John Elmore Musick ( – November 27, 1977) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player and coach. He served as the head football coach at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

from 1966 to 1974. Musick played as a lineman at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

(USC) from 1944 to 1946. In 1947 he became an assistant coach under

Bob Blackman Robert John Blackman Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), MP (born 26 April 1956) is a British politician who has been the chairman of the 1922 Committee and chair of the Backbench Business Committee since 2024. A member of the Conservative ...

Monrovia High School Monrovia High School is a public high school located in Monrovia, California, a northeastern suburb of Los Angeles, United States. Monrovia High School is the only grades 9–12 comprehensive high school in the Monrovia Unified School Distr ...

Monrovia, California Monrovia is a city in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Monrovia is the fourth-oldest General-law municipality, general-law city in Los Angeles County and the L ...

, and then followed him to

Pasadena City College Pasadena City College (PCC) is a Public college, public community college in Pasadena, California. It was founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College. History Pasadena City College was founded in 1924 as Pasadena Junior College. It originally o ...

in 1949. In 1951 Musick became head coach at Hart High School. In 1953, he rejoined Bob Blackman at

University of Denver The University of Denver (DU) is a private research university in Denver, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1864, it has an enrollment of approximately 5,700 undergraduate students and 7,200 graduate students. It is classified among "R1: D ...

where he served as head line coach. Musick worked in that capacity under Blackman for the next 13 years, including 11 after 1955 when both were hired by

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

. Dartmouth won four

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

titles with Musick coaching under Blackman. After replacing

Tom Harp Thomas Harp (born c. 1927) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Cornell University (1961–1965), Duke University (1967–1970), and Indiana State University (1973–1977), compiling a career co ...

at Cornell, Musick won Cornell's first official Ivy League title in 1971, and coached top rusher

Ed Marinaro Ed Marinaro (born March 31, 1950) is an American actor and former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for the Minnesota Vikings. He played college football for the Cornell Big Red, where he was a u ...

. In 1971 Musick was also named Division I Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association. However, after back-to-back losing seasons in 1973 and 1974, and several recruiting scandals hit other sports at Cornell, Musick was terminated by the university at the end of the 1974 season. His final record was 45–33–3. Musick died at the age of 52 on November 27, 1977, of cancer at a hospital in

Clear Lake, Texas Clear Lake is a populated place located in Collin County, Texas, United States. According to the Handbook of Texas, the community had a population of 50 in 1990. It is located within the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. History A distillery was ...

Head coaching record

College

References

Additional sources

Article describing Musick's hiring
{{DEFAULTSORT:Musick, Jack 1920s births 1977 deaths USC Trojans football players Cornell Big Red football coaches Dartmouth Big Green football coaches Denver Pioneers football coaches High school football coaches in California Pasadena City Lancers football coaches Players of American football from Santa Ana, California Deaths from cancer in Texas