Conference Independent | 1894 record 9–1–1 | |
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Head coach William McCauley (1st year) | ||
The 1894 Michigan Wolverines football team represented the University of Michigan in the 1894 college football season. The team, with William McCauley as head coach, compiled a 9–1–1 record and outscored its opponents by a combined score of 244 to 84. The Wolverines played a home-and-away series with Cornell, losing at Ithaca and winning the second game in Detroit. The win over Cornell "marked the first time in collegiate football history that a western school defeated an established power from the east." The Wolverines closed the season with a victory over Amos Alonzo Stagg's University of Chicago Maroons.
Contents
Pre-season
Prior to the 1894 season, three individuals took charge of the Michigan football program—each of whom would play an important role in its development. The first was Charles A. Baird, manager of the football team who later became Michigan's first athletic director and was the person who hired Fielding H. Yost in 1901. In 1894, Baird hired William McCauley, who had played at the tackle position on Princeton's championship team in 1893, as Michigan's head football coach. In two years as Michigan's head coach, McCauley led the Wolverines to a 17-2-1 record. The third member of Michigan's football triumvirate in 1894 was Keene Fitzpatrick, a nationally known track coach, who Baird hired as the football team's trainer. Baird's hiring of McCauley and Fitzpatrick led to a heightened level of interest in the football team. The Michigan Alumnus described the impact of the new coaching staff:
"The work of both of these enthusiasts can be seen in the practice of the team from day to day. At a mass meeting held last month great enthusiasm was shown by students, and several hundred dollars was [sic] raised for the team. Thus, for the first time in the history of Michigan football, the manager was able to secure the necessary equipment for a first-class eleven. Lack of money has been the cry hitherto."
Several players returned in 1894 from the 1893 team, including quarterback and team captain Jimmy Baird, halfbacks Gustave Ferbert, Horace Dyer, and George Dygert, guard "Pa" Heninger, center C. H. Smith, end Henry Senter, and tackle Giovanni "Count" Villa.
Season overview and finances
After totaling seven wins in 1892 and again in 1893, Michigan's nine wins in 1894 marked the highest win total in Michigan football history to that time. In an article on Inter-Collegiate Athletics in the Middle West, Reuben M. Strong of Oberlin College wrote, "Michigan University, without doubt, deserves the honors of first place in foot-ball for '94. Wisconsin University would make a close second. Unfortunately the two did not meet, as Michigan is inclined to give more attention to the Eastern colleges of late."
In April 1895, the report by the treasurer of the University of Michigan Athletic Association showed a cash balance of $1,013.17. Receipts for the year totaled $5,613.17, with game receipts comprising $4,100. Expenditures included $3,350 for "trips and foot-ball expenses," $560 for a coach, $440 for the training table, and $150 for printing.