Cliff Keen Clifford Patrick Keen ( June 13 , 1901 – November 4 , 1991 ) was an American coach who served as the head coach of the University of Michigan collegiate wrestling team from 1925 to 1970 . He led the Michigan Wolverines to 13 Big Ten Conference championships , and coached 68 All - America n wrestlers . In 1976 , he was one of the initial inductees into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame . Oklahoma A & M ( Oklahoma State University ) . Keen was born on a ranch in Roger Mills County , Oklahoma , near the town of Cheyenne . He got his start in wrestling as a middleweight at Oklahoma A & M ( now Oklahoma State University ) , where he became a national champion . He was undefeated as a collegiate wrestler in weight divisions through the heavyweight class . His wrestling coach at Oklahoma A & M was Edward C . Gallagher . Keen was also a lineman for the Oklahoma A & M football team and a sprinter on the track team . He was named to the 1924 Olympic team but did not compete because of a broken wrist . Keen graduated from Oklahoma A & M in 1924 . Keen started his coaching career in 1925 as a high school football coach in Frederick , Oklahoma ; his team outscored opponents 355 to 3 . Wrestling coach at Michigan . After coaching in Oklahoma for a year , Keen took a job at Michigan as the wrestling coach and assistant football coach . His teams won Big Ten championships in 1929 , 1930 and 1938 , and five of his teams in his first 12 years went through their seasons with a single defeat . One of his first great wrestlers was Ed Don George , who later became the world ’ s heavyweight champion . As the wrestling coach at Michigan from 1925 to 1970 , Coach Keen led the teams to a record of 268 wins , 91 losses , 9 ties and 13 Big Ten Conference wrestling championships . His teams placed in the top three in the Big Ten 40 times . His wrestlers captured 11 National Collegiate titles and 81 conference crowns . In his 42 years at Michigan , he coached 68 All - Americans as well as 81 Big Ten champions . His teams once went undefeated for four years and 34 matches . His length of service as Michigan ' s wrestling coach was “ the longest tenure of any coach in any sport in NCAA history . ” He obtained a law degree from Michigan in 1933 . Keen later said he had never intended to make a career of coaching , but wanted to go into law . He said : “ I never intended to continue at coaching when I got my law degree here . But that was the depths of the depression and I needed a job . I kept saying I ' d coach one more year . . . . I never expected it to last 45 years . ” Asked at the time of his retirement from coaching in 1970 if he would finally open his law practice , Keen joked , “ I ' m going into the full practice of retiring , I think . ” He took three years off from coaching to serve as a Naval Commander during World War II . “ When I came out of the service I definitely , positively decided I had to start my law practice , but Fritz Crisler persuaded me to keep coaching . ” Keen was a firm believer in wrestling as a means to build character . He once said : “ I believe that wrestling plays a highly educational part in the development of a boy . The fundamental that every successful wrestler must acquire , and which has great carry - over value after his student days , is self - discipline . From self - discipline stems self - confidence and belief in one ' s self . What greater lesson can a sport or a coach impart ? " Keen later recalled that one of the greatest moments of his career came in 1965 , when his team threw a big surprise for him after the Big Ten meet . More than 200 of his former wrestlers attended , including the entire 1928 team that won the Big Ten championship . Keen said , “ I take a lot of pride in what these fellows have done , not only in wrestling , but later . They ' ve been pretty successful in a number of things and the list reads like a ‘ Who ' s Who . ’ Whenever I think of that I get a lot of pride and satisfaction . ” Keen also spent 33 years as an assistant football coach with the Wolverines , serving under head coaches Fielding H . Yost , Fritz Crisler and Bennie Oosterbaan . During Gerald Ford ' s football career at Michigan , from 1932 - 34 , Keen coached Ford as the center on the offensive unit . In fact , Ford considered Keen “ his coach ” and maintained a friendship with Keen throughout his life . When Keen retired in 1970 , the Associated Press reported : “ Cliff Keen could have spent a career wrestling with law books . But instead he decided that wrestling itself was his ambition . That was back in 1925 . Calvin Coolidge was president . Booze was illegal . Alexander J . Groesbeck was the governor of Michigan . And Cliff Keen became the University of Michigan wrestling coach . Forty - five years ? How could anyone be a wrestling coach for 45 years . ” Olympics and wrestling innovator . Keen also served on the U . S . Olympic Committee from 1928 to 1952 and was manager of the 1948 Olympic team in London . He was an original member and later president of the National Wrestling Coaches Association and also presided over the national rules committee . For many years Keen pioneered the development of safe , effective , wrestling equipment such as the Cliff Keen head guard that bears his name . He is credited with developing the wrestling headgear used to protect wrestlers from head and ear injuries . And in 1955 , Keen developed a new circular wrestling ring . At the time of its introduction , the Associated Press reported : “ Michigan wrestling coach Cliff Keen saw his brainchild take shape this season – a circular wrestling ring . He has great hopes for it . ” The principle behind Keen ' s round ring was to eliminate the corners . Keen felt it was too easy for a wrestler to reach for the edge of the ring and pull himself out . The corners also restricted movement and made it difficult to maneuver from a corner , because a shift in either direction would put one or the other out of the ring . Keen explained that the square ring was of “ mechanical history . ” With the ropes used in the 1930s , a square ring was needed because the ropes had to be anchored by posts . With the ropes gone from collegiate wrestling , Keen concluded it was time to free the sport of the squared ring . In 1958 Keen founded the company Cliff Keen Athletic , which is still in the business of manufacturing wrestling gear , equipment and uniforms . Keen was also one of the authors of " Championship Wrestling " , a leading book on wrestling technique for many years . Honors and accolades . In 1976 , Keen was one of five charter members of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame . In 1980 , he was inducted into the University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor as part of the third induction class . Only three University of Michigan coaches ( Fielding H . Yost , Fritz Crisler and Ray Fisher ) were inducted into the Hall of Honor before Keen . Death and family . Keen died at age 90 at his home in Ann Arbor . He was survived by a son , James Keen and a daughter , Joyce Novak . His wife Mildred Keen , and daughter Shirley ( Keen ) Leahy , preceded him in death . His brother Paul V . Keen coached the University of Oklahoma wrestling team to a national championship . Paul Keen followed his brother into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1977 .