Dan McGugin Daniel Earle McGugin ( July 29 , 1879 – January 23 , 1936 ) was an American football player , coach , and lawyer . He served as the head football coach at Vanderbilt University in Nashville , Tennessee from 1904 to 1917 and again from 1919 to 1934 , compiling a record of 197 – 55 – 19 . He played college football at the University of Michigan . McGugin was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1951 . Early years . McGugin was born in July 1879 on a farm near Tingley , Iowa . He was the son of Benjamin Franklin McGugin ( 1843 – 1925 ) and Melissa ( Critchfield ) McGugin ( 1845 – 1915 ) . Drake . McGugin enrolled at Drake University and received a bachelor of arts degree in 1901 . He played football at Drake for two years . He played at the tackle and guard positions for Drake and " was considered one of the best players that Drake ever had . " Michigan . After graduating from Drake , McGugin enrolled in law school at the University of Michigan . While at Michigan , McGugin played college football for Fielding H . Yost . He was a player on Michigan ' s " Point - a - Minute " teams that outscored their opponents , 1 , 211 to 12 in 1901 and 1902 , and served as Yost ' s assistant coach at Michigan in 1903 . A profile of McGugin in the 1903 University of Michigan yearbook noted : " McGugin is the lightest guard that Michigan has had in the last ten years , bu he has not met his match during the past two seasons . . . . As a guard he is careful yet nervy . He gets the jump on his opponents and keeps the advantage . Although a hard player he goes into each scrimmage with as much composure as if he were walking along the campus . McGugin , although good in every department of his position , has two qualities that are pre - eminent : namely , making interference and opening holes . [ Willie ] Heston has been especially fortunate this year in having a good interference , and part of that interference has been McGugin . " Vanderbilt . He was the head football coach for Vanderbilt University from 1904 to 1917 and from 1919 to 1934 . During his tenures , the Vanderbilt Commodores compiled a 197 – 55 – 19 record and had a . 762 winning percentage . In his first career game , his team defeated Mississippi State , 61 – 0 . He went on to win his next two games by 60 points as well . He remains the only coach in NCAA history to win his first three games by 60 points . He also won his first 11 games each by more than 20 points . Vanderbilt outscored its opponents 452 – 4 during his first year . McGugin took time off from coaching to work in the mining business . In a draft registration card completed in 1918 , McGugin stated that he was the president of the Kensee Mining Company in Marion , Kentucky . Fred Russell wrote of McGugin : On the Vanderbilt athletics site , Bill Traughber describes McGugin ' s speech before a famous 1922 game against the Michigan Wolverines at Dudley Field : The Vanderbilt athletics office building , the McGugin Center , bears his name . McGugin was also named to the Vanderbilt Athletics Hall of Fame as part of its inaugural class . Family . McGugin was married to Virginia Louise Fite on December 6 , 1905 , at Detroit , Michigan . His former coach , Fielding Yost , was married to Eunice Fite , making McGugin and Yost brothers - in - law .