Ossie Solem Oscar Martin " Ossie " Solem ( December 13 , 1891 – October 26 , 1970 ) was an American football player and coach of football and basketball in the United States . He served as the head football coach at Luther College in Decorah , Iowa ( 1920 ) , Drake University ( 1921 – 1931 ) , the University of Iowa ( 1932 – 1936 ) , Syracuse University ( 1937 – 1945 ) , and Springfield College ( 1946 – 1957 ) , compiling a career college football record of 162 – 117 – 20 . From 1913 until 1920 , Solem was the head coach of the Minneapolis Marines , prior to that team ' s entry into the National Football League . During his time with the Marines , Solem introduced the team to the single - wing formation , developed by the famed coach , Pop Warner , and used by the University of Minnesota , where Solem had played football . Solem was also the head basketball coach at Drake University for four seasons from 1921 to 1925 , tallying a mark of 37 – 31 . Playing and early coaching career . Solem played end at the University of Minnesota for Henry L . Williams from 1910 to 1912 . He then began his coaching career , coaching for a pre - NFL professional football franchise called the Minneapolis Marines . He coached there for three years from 1913 to 1915 before coaching a few years of high school football at East Des Moines High School and South High School of Minneapolis . Solem began his college coaching career at Luther College in 1920 . After one year there , he was named head coach and athletic director at Drake University in Des Moines , Iowa in 1921 . Solem served as Drake ' s head football coach and athletic director for 11 years from 1921 to 1931 . From 1926 – 1931 , he also served as the director of the Drake Relays . Coaching career at Iowa . In 1932 , Solem signed a three year contract to succeed Burt Ingwersen as the 13th head football coach at the University of Iowa . He took over an Iowa football program that had recently been suspended from athletic competition in the Big Ten Conference for a month . More importantly , the Hawkeye program was suffering from the effects of the Great Depression . Since Iowa was a predominantly agricultural state , the Depression hit the Hawkeye athletic program particularly hard . The school could not even afford to pay Solem his full salary when he was first hired . After winning the opening game of the 1932 season , Iowa lost their final seven games of the year . In the off - season , Solem loudly complained that athletes were being discriminated against in Iowa City and were not being hired for normal student jobs , probably as a result of Iowa ' s recent conference suspension . An independent investigator substantiated Solem ' s claims . Hopes were not high in 1933 , but Iowa responded with a 5 – 3 final record and Hawkeyes quarterback Joe Laws was named the Big Ten MVP . Solem ' s contract was extended two years , and with the departure of Iowa ' s athletic director , Solem was appointed to that position as well . Meanwhile , he struggled with a lack of cooperation from fellow Big Ten schools in schedule meetings . Each conference member was supposed to be guaranteed five conference games , but due to Iowa ' s recent suspension , other Big Ten schools were more accommodating to Notre Dame , a non - conference school , than they were to the Hawkeyes . Solem fought tirelessly to have Iowa regarded as a member of equal standing within the conference . After two season opening wins , Iowa failed to win any of its final six games in 1934 , and a season that started optimistically ended with a 2 – 5 – 1 record . Iowa managed to bounce back the following year with a respectable 4 – 2 – 2 record in 1935 behind the play of captain Dick Crayne and the sensational Ozzie Simmons . After the 1935 season , Solem worked with the president of the university at the time to improve the job situation for athletes in Iowa City . Their reforms helped Solem bring in what Solem called " the finest group of freshmen during my tenure " . Many of the athletes Solem successfully recruited to Iowa would become the foundation for the 1939 Hawkeye team , nicknamed the " Ironmen " , which included Nile Kinnick and Erwin Prasse . A conflict between Solem and Ozzie Simmons overshadowed the 1936 season , which ended in a 3 – 4 – 1 record . After a 52 – 0 loss to Minnesota , Simmons quit the team for a couple days . Simmons stated that he felt Solem had been too critical of him for Iowa ' s failures during the 1936 season . Simmons was convinced to return to the team a few days later . Before the final game of the season , reports were heard that Solem was leaving at the end of the year . Iowa defeated a heavily favored , nationally ranked Temple team , coached by Pop Warner , 25 – 0 , to end Solem ' s coaching career at Iowa . After the 1936 season , Solem announced he was leaving Iowa for Syracuse University . Later , Solem wrote , " I went down to Iowa City for the Iowa - Minnesota game , the first time I had been on the campus since the year after we left Iowa . As I sat there watching the game and admiring the beauty and growth of the campus , recalling the many friends we had in that lovely town , I could not bring myself to have any feeling of dislike or hate , but rather a feeling of regret . . . and gratefulness for having once been a part of that great institution . " Later coaching career . Solem coached at Syracuse from 1937 to 1945 . During his time at Syracuse , he tutored a young assistant coach named Bud Wilkinson , who went on to coach the Oklahoma Sooners and win three national championships . After his time with the Orange , he coached at Springfield College in Massachusetts from 1946 to 1957 , compiling a 58 – 33 – 7 record . Solem coached a total of 37 seasons of college football , with a combined record of 162 – 117 – 20 at five schools . Death and legacy . Solem died at a hospital in Minneapolis , Minnesota on October 26 , 1970 . One of his former players said about Solem , " He was a better offensive coach than he was a defensive coach . . . He was a fine , clean living man , and he was very well thought of in athletic circles . " Former player Ozzie Simmons remarked , " He probably could have been tougher ( on the players ) , but he was the finest gentleman I ' ve ever been around . "