Bob Woodruff ( American football ) George Robert Woodruff ( March 14 , 1916 – November 1 , 2001 ) was an American college football player , coach and sports administrator . Woodruff was a native of Georgia and an alumnus of the University of Tennessee , where he played college football . He was best known as the head coach of the Baylor University and University of Florida football teams , and later , as the athletic director at the University of Tennessee . Early life and education . Bob Woodruff was born in Athens , Georgia in 1916 , and attended high school in Savannah , Georgia . After high school , he enrolled at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville , where he played offensive and defensive tackle for the Tennessee Volunteers football team under legendary head coach Robert Neyland . Woodruff graduated from Tennessee in 1939 . Coaching career . Tennessee , Army and Georgia Tech assistant coach . Woodruff stayed in Knoxville after he graduated from the University of Tennessee , working as an assistant coach under Neyland during the 1939 , 1940 and 1941 football seasons . During World War II , he was an officer in U . S . Army Corps of Engineers , and served as an assistant football coach under Earl Blaik at West Point in 1944 and 1945 . He was discharged from the Army as a major in 1946 , and accepted an assistant coaching position under Bobby Dodd at Georgia Tech . The 1939 and 1940 Volunteers teams had ranked among the top five in the final Associated Press ( AP ) football poll ; the AP declared the Cadets national champions in 1944 and 1945 . Woodruff gained the experience of being a part of three great college coaching staffs . Baylor Bears head coach . Woodruff became the head football coach at Baylor University in Waco , Texas in 1947 . He coached the Baylor Bears football team for three seasons from 1947 through 1949 , compiling a 19 – 10 – 2 record . His 1948 Bears posted a 6 – 3 – 2 record and finished with a 20 – 7 win over Wake Forest in the Dixie Bowl . Woodruff coached his 1949 Bears to a final AP Poll top - 20 ranking and an 8 – 2 record , but the Bears did not receive a bowl bid . In early December 1949 , Woodruff became embroiled in a dispute with the Baylor athletic director , Ralph Wolf , which became public when both Woodruff and Wolf resigned their positions within twenty - four hours on December 9 and 10 . Although the subject of their dispute was never publicly disclosed , the university announced that Woodruff had withdrawn his resignation and would keep his position on December 14 , but Woodruff resigned a second time on January 6 , 1950 to become the head football coach and athletic director at the University of Florida . Florida Gators head coach . After the 1949 season , Woodruff replaced Raymond Wolf as the head football coach at the University of Florida in Gainesville , Florida . In order to induce Woodruff to coach the Florida Gators football team , the Florida Board of Control offered him a seven - year guaranteed contract at $ 17 , 000 per year . Woodruff ' s annual salary was $ 5 , 000 more than that of University of Florida President J . Hillis Miller . He was only 34 years old . Woodruff ' s coaching philosophy reflected that of his mentor , Tennessee Volunteers coach Robert Neyland , who emphasized defense and the kicking game . Ironically , his first Gators team in 1950 had a stellar offense and a weak defensive squad . The Gators offense was led by quarterback Haywood Sullivan , the first sophomore in Southeastern Conference ( SEC ) history to throw for more than 1 , 000 yards in a season , under Woodruff ' s offensive coordinator , Frank Broyles . Florida managed to upset the thirteenth - ranked Vanderbilt Commodores in Nashville , Tennessee , propelling the Gators into the top twenty teams of the Associated Press ( AP ) Poll for the first time . With the addition of Rick Casares to the backfield , Woodruff ' s 1951 Gators scored a 30 – 21 upset of the heavily favored Alabama Crimson Tide in their homecoming game in Tuscaloosa , Alabama . The 1952 Gators were Woodruff ' s most successful team , and the 1952 season included some of his most inspired coaching . After quarterback Haywood Sullivan left school early to accept a professional baseball contract with Boston Red Sox , Woodruff experimented with fullback Rick Casares at quarterback , but after three games it was apparent that Casares was not the solution . Woodruff ' s unconventional replacement , defensive back Doug Dickey , turned out to be exactly what the Gators needed at quarterback — a talented athlete and savvy game manager . Woodruff led his 1952 Gators team to the program ' s first top - twenty finish in the AP Poll , their first NCAA - sanctioned bowl game , the Gator Bowl , and a 14 – 13 bowl win over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane . At the conclusion of the 1952 season , senior defensive tackle Charlie LaPradd became the Gators ' third first - team All - American . Although Woodruff was a talented administrator , he sometimes had difficulty expressing himself verbally . He would often stop mid - sentence to collect his thoughts , which Charlie LaPradd once described as " With [ Woodruff ' s ] long periods of silence , he would make you wonder if he was thirty minutes ahead of you or thirty minutes behind . " Team manager Hill Brannon remembered one of Woodruff ' s many Yogi Berra - esque pre - game exhortations as " Remember , the team that makes the fewest mistakes , makes the fewest mistakes . " In a moment of self - deprecating humor , Woodruff once described himself as " the oratorical equivalent of a blocked punt . " Woodruff also developed a reputation for identifying and fostering talented young assistant coaches . His Gators assistants included Frank Broyles , future head football coach of the Arkansas Razorbacks ; Hank Foldberg , future head coach of the Texas A & M Aggies ; Dale Hall , future head coach of the Army Black Knights ; John Sauer , future head coach of The Citadel Bulldogs ; John Rauch , future head coach of the Buffalo Bills and Oakland Raiders ; and Tonto Coleman , former head coach of the Abilene Christian Wildcats and future commissioner of the Southeastern Conference . His Gators players included Doug Dickey , the future head coach of the Tennessee Volunteers and Florida Gators . In the competitive SEC of the 1950s , Woodruff ' s Gators would not win more than six games again in a season , but they were ranked in the top twenty teams of the final AP Poll in each of 1957 , 1958 and 1959 . Woodruff coached the Florida Gators football team for ten seasons from 1950 through 1959 , finishing with a 53 – 42 – 6 record . During his tenure , Woodruff ' s Gators scored notable upsets , suffered close losses , received their first two NCAA - sanctioned bowl game invitations and their first four final AP poll rankings , but Woodruff ' s greatest legacy in Gainesville may have been rebuilding the Gators into a team that was consistently competitive against the other major football programs of the SEC , and thereby laying the groundwork for the future successes of Ray Graves ' 1960s Florida Gators teams that followed . Woodruff was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as an " honorary letter winner " in 1983 . Athletic director . During his time as the Gators football coach , Woodruff also worked as Florida ' s athletic director . From 1963 to 1985 , Woodruff served as the athletic director at his alma mater , the University of Tennessee . As Tennessee athletic director , Woodruff oversaw the rise of the Volunteers ' athletic program as a nationally recognized power and was responsible for the renovation , expansion and construction of the university ' s state - of - the - art athletic facilities . Between 1963 and 1985 , the Volunteers won national championships in cross country , swimming and diving , and track and field , and participated in fifteen football bowl games , eight NCAA men ' s basketball tournaments and four NIT basketball tournaments . Woodruff also served on the U . S . Olympic Committee for the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich , Germany . When he retired in 1985 , he was succeeded as Tennessee athletic director by another former Gators football coach and his former Gators quarterback , Doug Dickey . Death . Woodruff died in Knoxville on November 1 , 2001 ; he was 85 years old . He was survived by his second wife , Gertrude " Trudy " Handley Woodruff , three sons , a daughter , a stepson , and four grandchildren . His first wife , Margaret Artley Woodruff , died in 1977 .