William R. Hess (February 5, 1923 – June 10, 1978) was an American

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at

Ohio University Ohio University (Ohio or OU) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Athens, Ohio, United States. The university was first conceived in the 1787 contract between the United States Department of the Treasury#Re ...

from 1958 to 1977. In his tenure as head coach for the

Ohio Bobcats football The Ohio Bobcats football team is a major intercollegiate varsity sports program of Ohio University. The team represents the university as the senior member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC), playing at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdiv ...

team, Hess compiled a 108–91–4 record. He ranked second on Ohio's all-time victories list behind Hall of Famer Don Peden at the time of his retirement, though he has since been passed by Frank Solich. Hess's teams won four

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region (North America), Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Its members co ...

(MAC) championships (1960, 1963, 1967, and 1968) and won a National Small College Championship in 1960 after having an undefeated season. Hess also led the Bobcats to two bowl games, losing 15–14 to West Texas State in the

1962 Sun Bowl The 1962 Sun Bowl was a college football postseason bowl game between the Ohio Bobcats The Ohio Bobcats are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I Intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio Uni ...

and losing 49–42 to Richmond in the

1968 Tangerine Bowl The 1968 Tangerine Bowl was held on December 27, 1968, at the Tangerine Bowl stadium in Orlando, Florida. The Richmond Spiders of the Southern Conference defeated the Ohio Bobcats of the Mid-American Conference by a score of 49–42. The Tangeri ...

. His 1968 team is the only team in school history to finish ranked in the major polls. Hess was a native of

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

. He coached

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

and Grandview Heights, Ohio before joining

Woody Hayes Wayne Woodrow "Woody" Hayes (February 14, 1913 – March 12, 1987) was an American college football coach and player. He served as the head football coach at Denison University from 1946 to 1948, Miami University in Oxford, Ohio from 1949 to 195 ...

's staff at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...

in 1951.

Head coaching record

References

1923 births 1978 deaths Ohio Bobcats football coaches Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches High school football coaches in Ohio Sportspeople from Columbus, Ohio {{1950s-collegefootball-coach-stub