Jack Mollenkopf

Jack Mollenkopf
Sport(s) Football
Biographical details
Born November 24, 1905
Convoy, Ohio
Died December 4, 1975 (aged 70)
Rochester, Minnesota
Playing career
1925–1926 Bowling Green
Position(s) End
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1947–1955
1956–1969		 Purdue (assistant)
Purdue
Head coaching record
Overall 84–39–9
Bowls 1–0

Statistics

Accomplishments and honors

Championships

1 Big Ten (1967)
College Football Hall of Fame
Inducted in 1988 (profile)

Kenneth "Jack" Mollenkopf (November 24, 1905 – December 4, 1975) was the head football coach at Purdue University from 1956 until 1969. Mollenkopf was also an assistant coach at Purdue from 1947 to 1955 under Stu Holcomb.

Mollenkopf was a successful football coach competing at high school and college levels and is widely acknowledged as the greatest football coach in Purdue's history. While coaching high school, he led Toledo Waite to three national championships. Mollenkopf is Purdue's all-time leader in Big Ten Conference wins (58) and conference winning percentage (.637). His 84 wins at Purdue placed him first on the school's all-time wins list until Joe Tiller passed him in 2008, and he ranks fourth in overall winning percentage (.670). Mollenkopf's Boilermakers were nationally ranked for 80 weeks, the most under any Purdue head coach, and captured the #1 spot the first five weeks of the 1968 season.

On January 2, 1967, Mollenkopf coached the school's first appearance in the Rose Bowl, leading Purdue to a 14–13 victory over USC. Against Purdue's in-state rivals, Mollenkopf tallied an 11–2–1 record versus Indiana and a 10–4 mark against Notre Dame. From 1966 to 1969, a Purdue player finished in the top three in balloting for the Heisman Trophy: quarterback Bob Griese was second in 1966, halfback Leroy Keyes placed third in 1967 and second in 1968, and quarterback Mike Phipps finished as runner-up in 1969. Mollenkopf's inaugural season in 1956 was the only losing campaign of his tenure as head coach at Purdue.

A prominent figure on the sidelines of postseason all-star games, Mollenkopf served as head coach of the 1958, 1959, and 1960 Blue-Gray Football Classics; the 1962 and 1963 East-West Shrine Games; the 1964, 1967, and 1970 Hula Bowls; the 1968 All-American Bowl; and the 1969 North-South Shrine Game. Mollenkopf was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1988; the Bowling Green State University Hall of Fame in 1965 and the Indiana Football Hall of Fame in 1975.[1] In 1994, Coach Mollenkopf was inducted as a member of the inaugural class of the Purdue Intercollegiate Athletic Hall of Fame.

Mollenkopf died of cancer at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota on December 4, 1975 at the age of 70.[2]

Head coaching record

Year Team Overall Conference Standing Bowl/playoffs Coaches# AP°
Purdue Boilermakers (Big Ten Conference) (1956–1969)
1956 Purdue 3–4–2 1–4–2 T–7th
1957 Purdue 5–4 4–3 T–4th
1958 Purdue 6–1–2 3–1–2 4th 11 13
1959 Purdue 5–2–2 4–2–1 T–3rd
1960 Purdue 4–4–1 3–4 5th 15 19
1961 Purdue 6–3 4–2 4th 11 12
1962 Purdue 4–4–1 3–3 T–5th
1963 Purdue 5–4 4–3 4th
1964 Purdue 6–3 5–2 3rd
1965 Purdue 7–2–1 5–2 T–3rd 13
1966 Purdue 9–2 6–1 2nd W Rose 6 7
1967 Purdue 8–2 6–1 T–1st 9 9
1968 Purdue 8–2 5–2 3rd 11 10
1969 Purdue 8–2 5–2 3rd 18 18
Purdue: 84–39–9 58–32–5
Total: 84–39–9
      National championship         Conference title         Conference division title
#Rankings from final Coaches Poll.
°Rankings from final AP Poll.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.indiana-football.org/?q=node/514
  2. ↑ AP (December 5, 1975). "JACK MOLLENKOPF OF PURDUE IS DEAD; Coach Led Football Team to Rose Bowl Victory". The New York Times. Retrieved November 23, 2010.

External links