Eugene Van Gent

Conrad Eugene Van Gent (December 23, 1889 – June 12, 1949) was an American college football and college basketball player and coach. He served as the head football at the University of Texas at Austin in 1916, at the University Farm, now the University of California, Davis, in 1920, and at Stanford University in 1921, compiling a career college football head coaching record of 14–8–3. Van Gent was also the head basketball coach at the University of Missouri (1914–1916), Texas (1916–1917), and Stanford (1921–1922), tallying a career college basketball head coaching mark of 42–19. Van Gent played football and basketball, and ran track at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He was selected to the College Basketball All-American team in 1914.

Eugene Van Gent

Van Gent from The Savitar, 1916
Biographical details
Born	(1889-12-23)December 23, 1889 Ottumwa, Iowa, U.S.
Died	June 12, 1949(1949-06-12) (aged 59) Solano County, California, U.S.
Playing career
Football
1911	Wisconsin
1913	Wisconsin
Basketball
1911–1914	Wisconsin
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1916	Texas
1919	Texas (assistant)
1920	University Farm
1921	Stanford
Basketball
1914–1916	Missouri
1916–1917	Texas
1921–1922	Stanford
Head coaching record
Overall	14–8–3 (football) 42–19 (basketball)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Football SWC (1916)
Awards
Basketball All-American (1914)

Coaching career

During his two seasons as basketball head coach at the University of Missouri, from 1914 to 1916, Van Gent led to the Tigers to a 21–9 overall record. The University of Texas hired Van Gent as both football and basketball head coach in 1916. He coached for one season in each sport before joining the military to fight in the World War I. In the 1916 college football season, Van Gent directed Texas to a 7–2 overall record in football and a 6–1 record in Southwest Conference play. As men's basketball head coach for the 1916–17 season, he directed the Longhorns to a 13–3 overall record (7–1 in conference play) and their third consecutive Southwest Conference championship. In 1921, Van Gent coached the Stanford Cardinal football team, compiling a 4–2–2 record. Van Gent also coached Stanford's basketball team in 1921–22. He fell ill with encephalitis lethargica in December 1922 and was hospitalized in San Francisco.^[1]

Head coaching record

Football

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs
Texas Longhorns (Southwest Conference) (1916)
1916	Texas	7–2	6–1	1st
Texas:		7–2	6–1
University Farm (Independent) (1920)
1920	University Farm	3–4–1
University Farm:		3–4–1
Stanford (Pacific Coast Conference) (1921)
1921	Stanford	4–2–2	1–1–1	3rd
Stanford:		4–2–2	1–1–1
Total:		14–8–3
National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth

Basketball

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Missouri Tigers (Missouri Valley Conference) (1914–1916)
1914–15	Missouri	8–6	6–6	3rd
1915–16	Missouri	12–3	9–2	2nd
Missouri:		21–9 (.700)	15–8 (.652)
Texas Longhorns (Southwest Conference) (1917)
1916–17	Texas	13–3	7–1	1st
Texas:		13–3 (.813)	7–1 (.875)
Stanford (Pacific Coast Conference) (1921–1922)
1921–22	Stanford	8–7	4–6	5th
Stanford:		8–7 (.533)	4–6 (.400)
Total:		42–19 (.689)
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion