Conrad Eugene Van Gent (December 23, 1889 – June 12, 1949) 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 ...

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

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

in 1916, at the University Farm, now the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

, in 1920, and at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 1921, compiling a career college football head coaching record of 14–8–3. Van Gent was also the head basketball coach at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

(1914–1916), Texas (1916–1917), and Stanford (1921–1922), tallying a career college basketball head coaching mark of 42–19. Van Gent played football and basketball, and ran track at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

. He was selected to the College Basketball All-American team in 1914.

Coaching career

During his two seasons as basketball head coach at the

, from 1914 to 1916, Van Gent led to the Tigers to a 21–9 overall record. The

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

hired Van Gent as both football and basketball head coach in 1916. He coached for one season in each sport before joining the military to fight in the

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In the 1916 college football season, Van Gent directed Texas to a 7–2 overall record in football and a 6–1 record in

Southwest Conference The Southwest Conference (SWC) was an NCAA Division I college athletic conference in the United States that existed from 1914 to 1996. Composed primarily of schools from Texas, at various times the conference also included schools from Oklaho ...

play. As men's basketball head coach for the 1916–17 season, he directed the Longhorns to a 13–3 overall record (7–1 in conference play) and their third consecutive

championship. In 1921, Van Gent coached the Stanford Cardinal football team, compiling a 4–2–2 record. Van Gent also coached Stanford's basketball team in 1921–22. He fell ill with encephalitis lethargica in December 1922 and was hospitalized in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Head coaching record

Football

Basketball

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Gent, Eugene 1889 births 1949 deaths American men's basketball players Missouri Tigers men's basketball coaches Stanford Cardinal men's basketball coaches Stanford Cardinal football coaches Texas Longhorns football coaches Texas Longhorns men's basketball coaches UC Davis Aggies football coaches Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball players Wisconsin Badgers football players Wisconsin Badgers men's track and field athletes All-American college men's basketball players University of Missouri faculty Sportspeople from Ottumwa, Iowa Coaches of American football from Iowa Players of American football from Iowa Basketball coaches from Iowa Basketball players from Iowa Track and field athletes from Iowa