University of Minnesota Athletics
Murray Warmath - M Club Hall of Fame
Murray Warmath
Football Coach, 1954-71
HOF Class of 1992
Murray Warmath knew great coaching: he’d played tight end and guard under the University of Tennessee’s legendary General Neyland. Next, Warmath became an example of it.
After graduation, Warmath became an assistant coach at Mississippi State and Army, and then head coach at Mississippi State. In 1954, he became head coach of Minnesota’s Golden Gophers.
With Warmath’s Split-T offense, those Gophers would become 1960 national champions in a season highlighted by the No. 2 Gophers dumping No. 1-ranked Iowa. The Gophers earned a Rose Bowl appearance, and Warmath was named NCAA Coach of the Year.
The next season, Minnesota won a return to the Rose Bowl, where they defeated UCLA, 21-3, behind Big Ten MVP Sandy Stephens.
In 1967, Warmath’s Gophers shared co-Big Ten honors with Indiana and Purdue.
Warmath closed his 18-season U of M career at 86-78-1, worked for two years as an assistant with the Minnesota Vikings and 10 more as a Vikings scout.
In all – playing, coaching and scouting – he spent 65 years in football.