Milton Caspar Bruhn (July 28, 1912 – May 14, 1991) 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 coach 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 ...

from 1956 to 1966, compiling a record of 52–45–6 (.534). Bruhn led the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the College athletics in the United States, athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I ...

to two outright

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

championships in

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

and

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

. His teams had two straight seven-win seasons, in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

and 1959, and an 8–2 record in 1962, with the two losses coming at

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

, 14–7, and against #1

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

, 42–37, in the 1963 Rose Bowl. Wisconsin ended the 1962 season with a #2 ranking, which remain the highest AP Poll and UPI/Coaches' Poll season-ending rankings for the Wisconsin football program in the history of these polls.

Playing career

Bruhn attended high school in

Mound, Minnesota Mound is a city in western Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 9,052 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Mound was the birthplace of the Tonka truck that is named after Lake Minnetonka, which the eastern part ...

, where he played 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 (appro ...

. He enrolled at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

in 1932. Bruhn played

left guard In American football, a guard (G), otherwise known as an offensive guard (OG), is an offensive line player who lines up between the center and the tackles. Like other offensive line positions, guards are used primarily for blocking. Right ...

for the Gopher teams that went undefeated and won

championships in 1934 and 1935. Bruhn also played

catcher Catcher is a position in baseball and softball. When a batter takes their turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home) umpire, and receives the ball from the pitcher. In addition to this primary duty, the catc ...

on the

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 ...

team at Minnesota that won the Big Ten Conference championship in 1935. He captained the baseball team in his senior year.

Coaching career

Following his graduation from Minnesota in 1936, Bruhn went to

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

as football line coach and freshman coach in basketball and baseball. He remained there until 1943 when he returned to his alma mater, Minnesota, as ends coach. He joined the

Colgate University Colgate University is a Private university, private college in Hamilton, New York, United States. The Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York ...

football staff as line coach in 1944, then moved on to

Franklin & Marshall College Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1787 as Franklin College and later merged with Marshall College in 1853, it is one of the oldest colleges in the United St ...

as line coach, in addition to being head baseball and basketball coach. He went to

Lafayette College Lafayette College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Easton, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1826 by James Madison Porter and other citizens in Easton, the college first held classes in 18 ...

in 1947 as line coach under Ivy Williamson and then served as line coach on Williamson's staff at Wisconsin from 1949 to 1955. He succeeded Williamson as head football coach, when the latter moved to the position of

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 ...

following the death of Guy Sundt. After his tenure as head football coach at Wisconsin, Bruhn remained at Wisconsin as assistant athletic director from 1967 to 1969.

Head coaching record

Football

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruhn, Milt 1912 births 1991 deaths American football guards Baseball catchers Basketball coaches from Minnesota Amherst Mammoths football coaches Colgate Raiders football coaches Franklin & Marshall Diplomats baseball coaches Franklin & Marshall Diplomats football coaches Franklin & Marshall Diplomats men's basketball coaches Lafayette Leopards football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball players Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football players Wisconsin Badgers football coaches People from Mound, Minnesota Sportspeople from Hennepin County, Minnesota Players of American football from Minnesota