Crisler, "Fritz" (Herbert O.)
Football
b. Jan. 12, 1899, near Earlville, IL
d. Aug. 19, 1982
Although he never played football before entering the University of Chicago in 1918, Crisler was named to Walter Eckersall's All-American team as an end in 1921. He also played baseball and basketball at the school and had a brief tryout as a pitcher with the Chicago White Sox after graduating.
His college coach, Amos Alonzo Stagg, nicknamed him after a celebrated violinist whose name was spelled differently but pronounced the same, Fritz Kreisler. Crisler assisted Stagg for eight seasons, then became head coach at the University of Minnesota in 1930.
After a 10-7-1 record in two seasons, Crisler went to Princeton in 1932. He was viewed with some suspicion because he was the first non-alumnus ever to coach at the school. But, inheriting a team that had won only 1 game in 1931, he produced 35 victories against only 9 losses and 5 ties in 6 seasons.
In 1938, Crisler took over at the University of Michigan where he installed the single-wing spinner series with buck laterals that he'd developed at Princeton. Led by halfback Tom Harmon, Michigan won 19 games while losing 4 and tying 1 in Crisler's first three seasons.
Crisler developed the two-platoon system at Michigan in 1945. His team was loaded with freshmen because most older players were in the service, while Army was loaded with talent. In an attempt to stop Army's powerful offense, Crisler trained eight defensive specialists and took them out of the game when Michigan had the ball. After three quarters, the score was tied 7-7, but Army scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns to win, 28-7.
Before the season ended, Michigan was platooning all eleven players. In 1946, most major colleges adopted the idea.
Crisler retired as a coach after his 1947 won all 9 regular season games and beat Southern California, 49-0, in the Rose Bowl. He remained as athletic director until 1968. In 10 seasons at Michigan, his teams won 71 games, lost 16, and tied 3. His overall record was 116-32-9, a .768 winning percentage.