Dutch Meyer
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Dutch Meyer (born January 15, 1898) was the head football coach of TCU from 1934 to 1952. His record for the 19 years, he helmed the TCU football team was 109 wins, 79 losses, and 13 ties.
Meyer played football and baseball at TCU. He graduated from TCU in 1922. He led TCU to a national championship in 1938, and conference championships in 1938, 1944, and 1951. TCU played in seven bowl games under his tenure. He became the athletic director at TCU after he retired from coaching. Known as "Old Dutch" and as "Old Iron Pants."
Meyer pitched minor league baseball for a short period before becoming a football coach. He helped invent the modern passing game after he saw QB Sammy Baugh playing in a sandlot league and enrolled him in TCU. Because of Baugh's great arm, Coach Meyer created the "Meyer Spread" which is what is now known as the Double-Wing formation. This was a formation where the ends and wingback spread wider than was common for the time. With Baugh throwing the ball from this formation, TCU was 27-7-2 over the next three years.
In a Washington Post article, [1], Sammy Baugh said,
"Dutch Meyer taught us. All the coaches I had in the pros, I didn't learn a damn thing from any of `em compared with what Dutch Meyer taught me. He taught the short pass. The first day we go into a room and he has three S's up on a blackboard; nobody knew what that meant. Then he gives us a little talk and he says, `This is our passing game.' He goes up to the blackboard and he writes three words that complete the S's: `Short, Sure and Safe.' That was his philosophy — the short pass. "Everybody loved to throw the long pass. But the point Dutch Meyer made was, `Look at what the short pass can do for you.' You could throw it for seven yards on first down, then run a play or two for a first down, do it all over again and control the ball. That way you could beat a better team."
Meyer wrote the book, Spread Formations, which detailed his ideas about football formations. He retired from coaching in 1952, and became TCU Athletic director until 1963. Meyer is a member of the National Football Hall of Fame and the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.
He died in December of 1982 and is buried Mansfield, Texas.
He should not be confused with the baseball player of the same name who played briefly in the 1940's for the Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Indians. This Dutch Meyer[[2]] was the nephew of Old Dutch and also played football for his famous Uncle on the TCU football team. While playing football at TCU, he was Sammy Baugh's favorite target and caught a pass in the famous 3-2 TCU victory over LSU in the 1936 Sugar Bowl. Dutch kicked the winning field goal. In 1937, L.D. Meyer scored all the points in LSU 16-6 win over Marquette in the Cotton Bowl. While managing the Tulsa baseball team in 1955, Meyer kicked Roger Maris off the team. Young Dutch was fired soon afterwards.
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| Preceded by Francis Schmidt |
TCU Head Football Coach 1934–1952 |
Succeeded by Abe Martin |
| TCU Horned Frog Head Football Coaches |
|---|
| Field • Morrison • Hildebrand • Cronk • Hyde • Langley • Lewis • Lever • Stewart • Cahoon • Boles • Freeland • Daniel • Tipton • Hackney • Driver • McKnight • Bell • Schmidt • Meyer • Martin • Taylor • Pittman • Tohill • Shofner • Dry • Wacker • Sullivan • Franchione • Patterson |
