Frank Crawford Frank Crawford ( March 12 , 1870 – November 25 , 1963 ) was a college football coach , lawyer , and law professor . He attended Yale University and served as the first head football coach at the University of Michigan in 1891 . He also coached at the University of Wisconsin ( 1892 ) , Baker University ( 1892 ) , the University of Nebraska ( 1893 – 1894 ) , and the University of Texas ( 1895 ) . He later had a long career as a lawyer in Nebraska and France . He was a professor of law at Creighton College of Law from 1906 to 1913 . Early years . Crawford was born in 1870 at Colebrook , New Hampshire . He was the son of Francis B . Crawford , a starch manufacturer and state legislator , and Susan J . ( Randall ) Crawford . He attended preparatory school at St . Johnsbury Academy in St . Johnsbury , Vermont . He enrolled at Yale University , receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1891 . Sources are at odds over whether or not Crawford played football for the Yale Bulldogs football team . According to the University of Nebraska web site , Crawford was " a member of the dominant Yale teams of the mid - 1880s . " " The Michigan Daily " also reported that Crawford played football at Yale " for several years . " However , the University of Michigan web site notes that " Yale archivists found no evidence that he played varsity football " and concludes that Crawford " may have played some football while a Bulldog , but definitely did not win a varsity letter . " Coaching career . University of Michigan . After graduating from Yale , Crawford enrolled at the University of Michigan School of Law , receiving his law degree in 1893 . As a first - year law student , Crawford was both the unpaid coach and a substitute player for the 1891 Michigan Wolverines football team . He helped lead the team to a 4 – 5 record . He has been identified by several sources as the first football coach in University of Michigan history . Other sources indicate that Crawford and Mike Murphy were the joint head coaches of the 1891 Michigan football team . Others state that Murphy relinquished the coaching duties to Crawford midway through the season to allow him to focus on his duties as trainer . The " Chicago Daily Tribune " reported in November 1891 that the Michigan team was " coached systematically " by Murphy , Crawford , Horace Greely Prettyman and James Duffy . While attending Michigan , Crawford also played for the Michigan Wolverines baseball team in 1892 and 1893 . He led the team with a . 976 fielding average in 1892 . Crawford appeared in 17 games at catcher and left field for the Wolverines in 1892 and was among the team ' s leaders in runs ( tied for 2nd with 20 ) , stolen bases ( tied for 2nd with 13 ) and putouts ( 2nd with 115 ) . He was also selected as the captain of the 1893 baseball team . In his history of the University of Michigan , Wilfred Byron Shaw cites Crawford ' s hiring as a watershed moment in the history of the school ' s football program : " A new era in the history of football at Michigan began in 1891 , when with a fair schedule and an experienced coach , Frank Crawford ( Yale , ' 91 ) , ' 93l , the systematic development of a team began . . . " Although football had been played at Michigan without a coaching staff since 1879 , the Associated Press noted at the time of Crawford ' s death that Crawford " is credited with introducing football at the University of Michigan in 1891 . " Wisconsin . In 1892 , he coached at Wisconsin , and compiled a 4 – 3 record . Baker . In November 1892 , Crawford served as " a paid coach - captain player " for the football team at Baker University at Baldwin , Kansas . Crawford reportedly " brought many innovations , " including the training table , to Baker ' s football program . He led Baker to the Kansas state championship and a 2 – 1 record in " the triangular league , " including victories over Washburn ( 44 – 0 ) and Kansas State ( 18 – 0 ) . In December 1892 , the " Leavenworth Times " reported that Crawford had " succeeded in instilling sufficient foot ball lore into the western farmers to accomplish the defeat of the University of Kansas team by the Baker eleven last week . " In May 1893 , " The Baker Beacon " reported : " The Baker team was ably coached and captained by Frank Crawford who had learned the game at Yale and by the close of the season the team . . . was in excellent condition . " Nebraska . In 1893 , Crawford was hired as the head football coach at the University of Nebraska . He was the school ' s first paid head football coach with a salary of approximately $ 500 . He was Nebraska ' s head football coach during the 1893 and 1894 seasons and compiled a 9 – 4 – 1 record . After starting the 1893 season with a 2 – 2 – 1 record , Crawford ' s team defeated Iowa , 20 – 18 , in a match played in near - blizzard conditions and considered the " first major victory " in Nebraska history . Crawford reportedly also played right halfback and kicked the field goals for Nebraska during the 1893 Iowa game ; he was identified in the record book as " Frank . " In 1894 , Crawford ' s team defeated Iowa , 36 – 0 . The 1895 team finished the season with five consecutive victories for a 7 – 2 record and the school ' s first ever conference championship . During Crawford ' s tenure at Nebraska , George Flippin played for Crawford and became the first African - American athlete in Nebraska history . Texas . In 1894 , the University of Texas football team suffered its first loss in school history , a 28 – 0 home loss to Missouri . The previous head coach was fired , and a lengthy search was conducted for a replacement . In October 1895 , Texas hired Crawford . At Texas , he was known as " Little " Crawford and reportedly " taught the Yale system of play and stressed conditioning . " Crawford led the 1895 Longhorns to a perfect 5 – 0 record , as the team outscored its opponents by a combined 96 – 0 margin . After a Thanksgiving Day victory over San Antonio by a score of 38 – 0 , Crawford reportedly left for Mexico to watch bullfights and then returned to his home in Nebraska . The 1895 season was Crawford ' s last as a football coach . Legal and teaching career . In 1893 , Crawford opened a law practice with Albert Jefferis in Omaha , Nebraska . Jefferis was a classmate and teammate with Crawford on the baseball and football teams at the University of Michigan and later served in the United States House of Representatives . In 1901 , Crawford formed a law partnership in Omaha under the name Crawford & Clarke with Henry Teft Clarke , Jr . , a former Major League Baseball pitcher . Crawford joined the faculty of Creighton University School of Law in 1906 where he remained until 1913 . He taught classes in evidence and public service companies . From the end of World War I until the outbreak of World War II , Crawford practiced law in France , first in Paris and later in Nice . Family and death . Crawford was married to Hannah Louise McNair ( 1879 – 1943 ) ; she died in 1943 at Omaha , Nebraska . In November 1963 , Crawford died in Portland , Maine at age 93 .