Coach was first Vandal to enter Hall of Fame

John Friesz may be the first University of Idaho player to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame – but he’s not the first Vandal.

In 1971, coach Francis A. Schmidt was elected to the Sound Bend, Ind., shrine – though not so much for anything he’d done at Idaho.

Schmidt was a well-traveled coach with successful stops at Tulsa, Arkansas, TCU and Ohio State before he landed at Idaho for two seasons, 1941 and 1942. The Vandals were 4-5 and 3-6-1 those years, playing in the Pacific Coast Conference.

But at Tulsa, Schmidt had coached an undefeated team in 1919, and five years at TCU produced a 46-6-5 record and two Southwest Conference championships. At Ohio State, he is best remembered not for his two Big Ten titles but for a quote – either from remarks to the team or to the press – before a 1934 game against rival Michigan.

“Those fellows put their pants on one leg a time, same as every one else,” he said of the Wolverines.

Ohio State won the game 34-0, which led to the formation of the Pants Club – membership open to any Buckeye who takes part in a victory over Michigan.

Because of Schmidt’s propensity for trick plays and high-scoring offense, the press also gave him the nickname “Close the Gates of Mercy.”

Schmidt, who died in 1944 at the age of 58, had a career record of 158-57-11.