 E. J. Mather coached the team to three Big Ten titles in his nine seasons as coach. After inheriting Mitchell's team, which he led to a 10 – 13 overall (3 – 9, Big Ten) record during the 1919 – 20 season, he led the team to an 18 – 4 overall (8 – 4, Big Ten) record during the 1920 – 21 season. This 1921 team won its first eight and last eight games to tie the Wisconsin Badgers and Purdue Boilermakers for the Big Ten title. The team won back-to-back championships in 1925 – 26 and 1926 – 27. The 1926 squad, which was captained by Richard Doyle who became the team's first All-American, tied with Purdue, the Iowa Hawkeyes and Indiana Hoosiers for the conference championship. The 1927 team had a new All-American, Bennie Oosterbaan, and won the school's first back-to-back championships and first outright championship with a 14 – 3 overall (10 – 2, Big Ten) record. Mather died after a lengthy battle with cancer in August 1928.
