister, Mrs. Charles Barry.[37] Yost was buried at Ann Arbor'sForest Hill Cemetery near the University of Michigan campus.[38]
A native of West Virginia, Yost's unusual pronunciation of the school's name, "MEE-she-gan," copied by long-time Michigan football broadcasterBob Ufer, is affectionately carried on by many Michigan football fans and often referenced byESPN sportscasterChris Fowler.
A devoutChristian, he was among the first coaches to allowJewish players on his teams, includingJoe Magidsohn andBenny Friedman. However,Murray Sperber's bookShake Down the Thunder places principal responsibility for the Big Ten blackballing and boycotting of Notre Dame on Yost. It also claims this was motivated by anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant prejudice common in the early 20th century, though John Kyrk's bookNatural Enemies points out that there was a bitter feud between Yost andKnute Rockne, head coach of theNotre Dame football team.
Yost had a profound impact on the Michigan athletics department. "No other man has ever given as much heart, soul, brains, and tongue to the game he loved—football" saidGrantland Rice.[39] A longtime football coach and athletic director, his career was marked with achievement. Yost was among the inaugural class of inductees to theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1951.
Yost (on the sideline at right) coaching Michigan against Minnesota in 1902
Yost invented the position oflinebacker with centerGermany Schulz; co-created the first everbowl game, the 1902 Rose Bowl, with then legendary UM athletic directorCharles Baird; invented the fieldhouse concept that bears his name; and supervised the building of the first on-campus building dedicated to intramural sports.[41]
Yost was also known for a series of admonitions to his players beginning with the words, "Hurry up," for example, "Hurry up and be the first man down the field on a punt or kick-off." This inclination earned him the nickname, "Hurry up" Yost. He was also an innovator of thehurry up offense.[42]
Yost initiated the concept of coaching as an actual profession near the turn of the century when he was paid as much as a UM professor. The professionalization of coaches that started with Yost and later,Walter Camp atYale University, symbolized how serious college football was becoming, and Yost symbolized this more so than any of his peers. It was he who first articulated the now accepted premise about student-athletes in the sport that: "Football builds character."
No fewer than 77 men who either played for Yost, or coached under him as an assistant, went on to become head coaches in college football; two,Benny Friedman andTommy Hughitt, helmed teams in theNational Football League (NFL). In additionDan A. Killian, who was the head coach for theLSU Tigers (1904–1906), reportedly playedquarterback on the Michigan football team[43] under Yost,[44] but if he did, he apparently did not qualify for a letter[45] and is not listed below. Yost'scoaching tree includes:
Dave Allerdice: played for Michigan (1907–1909), assistant for Michigan (1910), head coach forButler (1911),Texas (1911–1915)[46]
Franklin Cappon: played for Michigan (1920–1922), assistant for Michigan (1925, 1928–1937), head coach forLuther (IA) (1923–1924) andKansas (1926–1927).[54]
Otto Carpell: played for Michigan (1909–1912), head coach forAlbion (1913)
Abe Cohn: played for Michigan (1917–1918, 1920); head coach forWhitworth (1922–1923).[55]
^abcTheNCAA football record book credits Yost with a 7–4 record coaching Nebraska in the 1898 season, incorrectly noting a 24–0 loss toWilliam Jewell. Nebraska's records show a 38–0 victory over William Jewell on October 22, 1898, inKansas City, Missouri, and credit Yost with an 8–3 record for the season; see1898 Nebraska Bugeaters football team. Additionally, the NCAA does not officially credit Yost for serving as interim head coach in 1900 at State Normal School (nowSan Jose State University), whereas San Jose State records and numerous other sources credit Yost with a 12–0 victory overChico State and a 1–0 record at the school. The NCAA, thus, lists Yost with a record of 196–36–12, two fewer wins and one more loss than indicated in the table above.[96]
^Malcolm Bingay, "A Little About This and That: How Schulz Entered Michigan Still A Mystery,"The Morning Herald, May 1, 1951; "Frankly Speaking: Schulz' Great Grid Exploits Reviewed,"The Long Beach Press-Telegram, April 17, 1951.
^"Need Yost's Approval to Clinch Line Coach Position for Bernard: Local Athlete Expected to Replace Jack Blott". The News Palladium (Benton Harbor, Michigan). February 27, 1934.
^C.E. M'Bride (January 17, 1926). "Yost Pupil Takes Reins As Grid Coach at Kansas: Frank Cappon, Assistant Mentor at Michigan, Steps In to Fill Vacancy Made by Recent Resignation Of 'Potsy' Clark; His First Aide, Steele, Also Hails From Ann Arbor Institution".The Lincoln Sunday Star.
