John G . Griffith John George " Red " Griffith ( January 4 , 1880 – March 23 , 1948 ) was an American football player and coach of football , basketball , and baseball . He served as the head football coach at Simpson College ( 1901 ) , the University of Idaho ( 1902 – 1906 , 1910 – 1914 ) , the University of Iowa ( 1909 ) , Oklahoma Agricultural and Mechanical College — now Oklahoma State University – Stillwater ( 1915 – 1916 ) , and New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts — now New Mexico State University ( 1917 ) , compiling a career college football record of 49 – 38 – 5 . Griffith was also the head basketball coach at Idaho ( 1905 – 1907 , 1910 – 1915 ) , Iowa ( 1906 – 1907 , 1908 – 1910 ) , Oklahoma A & M ( 1915 – 1917 ) , and New Mexico A & M ( 1917 – 1920 ) , tallying a career college basketball mark of 101 – 80 . He also coached baseball at Iowa for one season in 1906 . Playing career . Born in Iowa City , Iowa , Griffith was a four - time college football letter winner for the University of Iowa from 1897 to 1900 . Griffith , a fullback , played for some of the greatest teams in Iowa football history . Against Illinois in 1899 , Griffith returned a punt 85 yards as Iowa won , 58 – 0 , to cap an undefeated season . After the game , referee R . T . Hoagland of Princeton said , " The dodging run of Griffith down the field for a touchdown was the best piece of individual playing that I ever saw . The men ( of the 1899 Hawkeyes ) are all stars ; they make the best team I ever saw . " In Iowa ' s first year in the Western Conference ( now known as the Big Ten ) in 1900 , Griffith was named Iowa ' s team captain . The team won the Western Conference title in Iowa ' s first year in the league . Iowa had to settle for a controversial 5 – 5 tie against Northwestern in Griffith ' s final game at Iowa . The entire team except Griffith ate a bad batch of creamed potatoes and got food poisoning the day before the game . Still , Griffith did not suffer a defeat in his final twenty games as a player at Iowa , going 17 – 0 – 3 . His last collegiate loss was late in his sophomore season . Coaching career . Griffith graduated from Iowa in 1901 . In 1902 , he was hired as head football coach and athletic director at the University of Idaho . When Iowa football coach Alden Knipe retired after the 1902 season , school officials considered hiring Griffith but went with John Chalmers instead . Griffith continued as Idaho ' s football coach until 1906 . When Chalmers was succeeded by Mark Catlin as Iowa ' s head coach , Griffith left Idaho to serve as Catlin ' s assistant coach at Iowa . Griffith was Iowa ' s assistant football coach in 1907 and 1908 . He also served as Iowa ' s head basketball coach during the 1906 – 1907 season . After a one year break , Griffith resumed Iowa ' s head basketball coaching duties for the 1908 – 1909 season , Iowa ' s first basketball season in the Big Ten . He also coached the Iowa baseball team for one season in 1906 . Catlin left Iowa prior to the 1909 football season , and the Hawkeyes hired Griffith as their ninth head football coach . He was the first Iowa graduate to lead the football team . He coached Iowa to a 2 – 4 – 1 record in 1909 . His star player that season was Walter " Stub " Stewart . Griffith finished out the 1909 – 1910 basketball season , his third as a head basketball coach . His team went 11 – 3 that year , bringing Griffith ' s three year basketball coaching record to 29 – 14 . After the basketball season , Griffith announced he was leaving Iowa . Stewart replaced him as the basketball coach . Griffith left the head football coaching position at Iowa after just one year . He returned to Idaho to become the head of their entomology department . He also served as their head football coach again from 1910 to 1914 . His ten year record at Idaho was 28 – 22 – 2 . Griffith also coached football at Oklahoma A & M ( now Oklahoma State University ) in 1915 and 1916 , compiling an 8 – 9 – 1 record . In 1917 , he led the football team at New Mexico A & M ( now New Mexico State University ) to a 4 – 2 record .