Bernard W. Bierman (March 11, 1894 – March 7, 1977) was an

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

player and coach of football and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

. He coached from 1919 to 1950 except for a span during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

when he served in the

U.S. armed forces The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...

. Bierman was the head coach at the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fal ...

(1919–1921),

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Unive ...

(1925–1926),

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

(1927–1931), and his alma mater, the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

(1932–1941, 1945–1950), compiling a career

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

record of 153–65–12. At Minnesota, Bierman's

Golden Gophers The Minnesota Golden Gophers (commonly shortened to Gophers) are the college athletics, college sports teams of the University of Minnesota. The university fields a total of 25 (12 men's, 13 women's) teams in both men's and women's sports and com ...

compiled a 93–35–6 record, won five

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

and seven

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

titles, and completed five undefeated seasons. Bierman was also the head basketball coach at Montana (1919–1922), Mississippi State (1925–1927), and Tulane (1928–1930), tallying a career

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

mark of 89–51.

Personal life

Bierman grew up in

Litchfield, Minnesota Litchfield is a city in and the county seat of Meeker County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 6,624 at the 2020 census. History Immigration to the county was slow until the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad, later the ca ...

and was married to Clara McKenzie Bierman. They had two sons, William A. Bierman, a lawyer in St. Paul, Minnesota, and James Bierman, of

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Bierman was a brother of the

Alpha Delta Phi Alpha Delta Phi (), commonly known as Alpha Delt, ADPhi, A-Delt, or ADP, is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. Alpha Delta Phi was originally founded as a literary society by Samuel Eells in 1832 at Hamilton College in Cli ...

fraternity.

Head coaching record

Football

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bierman, Bernie 1894 births 1977 deaths American football halfbacks Basketball coaches from Minnesota Iowa Pre-Flight Seahawks football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football players Mississippi State Bulldogs football coaches Mississippi State Bulldogs men's basketball coaches Montana Grizzlies football coaches Montana Grizzlies basketball coaches Tulane Green Wave football coaches Tulane Green Wave men's basketball coaches College Football Hall of Fame inductees People from Litchfield, Minnesota People from Springfield, Minnesota Coaches of American football from Minnesota Players of American football from Minnesota