University of Minnesota Athletics
Dr. Henry Williams - M Club Hall of Fame
Dr. Henry Williams
Football Coach, 1900-21
HOF Class of 1994
Dr. Henry L. Williams came to the University of Minnesota in 1900 as a part-time football and track coach, a $2,500 per year post that allowed him to continue his medical practice.
The three-year part-time job became the University’s first full-time coaching position, and Williams coached for more than 22 years, during which he also became the school’s athletic director.
Williams, who had been a football star at Yale University and attended medical school at the University of Pennsylvania, posted a 136-33-11 (.786) record as coach of the Gophers, and his team won or shared eight conference titles. The teams of 1903 through 1905 had a 35-game unbeaten streak, and the 13-0 team of 1904 outscored its opponents a combined 725-12.
A football innovator, Williams introduced the forward pass, criss-cross plays, revolving wedges, tackle-back formations, on-side quarterback kicks, and the “Minnesota Shift.”
Williams’ teams of 1920 and 1921 were just average, and he rebelled against an order to add numbers to players’ uniforms by adding confusing four-digit numbers. The University Athletic Board fired him as head coach. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951, the year after the Minnesota Field House was renamed Williams Arena in his honor.