Burt Ingwersen Burton Aherns Ingwersen ( August 29 , 1898 – July 17 , 1969 ) was an American football , basketball , and baseball player and coach of football and baseball . He served as the head football coach at the University of Iowa from 1924 to 1931 , compiling a career college football record of 33 – 27 – 4 . Ingwersen played football , basketball , and baseball at the University of Illinois and was an assistant football coach at the school in two stints totaling 25 seasons . He also served as an assistant football coach at Northwestern University and was the head baseball coach there from 1936 to 1939 , tallying a mark of 35 – 51 – 1 . Early years and playing career . Ingwersen was born in Bryant , Iowa , a suburb of Clinton , but his parents and he moved across the river to Fulton , Illinois when Ingwersen was in grade school . Since his high school in Fulton did not compete in football , Ingwersen played across the river at Clinton High School . Ingwersen accepted a scholarship offer from the University of Illinois . Ingwersen played for Robert Zuppke at Illinois from 1917 to 1919 . During that time , the Illini won two Western Conference titles and the 1919 national championship . After graduating from Illinois , he played one year of professional football in the first year of the NFL for George Halas and the Decatur Staleys , later renamed the Chicago Bears . Coaching career . Assistant at Illinois . Ingwersen served as an assistant coach at Illinois under Zuppke from 1921 – 1923 , the team again winning the college national championship in 1923 . Head coach at Iowa . Coach Howard Jones left the University of Iowa for Trinity College , now known as Duke University , in 1923 after eight years that saw two unbeaten seasons , and a 42 – 17 – 1 overall record , though aside from the two undefeated years Jones never finished higher than fourth in the conference . Paul Belting succeeded Jones as Iowa ' s athletic director , and needing new coach to fill Jones ' s shoes , he nearly lured Knute Rockne from Notre Dame . Belting and Rockne had reached a deal in principle , but Rockne insisted that the media not be informed . When the " Chicago Tribune " ran a headline on March 23 , 1924 , speculating on Rockne ' s proposed move to Iowa , Rockne was quickly signed to a ten - year extension by Notre Dame . Belting offered Ingwersen a three - year contract , making him the 12th coach in Iowa football history . Ingwersen ' s appointment was unanimously approved by the athletic board , although the selection was opposed by some Iowa alumni at the time . Critics had two complaints . The first was that Ingwersen was not a " name " coach ; he had only been out of college for three years , and he did not have the credentials of Rockne . Second , Ingwersen was perceived as a " traitor " by some Hawkeyes who felt that despite growing up in Illinois he was a native - born Iowan who turned his back on the state to play and coach for the Illini . Iowa finished with a 6 – 1 – 1 record in Ingwersen ' s first year as a head coach in 1924 , better than Jones had managed the previous year . Unfortunately , the lone loss cost Iowa the Big Ten Conference title . Worse for some fans , the loss was to Zuppke and Illinois , Ingwersen ' s alma mater , the same school that had cost Iowa the championship in 1918 and 1919 while Ingwersen was a member of the Illini squad . Iowa won the first five games of the 1925 season before losing their last three . The most notable win came in Iowa ' s third game against Illinois . Ledrue Galloway , a talented black tackle from the 1924 team , was fighting tuberculosis on his sickbed . Just before the 1925 game with Illinois , the Hawkeye team received a telegram from Galloway , stating , " There will be twelve Iowa men on the field to beat Illinois . I am with you . " Things looked bleak at first , however , when Red Grange returned the opening kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown . But Iowa fought back and delivered a 12 – 10 victory for their teammate Galloway , who died less than a year later . Iowa went 7 – 9 over the next two years , winning just one conference game in 1926 and 1927 . Fan opposition to Ingwersen grew and sentiment turned on Ingwersen ' s biggest supporter , Paul Belting , as well . Iowa was suspended from athletic participation in the Big Ten , effective January 1 , 1930 in the wake of a recruiting scandal that stretched back to the Howard Jones era . After agreeing to suspend current players who had been paid from an alumni slush fund and to fire athletic director Belting , who was implicated in the scheme , Iowa was reinstated a month later . The loss of his players greatly hampered Ingwersen ' s career at Iowa , and after going 1 – 6 – 1 in the 1931 season , scoring just seven points all year long , it was clear it would be a long time before Iowa would again be competitive within the conference . Ingwersen resigned after that season , stating that he " did not care to fight the critics who are now or will be asking for a new coach at Iowa . " Ingwersen had a 33 – 27 – 4 record at Iowa , with only had two losing seasons in the eight years he coached . Later coaching career . Ingwersen soon became an assistant football coach at Northwestern University under Pappy Waldorf . He coached there during the 1930s and served as Northwestern ' s baseball coach from 1936 – 1939 as well . Ingwersen later served in World War II . After the war , Ingwersen again became an assistant coach at his alma mater , the University of Illinois , this time under Ray Eliot . He also coached as an assistant under Pete Elliott at Illinois , serving a total of 22 years in his second stint ( 1945 – 1966 ) . Ingwersen died at age 70 on July 17 , 1969 in Champaign , Illinois .