Frederick Mortimer "Cap" Irish (May 16, 1870 – April 12, 1941) 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 ...

coach, college athletics administrator, and science instructor. He served as the first head football coach at the Territorial Normal School, renamed Tempe Normal School in 1903 and now known as

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public university, public research university in Tempe, Arizona, United States. Founded in 1885 as Territorial Normal School by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, the university is o ...

, coaching from 1897 to 1906 and compiling a record of 12–8. Territorial Normal did not field a football team in 1898 or 1901. Irish was also the first

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

at Territorial/Tempe Normal, serving from 1896 to 1913. In addition, he taught science at the school.

Irish Field Irish Field served as the home to the Tempe Normal football team from 1927 to 1935 before being replaced by Goodwin Stadium Goodwin Stadium was a stadium in Tempe, Arizona. It hosted the Sun Devils football team until they moved to Sun Devi ...

one of the original homes of Arizona State Football was also named after the coach and administrator. Irish graduated from the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

in 1895 with a Bachelor of Science degree. He taught in his hometown of

Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque (, ) is a city in Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, and its county seat. The population was 59,667 at the 2020 United States census. The city lies along the Mississippi River at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a region ...

, before moving to Arizona. Irish died at a hospital in

Tempe, Arizona Tempe ( ; ''Oidbaḍ'' in O'odham language, O'odham) is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2020 population of 180,587. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in t ...

, on April 12, 1941. Irish Hall, a residence hall at Arizona State University, is named for him.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Irish, Frederick M. 1870 births 1941 deaths 19th-century American educators 20th-century American educators Arizona State Sun Devils athletic directors Arizona State Sun Devils football coaches Arizona State University faculty University of Iowa alumni Sportspeople from Dubuque, Iowa Coaches of American football from Iowa