John R . Bender John Reinhold " Chief " Bender ( May 14 , 1882 – July 24 , 1928 ) was an American football player and coach of football , basketball and baseball . He served as the head football coach at Washington State University ( 1906 – 1907 , 1912 – 1914 ) , Haskell Indian Nations University ( 1908 – 1909 ) , St . Louis University ( 1910 – 1911 ) , Kansas State University ( 1915 ) , and the University of Tennessee ( 1916 – 1920 ) , compiling a career record of 59 – 30 – 6 . He is one of the few college football head coaches to have non - consecutive tenure at the same school . Bender was also the head basketball coach at Washington State ( 1907 – 1908 ) and Tennessee ( 1916 – 1917 , 1919 – 1921 ) , and the head baseball coach at Washington State ( 1907 – 1908 , 1913 – 1915 ) and Tennessee ( 1917 , 1920 ) . Playing career . A native of Sutton , Nebraska , Bender played college football at the University of Nebraska from 1900 to 1904 . Due to loose eligibility standards at the time , he played five seasons for Nebraska . Bender starred at halfback for undefeated teams in 1902 and 1903 , served as captain of the 1903 team , and graduated as the leading scorer in Nebraska history . However , tarnishing his image , one story recounts that he refused to play against the national powerhouse Minnesota until Nebraska paid him an acceptable amount of money . Coaching career . After graduating from Nebraska , Bender served as head football and basketball coach at Washington State between 1906 and 1908 , where he posted a 13 – 1 record in football . His 1907 – 1908 basketball squad also recorded a 12 – 3 mark , by far the best in school history to that point . Between 1908 and 1909 , Bender coached football at Haskell Indian Nations University and from 1910 to 1911 he coached football at Saint Louis University . During the 1911 season , reporters in St . Louis commented that Bender looked like a charm doll called a Billiken , which were a national fad at the time . His squad became known as " Bender ' s Billikens , " which is the genesis of SLU ' s athletic nickname . Bender returned to coach Washington State football from 1912 to 1914 . In 1915 , Bender was hired as head football coach at Kansas State . In his one season at K - State , his team posted a mediocre 3 – 4 – 1 record . However , Bender left a lasting mark by instituting two long - term traditions at Kansas State in 1915 : starting the annual homecoming event and adopting the nickname Wildcats . Prior to the 1916 season , Bender moved to the University of Tennessee . At the same time , the sitting head coach at Tennessee , Zora G . Clevenger moved to Kansas State , in effect trading jobs with Bender . Bender served as head football coach at the University of Tennessee from 1916 to 1920 . During his tenure , he compiled a record of 18 – 5 – 4 ( . 741 ) . His best season came in 1916 , when his team went 8 – 0 – 1 , marred only by a scoreless tie against Kentucky . Tennessee did not field football teams in 1917 and 1918 , and Bender posted his worst record in 1919 , when his team went 3 – 3 – 3 . In his final season , he went 7 – 2 and recorded Tennessee ' s 100th victory in football , with the two losses coming against Vanderbilt and Mississippi State . He is also credited with installing the short punt formation at Tennessee . While at Tennessee , Bender also served as basketball coach for the 1917 , 1920 , and 1921 seasons , recording a 29 – 15 mark . After his career at Tennessee , Bender , served as a physical education instructor at the University of Houston . During this time , Bender also coached a volunteer football squad of students for the school . He named them the Cougars after his Washington State team . In turn , the college ' s newspaper , " The Cougar " followed suit when choosing their name . The university ' s athletics teams remain known as the Houston Cougars today .