Red Sanders

Bio

Henry "Red" Sanders was an all-around athlete at Vanderbilt. He lettered three years in football, played basketball and captained the baseball team. His first coaching job was on the Clemson staff 1927-29. For the period 1931-37 he was head coach at Columbia Military Academy, then Riverside Military Academy. His teams had a 55-4-2 record. Next came assistant jobs with Florida 1938 and Louisiana State 1939. He had two terms as Vanderbilt head coach, 1940-42 and 1946-48. In between he had three years in the Navy as a lieutenant commander. His Vanderbilt record was 36-22-2. He was UCLA head coach 1949-57 with a 66-19-1 record. In 1954 his UCLA team was 9-0, averaged 41 points a game, and held opponents to an average of four points a game. UCLA was national champion, and Sanders was Coach of the Year. He started the 1954 season with just 37 players on the varsity squad, 20 on the junior varsity. Sanders seldom scrimmaged, used classroom instruction and worked on a strict time schedule. He once said his players "spend only about seven hours a week on the practice field." But they performed expertly. He stayed with the single-wing formation until the very end, while other coaches went to the T. His overall record was 102-41-3.