Ray Nagel Raymond Robert " Ray " Nagel ( born May 18 , 1927 ) is a former American football player , coach , and college athletics administrator . He served as the head football coach at the University of Utah from 1958 to 1965 and at the University of Iowa from 1966 to 1970 , compiling a career college football record of 58 – 71 – 3 . Nagel then served as the athletic director at Washington State University from 1971 to 1976 and at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 1976 to 1983 . From 1990 to 1995 , he was the executive director of the Hula Bowl , a college football invitational all - star game . Background . Nagel attended Los Angeles High School from 1941 – 1945 and played quarterback for the football team . He was a third team all - city selection his senior year in 1944 . Nagel graduated in 1945 and enrolled at UCLA . He was a three time letter winner there from 1946 – 1949 as a quarterback and halfback for the Bruins . Nagel played for Coach Red Sanders and was named all - West Coast Conference and UCLA ' s Most Improved Player . He later earned bachelor ' s , master ' s , and law degrees from UCLA and was an assistant coach for the Bruins ' football team . Nagel played one year of professional football . He played and coached for the Chicago Cardinals ( now Arizona Cardinals ) of the NFL in 1953 . He was later an assistant coach at Oklahoma for a few years before leaving to become the head football coach at the University of Utah in 1958 . Nagel was just 29 years old , the youngest major college head coach at the time . Nagel was the head coach at Utah for eight years from 1958 – 1965 . In 1962 , he turned down the Nebraska job that eventually went to conference rival Bob Devaney . He compiled a 42 – 39 – 1 record as Utah ' s coach . His 1964 Ute team finished the season with a 9 – 2 record and defeated West Virginia in the Liberty Bowl . Iowa coaching career . Early years . Ray Nagel was 38 years old when he was hired as the 21st head coach in the history of Iowa football . He was coming off of a 3 – 7 season at Utah in 1965 , which led some to question his hiring . Some speculated at the time that finding a new coach had been difficult due to the problems the previous head coach had reportedly experienced with Iowa ' s athletic director , Forest Evashevski . The " Cedar Rapids Gazette " reported , " At least four coaches either turned down the Hawkeye job or expressed no desire to talk about it . " Evy , as he was called , had compiled a 52 – 27 – 4 record as Iowa ' s head football coach from 1952 – 1960 . His teams won three Big Ten Conference titles , won two Rose Bowls , and finished in the top ten of the final AP Poll five times . Evashevski was understandably a popular figure with Iowa fans , a fact that would change over Nagel ' s tenure at Iowa . Nagel brought a talented coaching staff to Iowa . His assistants included George Seifert and Ted Lawrence . Lawrence had been the coach at Cedar Rapids Jefferson High School , and his son , Larry , was a star quarterback there . The Hawkeyes were expected to be bad in 1966 , and they met expectations . Iowa went 2 – 8 that season , with the lowlight being a blowout loss to Michigan State . The Hawks yielded 607 total yards to the Spartans , including 268 rushing yards to tailback Clinton Jones . Both were Big Ten records , as Iowa suffered a 56 – 7 setback . The following season , Iowa won its first game and failed to win another . The Hawks had a 1 – 8 – 1 record in 1967 . Iowa ' s offense , led by junior Ed Podolak , was good enough , but the defense was awful , giving up almost four touchdowns a game . Nagel had a 3 – 16 – 1 record in two years , and he needed a good season in 1968 . Behind Podolak and some solid sophomore players , including Larry Lawrence and running back Denny Green , Iowa had one of its best seasons in years . Iowa had one of the most explosive offenses in Big Ten Conference history in 1968 . The highlight of the season was a 68 – 34 win over Northwestern . Iowa had 639 yards of total offense , led by Ed Podolak ' s 286 rushing yards . Both marks were Big Ten records , breaking the previous records that had been set against the Hawkeyes by Michigan State two years earlier . The 1968 Hawkeyes broke twenty school and conference offensive records . They broke the Big Ten season scoring record with 256 points in conference games , as well as the record for total offense with a 482 yards per game average . The Hawks smashed Michigan ' s record of 34 . 5 points per game in conference play in 1943 by averaging 36 . 6 points per game . The 1968 Hawks became the highest scoring team in school history , breaking the mark set by the 1900 Hawkeyes . Although Iowa did not have a winning record for a seventh consecutive year , going 5 – 5 on the season , Iowa ' s four conference wins were the most for Iowa since 1960 . Most Hawkeye fans felt that the team had turned a corner and were expecting big things in 1969 , since Iowa had only five senior starters in 1968 . Nagel was also optimistic . " I ' m not predicting we ' ll win the Big Ten championship next season , but I definitely feel we ' ll be in title contention , " Nagel said . The Black Boycott . 1969 was a volatile year , with Vietnam War protests and the civil rights movement gaining full steam . In the spring of 1969 , Nagel dismissed Greg Allison and Charles Bolden , both black football players , from the team for " personal problems " . He did not , however , rule out reinstating them in the fall . Although Nagel never specified what the personal problems were , it was widely rumored that Allison was having grade problems and that Bolden had had a brush with the law . Six weeks later , Bolden pleaded guilty to a bad check charge and was ordered to make restitution on a number of bad checks . Jerry Stevens , the president of the Afro - American Student Association of Iowa , had earlier called for negotiations to end what he termed " an intolerable situation " for black athletes at Iowa . Led by Stevens and other members of his group , some black members of the Iowa football team objected to the manner in which Allison and Bolden were dismissed and demanded an apology from Nagel , which he gave . Still , rumors flew that Stevens ' group was organizing a " black boycott " of the football team ' s upcoming spring practice . Nagel reiterated his longstanding policy with regard to unexcused absences from practice . He had set a precedent on the matter in his first season in 1966 when he dismissed star end Rich O ' Hara from the squad when O ' Hara failed to appear for practice . That afternoon , sixteen black players boycotted spring practice , and Nagel immediately dismissed them from the team . Only four black players broke the boycott and appeared for spring practice : Mel Morris , Ray Manning , William " Zoom Zoom " Powell , and Don Osby . Two days later , the newly formed Black Athletes Union presented a letter to several Iowa newspapers . It read , in part , " Brought into focus here is the slave - master relationship . The black athlete , for example , is the gladiator who performs in the arena for the pleasure of the white masses . He is brought from the black colony , typically called high school , which is predominantly black . . . The black gladiator brought into this oppressive environment , representing approximately one percent of the populous , is trained to razor athletic sharpness and used to thrill the white spectator masses . . . The requirements of eligibility do not meet those of graduation . Why ? Simply because it was not intended that the black athlete graduate . At the end of four years , the black gladiator is tossed back into the colony exhausted from his toil and exploitation in the mother country . It is intended that he be physically exhausted because he potentially represents the greatest threat to this society , politically and revolutionary . " Three days later , it was reported that the seven freshmen who were among the sixteen dismissed black players had disassociated themselves from the Black Athletes Union and wanted to return to the team . That same day , the Black Athletes Union released a list of five demands to the Iowa Athletic Board . All of the demands were minor in scope . The following day , the chairman of the athletic board said that Iowa would grant their demands . Further , he stated that he was presented with these demands by a group of black athletes two days before the boycott of practice and had told them then that their requests would be granted . The athletes had been persuaded to boycott anyway . Spring practice ended with the situation unresolved , and it remained that way until the day before fall practice . Nagel announced that those boycotting players that wanted to be reinstated could make an individual appeal to the team for reinstatement , and that the team would conduct a vote on whether or not to allow them to rejoin the team . Twelve of the sixteen boycotting players appealed for reinstatement , and the team voted to allow seven of them to rejoin the squad . The seven players allowed back on the team included five of the sophomores who had broken from the Black Athletes Union and just two veterans . One of the two veterans allowed back was Denny Green , who would later make a name for himself as a college and NFL head coach . It was announced the following day that one of the black players voted back onto the team would need a season - ending hernia operation . In addition , two white players would also miss the season , one from injuries stemming from a motorcycle accident and one due to academics . These three players , plus the nine black players who were not reinstated , plus Allison and Bolden , made it a total of fourteen players who were expected to play after the 1968 season who would not return in 1969 . The " Black Boycott " left some scars on both sides and may have been the first push toward the ouster of Nagel , who seemed to have turned the corner the previous season . Iowa finished the 1969 season with a 5 – 5 record . The season was both disappointing and encouraging . The Hawkeyes had failed to post a winning record , much less contend for the Big Ten title , so that was disappointing . However , considering all of the off - season turmoil caused by the Black Boycott , the record could have been worse . Optimism was high for the 1970 season , as there were a lot of young players returning from the 1969 squad . Feud with Evashevski . Less than twelve months after the Black Boycott , the athletic department found itself in a state of turmoil again . Nagel had one year left on his contract , and he was looking for an extension . Rumors of a feud between Nagel and his athletic director , Forest Evashevski , had existed for years . In December 1969 , Ted Lawrence , Iowa ' s freshman coach and the father of Iowa quarterback Larry Lawrence , resigned to take a job in the private sector . Ted Lawrence would later blast Nagel and his coaching staff for having a lack of compassion for their players . In January 1970 , Nagel dismissed offensive line coach Gary Grouwinkel for " disloyalty , " which Grouwinkel later revealed was his allegiance to Evy instead of Nagel . Less than one month later , star quarterback Larry Lawrence and fullback Tom Smith quit the team and transferred to Miami , loudly proclaiming that they would never stay and play for Nagel . About two weeks later , Lawrence ' s roommate , a non - athlete , submitted to the Iowa Board of Athletics a written statement charging Evy with participating in a rebellion aimed at getting Nagel fired and that would allow Evy to succeed him as head football coach . Lawrence ' s roommate stated that Lawrence was recruited to gather player support for Nagel ' s removal , but that Lawrence ' s efforts were unproductive . Evy vehemently denied the charges , and Iowa ' s athletic board took no action . In May 1970 , the State Auditor of Iowa announced that the athletic department was under investigation for " padded expense accounts . " Nagel not only denied wrongdoing but claimed that they were shown how to fill out their expense accounts by Evashevski himself . Charges and counter - charges followed , and after a long investigation , the Iowa Board of Athletics relieved both Forest Evashevski and Ray Nagel of their respective duties on May 19 , 1970 . Nagel immediately fired back . " The reason given to me for my dismissal was the general disharmony within the athletic department during the last four months . I cannot be satisfied with this reason . . . Hasn ' t there been disharmony for 18 years , through the Paul Brechler , Jerry Burns , and Ray Nagel eras ? " Evashevski had been an icon in Iowa , a man who led Iowa to three Big Ten titles and two Rose Bowls , while Nagel had a 13 – 26 – 1 record at Iowa . Nevertheless , strong support was voiced for Nagel across the state of Iowa . Gus Schrader of the Cedar Rapids Gazette wrote , " We have heard dozens of fans say , ' I ' d just like to see Nagel coach out his contract without Evashevski looking over his shoulder on every move . ' " The Iowa Attorney General submitted a report to the Iowa Board of Athletics that stated , in part , " Mr . Evashevski ' s attitudes and other things he has done all tend to support the view of Coach Nagel and four of his five assistants that this is part of a vendetta against him . . . ( Evashevski ) did the university and people of Iowa , many of whom have almost worshipped him , a great disservice . " The support was so strong that a few days later , in what Maury White of the " Des Moines Register " called an event that " may rank as the most startling reversal since the discovery of the boomerang , " Ray Nagel was rehired to serve the last year of his contract . Evashevski was replaced as athletic director at Iowa by Bump Elliott . Nagel ' s Hawks went 3 – 6 – 1 in 1970 . Nagel was understandably emotionally exhausted . At the awards banquet at the end of the 1970 season , he made a speech praising his seniors and categorizing Iowa ' s football future as bright . But then his voice wavered , and Nagel said , " I think the sands of time have run out on my coaching career at Iowa . I will no longer be a part of that program . I will not ask for an extension of my contract . " Athletic director career . Interestingly , after his conflict as a coach with his athletic director , Ray Nagel never took another football head coaching job . Instead , he became an accomplished athletic director himself . Nagel left Iowa to become the athletic director at Washington State in 1971 . While at Washington State from 1971 – 1976 , Nagel spearheaded the creation of the Cougar Club , coordinated fundraising , and served on the NCAA Football Rules Committee from 1973 – 1976 . Among his hires were long - time basketball coach George Raveling and football coach Jackie Sherrill . He moved on to the University of Hawaii to serve as its director of athletics from 1976 - 83 . In June 2006 , Ray Nagel was inducted into the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics ( NACDA ) Hall of Fame . Nagel left Hawaii in 1983 to serve as the executive vice president of the Los Angeles Rams . He served in that capacity just one year before returning to Hawaii to become the vice president of public relations for the Bank of Hawaii in 1984 . Nagel held that position until 1989 . He was then named as the executive director of the Hula Bowl in 1990 . After working with the Hula Bowl for six years , Nagel retired in 1995 . Ray Nagel had a wife and five children . He lives in retirement in San Antonio , Texas .