James Garfield Schaeffer (February 1, 1885 – August 8, 1972) was a

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

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 ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

coach. He served as the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

rugby coach from 1909 to 1914, and football coach in 1915. In total he amassed a 73–16–8 record.Cal History
(PDF), p. 164, ''2009 California Football Media Guide'', University of California, 2009. From 1909 to 1914, California played rugby instead of American football, switching back to football rugby code, rather than the American code. He also coached the Cal baseball team from 1911 to 1915 and amassed a 39–21–2 record. Schaeffer resigned from both posts in November 1915. The executive committee of the student body denied that his resignation was forced, but there were rumors of "dissatisfaction with his services" after California was routed by

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, 72–0.Football and Baseball Coach of University of California Has Tendered Resignation
''The Evening News'', November 11, 1915. Schaeffer was involved in the recruitment process for his permanent replacement as California's football coach, offering the position to then

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

coach Andy Smith. Schaeffer was born in Ohio in 1885 and died in California in 1972.

Head coaching record

Football

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schaeffer, James 1885 births 1972 deaths California Golden Bears rugby coaches California Golden Bears baseball coaches California Golden Bears football coaches Sportspeople from Youngstown, Ohio