Slip Madigan Edward Patrick " Slip " Madigan ( November 18 , 1896 – October 10 , 1966 ) was an American football player and coach of football , basketball , and baseball . He served as the head coach at Saint Mary ' s College of California from 1921 to 1939 and at the University of Iowa from 1943 to 1944 , compiling a career college football record of 119 – 58 – 13 . Madigan was also the head basketball coach at Saint Mary ' s from 1921 to 1927 and the head baseball coach at the school from 1926 to 1930 . He played football at the University of Notre Dame as a center . Madigan was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1974 . Playing and coaching career . Madigan played college football for Knute Rockne at the University of Notre Dame , playing the center position . After his playing days , he took over a floundering football program at Saint Mary ' s College of California in Moraga , California in 1921 . In their final game in 1920 , the Gaels lost to California , 127 – 0 . Madigan immediately recruited sixty men and taught them Notre Dame ' s plays and some tricks of his own , including the " forward fumble . " By 1927 , Saint Mary ' s College developed into one of the strongest football programs on the West Coast . They defeated programs such as USC , UCLA , California , and Stanford . The Stanford team they defeated in 1927 went on to play in the Rose Bowl , as did the USC team they defeated in 1931 . Though the school ' s enrollment seldom exceeded 500 , the Galloping Gaels of Saint Mary ' s became a nationally known football powerhouse . The most notable win came in 1930 , when Saint Mary ' s traveled to New York to play Fordham . Fordham was a heavy favorite , as the Rams had won 16 straight games going back to 1928 . They featured the first version of a defense known as the " Seven Blocks of Granite , " a formidable unit that later would include the likes of Vince Lombardi . Saint Mary ' s recovered from a 12 – 0 halftime deficit to win , 20 – 12 . The Gaels were known for their flashy style that reflected the personality of their flamboyant coach . Madigan traveled to New York for the Fordham game with 150 fans on a train that was labeled " the world ' s longest bar . " To stir up publicity for the game , he threw a party the night before and invited not only sportswriters but such celebrities as Babe Ruth and New York mayor Jimmy Walker . After the 1938 season , Saint Mary ' s was invited to the Cotton Bowl Classic , where they defeated Texas Tech , 20 – 13 . After the 1939 season , however , the successful and controversial Slip Madigan was fired at Saint Mary ' s after 19 years of coaching . He had a 117 – 45 – 12 record at Saint Mary ' s . Saint Mary ' s never again came close to the football success they had under Madigan , and in 2004 , the school dropped football altogether . Madigan was also the 16th coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes , where he coached in 1943 and 1944 . He was an interim coach for Eddie Anderson , who was serving in World War II . However , the University of Iowa at that time had to share their athletic facilities with a local military academy , and nearly all the able - bodied men in Iowa City found their way into the military school . Madigan ' s Iowa roster was mostly filled with players with conditions that exempted them from military service . Madigan coached some good performances out of the 1943 Hawkeyes . Though they had a record of just 1 – 6 – 1 , they played respectably in losses . As a result , Madigan was retained in 1944 . However , the 1944 season was similar to 1943 , except the losses were by greater margins . Madigan suggested that he would be finished with coaching at the end of the year , which may have inspired Iowa to a 27 – 6 victory over Nebraska , but Iowa ended the year with a 1 – 7 record . Madigan turned down an offer to coach for Iowa again in 1945 and retired for good . A relative of Alameda County Sheriff Frank Madigan . Slip Madigan died in 1966 and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1974 . He is buried at Saint Mary Cemetery in Oakland .