Dudley Sargent DeGroot (November 10, 1899 – May 5, 1970) was an American athlete and coach, primarily of American football.^[1] He served as the head coach for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1944 and 1945, tallying a mark of 14–5–1; his winning percentage of .737 is the best in franchise history for coaches with at least one full season. DeGroot was also the head football coach at Santa Barbara State College—now the University of California, Santa Barbara (1926–1928), San Jose State University (1932–1939), the University of Rochester (1940–1943), West Virginia University (1948–1949), and the University of New Mexico (1950–1952), compiling a career college football record of 117–67–9. In addition, he served as the head coach of the Los Angeles Dons of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) from 1946 to 1947.

Quick Facts Biographical details, Born ...

Dudley DeGroot

Dudley DeGroot, c. 1946
Biographical details
Born	(1899-11-10)November 10, 1899 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	May 5, 1970(1970-05-05) (aged 70) El Cajon, California, U.S.
Playing career
Football
1920–1922	Stanford
Basketball
1921–1922	Stanford
Position(s)	Center
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1926–1928	Santa Barbara State
1932–1939	San Jose State
1940–1943	Rochester (NY)
1944–1945	Washington Redskins
1946–1947	Los Angeles Dons
1948–1949	West Virginia
1950–1952	New Mexico
Basketball
1927–1929	Santa Barbara State
Baseball
1928	Santa Barbara State
Track & field
1927–1928	Santa Barbara State
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1926–1928	Santa Barbara State
Head coaching record
Overall	117–67–9 (college football) 26–16–3 (NFL/AAFC) 8–24 (college basketball) 2–4 (college baseball)
Bowls	1–0
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Football 2 Far Western (1932, 1934) 1 CCAA (1939)
Awards
All-American athlete, 1922 First-team All-PCC (1922)
Medal record Men's rugby union Representing the  United States Olympic Games 1924 Paris Rugby

Close

DeGroot's collegiate participation in sports records that at Stanford University he competed in basketball, football, swimming, and water polo. Playing under the head coach, Pop Warner, he became the Stanford Cardinal football team captain in 1922 and their first All-American athlete.

In both 1923 and 1924, DeGroot was the Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America, 4A, ICAAAA, or IC4A, backstroke champion.

DeGroot was a member of the United States rugby team that won an Olympic gold medal during the 1924 competition in Paris.^[2] A journal by DeGroot about the activities of this Olympic rugby team was published throughout 23 days during July 1924 by the newspaper, The Call.^[3]

DeGroot's early coaching career included Santa Barbara State College, which is now one of the University of California campuses, and Menlo Junior College, the college level portion of Menlo School which became Menlo College in 1927 and now is independent, although they continue to share the same campus.

From 1932 through 1939, DeGroot was the head football coach at San Jose State University, where he put together a 60–19–8 record for the Spartans. His best season there came in 1939, when his team went undefeated and had outscored opponents 324 to 29. As of 2006 on a list published on Mercury News of the seven biggest turnarounds for a single season in the history of the Spartans, only DeGroot is listed twice, for 1932 and 1937. The statistics for these are: the record for the 1932 season is 7–0–2 with a previous season of 1–7 and a margin of six and, the record for the 1937 season is 11–2–1 with a previous season of 5–4 and another margin of six.

His next team leadership was at the University of Rochester, where he was football coach from 1940 through 1943. DeGroot's record there was 24–6.

Moving to professional sports, he then took over the Washington Redskins, a National Football League (NFL) team, in Washington, D.C. Although they lost the NFL championship for that year by one point, 15–14, to the Cleveland Rams, the Redskins won the Eastern Division title in 1945 with DeGroot as their coach. During two seasons with the Los Angeles Dons of the new All-America Football Conference, DeGroot's record was 14–12–2.

DeGroot returned to collegiate coaching as the head football coach at West Virginia University during 1948 through 1949. His record for the West Virginia Mountaineers was 13–9–1. At the University of New Mexico from 1950 through 1952, DeGroot's record was 13–17 for the Lobos.

DeGroot received his doctorate degree in education and was recognized as one of the foremost oologists and ornithologists in the United States. His work in oology continues to be discussed in scientific publications.^[4]

Notable members of his immediate family include his son, Dudley E. DeGroot, who obtained his doctorate degree in anthropology,^{[5][6][7][8][9][10]} and one of his daughters, Alice A. DeGroot, who became a large animal veterinarian holding patents for her inventions.^[11]

DeGroot died at the age of 70 on May 5, 1970, at his home in El Cajon, California.^[12]

• List of Olympic medalists in rugby union