Dudley DeGroot

Dudley Sargent DeGroot (November 10, 1899 – May 5, 1970) was an American athlete and coach, primarily of American football. 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—from 1926 to 1927, 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 head coaching 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.

Early life and playing career
DeGroot attended Sequoia High School in Redwood City, California. At Stanford Universityl 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. 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.

Coaching career
In 1928, DeGroot was hired as the physical director at Menlo Junior College—now known as Menlo College in Atherton, California. He coached football and basketball at Menlo for four seasons. In 1932, he left Menlo to become head football coach at San Jose State Teachers College—now known as San Jose State University. Russell Sweet succeeded him as Menlo's head football coach.

From 1932 through 1939, DeGroot led the San Jose State Spartans football team a 60–19–8 record. 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.

Scientific recognition
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.

Personal and family information
Notable members of his immediate family include his son, Dudley E. DeGroot, who obtained his doctorate degree in anthropology,     and one of his daughters, Alice A. DeGroot, who became a large animal veterinarian holding patents for her inventions.

Death
DeGroot died at the age of 70 on May 5, 1970, at his home in El Cajon, California.