Herman Stegeman Herman James Stegeman ( January 21 , 1891 – October 22 , 1939 ) was a player and coach of American football , basketball , baseball , and track and field athletics , and a college athletics administrator . He served as the head football coach at Beloit College ( 1915 ) , Monmouth College ( 1916 – 1917 ) , and the University of Georgia ( 1920 – 1922 ) , compiling a career college football coaching record of 29 – 17 – 6 . At Georgia , Stegeman was also the head basketball coach ( 1919 – 1931 ) , head baseball coach ( 1919 – 1920 ) , and head track and field coach ( 1920 – 1937 ) . Early years and playing career . Stegeman was born and raised in Holland , Michigan , and was of Dutch descent . He attended the University of Chicago , where he starred in many sports , including track and field and football under the direction of the legendary Amos Alonzo Stagg . Stegeman played on the school ' s 1913 National Championship football squad , and was hailed by his coach , Stagg , as one of the finest athletes he had ever had the privilege of coaching . After playing football for another season in 1914 , Stegeman graduated from Chicago with a Bachelor of Philosophy ( Ph . B . ) in 1915 . Coaching career . During the end of World War I , the United States Army stationed Stegeman in Athens to create physical training courses for the UGA Reserve Officers ' Training Corps program . After arriving , he was hired by UGA ' s football coach , W . A . Cunningham , as an assistant for the 1919 season . When Cunningham returned to the Army after that season , Stegeman became the head coach of the football team and served in the position from 1920 to 1922 . In addition , he also became the head coach of the basketball , baseball and track and field teams in 1920 . His career football record stands at 20 – 6 – 3 ( . 741 ) . He stepped down as baseball coach after one year . After the 1922 football season , Stegeman stepped down from that position to become the UGA athletics director . He remained as head coach of the basketball and track and field teams . As head coach of the Georgia basketball team from 1920 until 1931 , he still owns the second - best winning percentage ( . 686 ) of any Georgia coach with more than 50 games . His final group of Bulldogs won 23 of 25 games and Stegeman was regarded by many as one of the first great basketball " gurus . " Stegeman coached UGA ' s track and field team for 17 years and was the personal coach of Forrest " Spec " Towns , who won a gold medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics . Stegeman led the UGA track team to its only SEC men ' s team conference championship in 1937 with Towns as the star of the squad . Later life and honors . In 1946 , Stegeman Hall was named in honor of Stegeman and initially served as the home of the University ' s athletic and physical education departments ; however , that building was demolished in the early 1990s in preparation for events hosted by UGA during the 1996 Summer Olympics . As a result , Charles Knapp , UGA ' s president at the time , led the effort to name Stegeman Coliseum ( previously known as simply the Coliseum ) in Stegeman ' s honor on March 2 , 1996 . Stegeman died of a heart attack in Athens , Georgia in 1939 .