Bump Elliott Chalmers W . " Bump " Elliott ( born January 30 , 1925 ) is a former American football player , coach , and college athletics administrator . He played halfback at Purdue University ( 1943 – 1944 ) and the University of Michigan ( 1946 – 1947 ) . Elliott grew up in Bloomington , Illinois , enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as a senior in high school and was assigned to the V - 12 Navy College Training Program at Purdue University . He received varsity letters in football , baseball , and basketball at Purdue , before being called into active duty in late 1944 , serving with the Marines in China . After being discharged from the military , he enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1946 and joined the football team for whom his brother Pete Elliott played quarterback . In 1947 , he played for an undefeated and untied Michigan football team known as the " Mad Magicians " , led the Big Nine Conference in scoring , won the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy as the Most Valuable Player in the Conference , and was selected as an All - American by the American Football Coaches Association . After graduating from Michigan in 1948 , Elliott spent ten years as an assistant football coach at Oregon State , Iowa , and Michigan . He was appointed as Michigan ' s head football coach in 1959 and held that position until 1968 , leading the team to a Big Ten Conference championship and Rose Bowl victory in the 1964 season . For a period of 21 years , from 1970 to 1991 , he was the athletic director at the University of Iowa . During his tenure as athletic director , he hired coaches Dan Gable , Hayden Fry , Lute Olson , C . Vivian Stringer , and Dr . Tom Davis , and the Iowa Hawkeyes won 41 Big Ten Conference championships and 11 NCAA titles . In 1989 , Elliott was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame . Early life . Elliott was born in Detroit , but grew up in Bloomington , Illinois . His father , Dr . J . Norman Elliott , was an ears , nose and throat doctor who also coached football at Illinois Wesleyan University from 1930 – 1934 . Elliott ' s given name is Chalmers , but he has been known by the nickname " Bump " since he was six months old , though nobody remembers how he got the nickname , " not even his mother . " Elliott and his younger brother , Pete Elliott , both played football together for Bloomington High School , where Bump was an All - State halfback in 1942 , and Pete made it as a fullback in 1943 . Had it not been for World War II , Bump and Pete likely would have attended the University of Illinois , which was about 50 miles from their home in Bloomington . However , both brothers wanted to get into the V - 12 Navy College Training Program , and Illinois did not have such a program . Bump enlisted in the United States Marine Corps while still a senior in high school and was called to active duty in 1943 . He was assigned to the V - 12 officer training program at Purdue University . His brother , Pete , also enlisted and was assigned to officer training at Michigan . Purdue University and military service . Elliott attended Purdue from 1943 – 1944 . In his freshman year , Elliott earned varsity letters in football , basketball and baseball . He played three games for the unbeaten and untied 1943 Purdue football team where he was described as " a capable triple - threater and stellar defensive performer . " He scored a touchdown against Minnesota in his first game , and made a key interception at Purdue ' s ten - yard line in the season ' s final game against Indiana . A May 1944 newspaper article reported that the 19 - year - old Elliott , who had been a " high school sensation last year , " had won three major athletic letters in his first year as a Naval V - 12 student at Purdue . " A speedy 160 - pound , five foot 10 - inch performer , he lost little time making his mark in football last fall once he became eligible upon completion of his first V - 12 term . " Elliott appeared in the final three games of the football season , and his performance in the season ' s final game against Indiana " provided one of the highlights of the Boilermaker season . " In basketball , he was " consistent as a guard on Purdue ' s cage combination . " In baseball , Elliott played shortstop and center field , where he was " a steady fielder with a strong arm . " In a May 1944 game , Elliott led the Boilermakers to a 17 – 4 win over Wisconsin , with five hits , five stolen bases , four RBI s , three , and four putout s in center field . His performance against Wisconsin was " one of the biggest baseball days ever turned " by a Big Ten baseball player . Elliott played in the first six games of the 1944 football season for Purdue before being transferred by the Marine Corps . In a game against Marquette in late September , he broke up a 7 – 7 tie with successive touchdown runs of 24 and 71 yards . He was also the only defensive player in 1944 to pull down Illinois ' Claude " Buddy " Young from behind . Elliott received orders to report for active duty in October 1944 , and he played his last game in a Purdue uniform against the Michigan Wolverines on October 28 , 1944 . In November 1944 , Elliott was sent to Parris Island . He was later sent to China and emerged from the war as a Marine lieutenant . University of Michigan . Elliott and his younger brother , Pete Elliott , were teammates at Bloomington High School in 1943 and again at Michigan in 1946 and 1947 . After his discharge from the military , Bump joined Pete at Michigan , where Pete played quarterback and Bump was the right halfback for the undefeated 1947 team . Before the 1948 Rose Bowl , one article noted that the two brothers roomed together at Michigan and arranged their programs so that their classes were identical . The article observed : " They look alike , act alike and think alike and in Ann Arbor , Mich . , when they walk down the street any Michigan student can recognize Bump and Pete , the inseparable Elliott Brothers , Wolverines right half and quarterback respectively . " The brothers shared the same distinctive golden red hair , and the two were so close that they told a reporter in 1947 that a girl had to receive " the Bumper stamp of approval " before passing Pete ' s test . 1946 season . After being discharged from the Marine Corps , Elliott attended the University of Michigan , where he joined his brother , Pete , in Michigan ' s backfield . Elliott " practically stepped off a World War II transport from Marine Corps duty in China to Michigan ' s Ferry Field and stardom . " With less than a week of conditioning after his discharge from the Marines , he was reported to be giving Michigan ' s coaching staff " something lovely to look at . " In a 14 – 14 tie with Northwestern in mid - October 1946 , Elliott scored all 14 of Michigan ' s points . He scored the first touchdown late in the first quarter on a 37 yard pass from Bob Chappuis in the corner of the end zone . In the fourth quarter , Michigan fullback Bob Wiese intercepted a pass on Michigan ' s 1 - yard line , and lateralled to Elliott on the Michigan 40 - yard line . From that point , Elliott ran it back 60 yards down the sideline for his second touchdown . He again scored two touchdowns in Michigan ' s 21 - 0 win over Minnesota on November 2 , 1946 . He also helped Michigan to a 28 – 6 win over Wisconsin with a bullet pass to end Bob Mann in the end zone . Big Nine MVP in 1947 . In 1947 , Elliott played for the Wolverines team known as the " Mad Magicians " that went undefeated and untied , and defeated the USC Trojans , 49 – 0 in the 1948 Rose Bowl . The team is considered to be the greatest Michigan team of all time . Along with Bob Chappuis , Elliott was one of the key players in Michigan ' s undefeated season . He led the Big Nine in scoring , made the All - American team picked by the American Football Coaches Association , and was voted Most Valuable Player in the Big Nine Conference to win the Chicago Tribune Silver Football trophy . Elliott was one of two Michigan players in 1947 ( the other was fullback Jack Weisenburger ) who played both offense and defense . Indeed , Elliott was actually a four - way threat as he contributed in rushing , receiving , punt return s , and defense . He scored a total of 12 touchdowns in 1947 — eight rushing , two receiving , one on a punt return , and another on an interception return . He contributed 911 all - purpose yardage – 438 rushing , 318 receiving , and 155 on punt returns . He averaged 6 . 4 yards per carry as a rusher , 19 . 9 yards per reception , and 17 . 2 yards per punt return . Michigan head coach Fritz Crisler called Elliott the greatest right halfback he had ever seen . Elliott had a breakthrough season that began with the team ' s " Blue " versus " White " exhibition game in mid - September in which he scored four touchdowns , including 50 - and 60 - yard runs . He scored touchdowns in each of the team ' s early season wins over $ 3 ( 55 – 0 ) , Stanford ( 49 - 13 ) , and Pitt ( 69 - 0 ) . His touchdown against Pitt came on defense , as he intercepted a pass and ran it back 37 yards . In the Big Nine opener against Northwestern , Elliott scored on a nine - yard run less than two minutes after the game started , as the Wolverines won , 49 - 21 . In Michigan ' s closest contest of the 1947 season , a 13 - 6 win over Minnesota , Elliott caught a 40 - yard pass from Bob Chappuis on his fingertips at the Minnesota 15 - yard line and went on to score with a minute and 15 seconds to go in the first half . Said one reporter : " It was the exceptional speed of Elliott on this play that turned the tide . He completely outmaneuvered the Minnesota secondary . " The biggest challenge of the 1947 season came in a 14 – 7 win over Illinois . The Associated Press described Elliott as Michigan ' s " Big Cog " in the Illinois game , and the United Press proclaimed : " Bump Elliott Steals Show in 14 to 7 Defeat of Illinois Saturday . " In the first quarter , he ran back a punt 75 yards for a touchdown , as Bob Mann " bulldozed the path with a vicious block " , and " the Bloomington blaster scampered down the sidelines . " Elliott also set up the Wolverines second score with a long reception to the Illinois four - yard line . He also played a key role on defense , intercepting a pass at the Michigan nine - yard line to halt an Illinois drive . Another article concluded : " The individual hero was Bump Elliott , a 168 - pound halfback who loped 74 yards for one touchdown and caught a pass for a 52 yard gain to set up the second and winning marker . " He finished the season scoring two touchdowns each in games against Indiana and Ohio State . At the end of the season , Elliott and Bob Chappuis both received 16 of 18 possible points in voting by the Associated for the All - Big Nine football team . Elliott weighed only during his All - American season in 1947 . Asked later about how he managed to compete at his weight , Elliott noted , " I was awful lucky to get by at that weight . " 1948 Rose Bowl against USC . As the Big Nine Conference champions , the 1947 Wolverines were invited to play in the 1948 Rose Bowl game against the USC Trojans . Michigan dominated the game , winning 49 – 0 , as " the shifty Chappuis and the speedy Elliott began to fake ( the Trojans ) out of their shoes . " Elliott scored on an 11 - yard touchdown pass from Chappuis . In August 1948 , Elliott was chosen as the captain of the College All - Stars in their game against the Chicago Cardinals at Soldier Field . Injured in practice , Elliott was unable to play as the Cardinals beat the All - Stars , 28 – 0 . Application for 1948 eligibility denied . Elliott applied for an extra year of eligibility in 1948 . Due to his military service , he played in only three games as a freshman and six games in his sophomore season . Under the Big Nine conference code , he was eligible for a fifth season due to a war - caused stay at Purdue in 1943 - 1944 . However , his request was denied by the Big Nine Conference . The decision was criticized by Michigan ' s representative on the Big Nine faculty committee as a " grave injustice . " Nonetheless , Elliott set the Michigan career interception return yards record that stood for five years until Don Oldham pushed the record from 174 yards to 181 yards . His 174 career yards still ranks fifth in school history . Coaching career . The Elliott brothers served as assistant coaches together at Oregon State in 1949 and 1950 , before going their separate ways . The Elliotts ' coached against each other in the early 1960s while Bump was the head football coach at Michigan and Pete held the same position at the University of Illinois . In November 1963 , Pete Elliott ' s Illinois team was ranked No . 2 in the country and the favorite for the Rose Bowl when it faced off against Bump Elliott ' s Michigan team . Michigan had a record of 2 – 3 – 1 when the brothers met in 1963 , but Michigan came out on top , 14 – 8 , marking the fourth time in four games that Bump ' s Wolverines came out on top of brother Pete ' s Illini . After graduating from Michigan , Bump turned down an offer to play professional football for the Detroit Lions , saying he said he had obtained a job in Chicago outside of football . Elliott also considered going into medicine as his father had done , but he chose instead to go into coaching . He started his coaching career at Michigan in the fall of 1948 as assistant backfield coach . In the spring of 1949 , he was hired as an assistant coach under Kip Taylor at Oregon State , where he remained for three seasons , from 1949 – 1951 . Elliott later recalled , " I was only 24 when Kip Taylor hired me as backfield coach at Oregon State , and it bothered me a little because there were two backs on the squad who were older than I was . " It was even worse for his brother Pete , who was 22 when he was hired to coach the ends . Bump recalled : " After practice one night some players noticed Pete light up a cigaret . One of his ends drew Pete aside and said in a fatherly voice , ' You shouldn ' t smoke , coach ; I didn ' t do it when I was your age . " Oregon State had an overall record of 14 – 15 in Elliott ' s three years as an assistant coach . In 1952 , Elliott was hired as an assistant at the University of Iowa under its head coach , Forest Evashevski , another former All - American at the University of Michigan . On being hired at Iowa , Elliott said , " I should feel at home back in the Big Ten . I grew up in Bloomington – 40 miles from Illinois . I played at Purdue and Michigan and coached at Michigan . My father went to Iowa and Northwestern and now I ’ m coaching at Iowa . " He stayed at Iowa until 1957 . Elliott was with the Hawkeyes in 1956 when they went 9 – 1 , won the Big Ten championship , and defeated his former team , Oregon State , 35 – 19 , in the 1957 Rose Bowl game . He returned to Michigan in 1957 as a backfield coach under Bennie Oosterbaan . In 1959 , Elliott was elevated to head football coach at Michigan . He was the head coach for ten years from 1959 to 1968 , posting a career record of 51 – 42 – 2 , for a . 547 winning percentage . In Big Ten Conference play , his record was 32 – 34 – 2 ( . 485 ) . His record over the ten years at Michigan was as follows : Although his tenure at Michigan was unsuccessful by the school ' s historic standards , he did lead the 1964 Wolverines to a 9 – 1 record , a Big Ten title and a win in the Rose Bowl against Oregon State . His final team , in 1968 , won eight of its first nine games but then suffered a humiliating 50 – 14 loss against $ 3 . Despite having a 36 - point lead , Ohio State Coach Woody Hayes passed for , and failed to get , a two - point conversion after the final score and with 1 : 23 remaining in the game . When asked why he went for the two - point conversion , Hayes reportedly said , " Because we couldn ' t go for three ! " Shortly after the game , Elliott resigned , and athletic director Don Canham hired Bo Schembechler to replace him as head coach . Schembechler would use the memory of the 1968 Ohio State loss to motivate his team the following season . There were reports during the 1968 season that Elliott had been given an ultimatum : " Either win or face the possibility of being kick upstairs . " There were also reports when Don Canham was hired that Elliott had expected to be named athletic director and that there was " bad blood " between Canham and Elliott . However , Canham later denied that Elliott was " eased out " of his job . In an interview with Joe Falls , Canham said : " Bump and I are close personal friends . Bump is not naïve – he knows that when you work at a place for 10 years and you ’ re not winning consistently , it doesn ’ t become fun for anybody – the coach , the alumni , the players or anybody else . We talked about this and we talked about it openly . If Bump had said to me , ‘ Look , give me a couple of more years , ’ I would have given it to him . I mean that . I didn ’ t fire Bump Elliott . My first year as director Bump had an 8 and 2 record . Anyone could live with that . " According to Canham , he met with Elliott in December 1968 and offered him the job of associate athletic director . Canham told Elliott he could stay on as coach if he wanted , but Canham could not promise him that the job of associate athletic director would still be open in another couple of years . Canham said : " Bump smiled at me and said , ‘ I don ’ t have to think about it . ’ He was ready to get out . I did not force him , and I mean that in all honesty . But the job had ceased to be fun for him . " Schembechler later recalled that he remained loyal to Elliott when he took over as Michigan ' s head coach in 1969 . When Schembechler won the Big Ten championship in 1969 , he said , " I made certain I let everyone know I won with Bump ' s kids . Bump was a man of great class and he showed it to me again and again in that first year , never getting in the way , always trying to be helpful , always trying to encourage me . " After Michigan won the 1969 Ohio State game , the team presented the game ball to Elliott , and Schembechler noted that " I don ’ t remember when I felt happier about anything in my life . " From 1969 to 1970 , Elliott was the associate director of athletics at Michigan . Athletic director at Iowa . Elliott became the Men ' s athletic director at the University of Iowa in 1970 , succeeding Forest Evashevski . He came to Iowa in the midst of a feud between athletic director Forest Evashevski and football coach Ray Nagel . Evashevski resigned in May 1970 , and Elliott was hired to replace him . On accepting the job , Elliott noted : " It ' s difficult to leave a town where you ’ ve lived for 13 years ( Ann Arbor , Michigan ) , but the opportunity is so good at Iowa with the people and the school that no one could pass it up . " During Elliott ' s tenure , the school ' s teams won 34 Big Ten championships and 11 NCAA titles , as well as making three Rose Bowl appearances and one trip to the Final Four in basketball . The university also built a basketball arena ( Carver - Hawkeye Arena ) , erected an indoor workout center for football and added more than 10 , 000 seats to its football stadium . His career at Iowa was marked by a general resurgence in the competitiveness of Iowa athletics . Elliott hired a number of notable coaches , including Lute Olson , Dan Gable , Hayden Fry , and Dr . Tom Davis . During Elliott ' s 21 years as athletic director , the Iowa Hawkeyes won 41 Big Ten championships in football ( 1981 , 1985 , 1990 ) , wrestling ( 1974 – 1990 ) , men ' s basketball ( 1970 , 1979 ) , baseball ( 1972 , 1974 , 1990 ) , men ' s gymnastics ( 1972 , 1974 , 1986 ) , men ' s swimming ( 1981 , 1982 ) . " See " Iowa Hawkeyes for complete list of championships . Elliott was known as " a coach ' s AD . " " He hired coaches he trusted , then gave them the resources , latitude and support they needed to operate as they saw fit – providing they played by the rules . " Iowa wrestling coach Dan Gable said his wife cried on learning that Elliott had retired . In 1999 , Gable wrote : " Right after I came to coach at the University of Iowa , I had a meeting with Bump Elliott , who was the Athletic Director . I ’ ll never forget what Bump said to me : ‘ Don ’ t ask for the moon . Strive to get there , sure , but do it wisely through continuing to build upon what you already have . As you build , come see me , and we ’ ll see how I can help you out . ’ I now call that bit of wisdom the Bump Elliott Rule , and it serves a good reminder to keep things in perspective . Gradual , solid growth is better than any quick fix . " " The one thing we emphasized from the start was that our staff had to make sure we were 100 percent loyal to each other and the university , " Elliott said at the time of his retirement . " There could be no jealousy between the coaches and various programs . I wanted no one talking behind anyone ' s backs . I wanted absolute loyalty . If not , then that person could leave any time . " Elliott was also the one who hired Hayden Fry as Iowa ' s football coach in 1979 . Fry later said that Elliott was one of the principal reasons he chose to coach at Iowa . In his autobiography , Fry wrote : " Iowa had one thing in its favor as far as I was concerned : Bump Elliott was its athletic director . Bump had a reputation as being a fair , honest and well - liked administrator . " Elliott told Fry that he would be the last football coach Bump ever hired . Fry was puzzled and asked Elliott what he meant . Elliott said , " Simple , I don ’ t think they ’ ll give me a chance to hire another coach , so if you don ’ t make it , neither will I . " He is the only person to have been with Rose Bowl teams in five capacities – player , assistant coach , head coach , assistant athletic director , and athletic director . Family . Elliott and his wife Barbara met while he was with the Marine Corps at Purdue and she was studying pre - school education there . They married in 1949 , and have three children , Bill ( born October 1951 ) , Bob ( born May 1953 ) , and Betsy ( born c . 1955 ) . Son Bob Elliott was Iowa ' s defensive coordinator under Hayden Fry in the 1990s . Honors and accolades . Elliott has received numerous honors and accolades , including the following :