Ernest Bearg

Ernest Bearg
Sport(s) Football, basketball
Biographical details
Born July 20, 1893(1893-07-20)
Died August 1971 (aged 78)
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1918–1919
?
1925–1928
1929–1935

Basketball
1925–1926

Washburn
Illinois (assistant)
Nebraska
Washburn


Nebraska
Head coaching record
Overall 69–40–7 (football)
8–10 (basketball)
Statistics
College Football Data Warehouse
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1 Big Six (1928)

Ernest E. Bearg (July 20, 1893 – August 1971) was an American football and basketball coach. He served as the head football coach at Washburn University from 1918 to 1919 and again from 1929 to 1935 and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln from 1925 to 1928, compiling a career college football record of 69–40–7. Bearg also spent one year as Nebraska's men's basketball coach (1925–1926) and posted an 8–10 mark. Before coming to Nebraska, he also served as an assistant coach at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign under Robert Zuppke

Contents

Early life

Bearg was a 1916 graduate of Washburn University where he was a member of the Kansas Beta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta. During his senior year at Washburn, he was elected senior class president.[1]

Coaching career

Washburn

Bearg was the 15th and then again the 20th head football coach for the Washburn Ichabods. He first held the position for two seasons in 1918 and 1919 and again for seven more seasons from 1929 until 1935. Bearg's overall record at Washburn was 46 wins, 33 losses and 4 ties.

After coaching for four seasons at Nebraska, Bearg led the Ichabods to a 35–31 record and the 1931 Central Conference championship. Two of his team's three losses during the 1931 season came to the Kansas and Kansas State.

Nebraska

Under Bearg's leadership, Nebraska won its first Big Six Conference title in 1928 when his team went 7–1–1. The Cornhuskers were conference runners-up in 1926 and 1927. According to Nebraska's official athletics website, Bearg fielded powerful team during his four years at the helm but "fans criticized him for not using strategy and deception, which eventually led to his resignation."[2] After four seasons in Lincoln, Bearg was replaced by future College Football Hall of Fame coach, Dana X. Bible.[3]

Honors

Bearg was inducted into the Washburn Athletics Hall of Fame in 1973–74, and earned a spot as a coach in the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 1988.

Head coaching record

Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs
Nebraska Cornhuskers (Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association/Big Six Conference) (1925–1928)
1925 Nebraska 4–2–2 2–2–1 5th
1926 Nebraska 6–2 5–1 2nd
1927 Nebraska 6–2 4–1 2nd
1928 Nebraska 7–1–1 5–0 1st
Nebraska: 23–7–3 16–4–1
Total: 23–7–3
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title

References

External links