Today's Tidbit... When Kansas Fired Their Best Football Coach
If you were a 19-year-old sophomore at the University of Kansas the last time they went undefeated and untied in a football season, you would be 136 years old today, or thereabouts, and hopefully would have graduated by now.
The Jayhawks' last perfect season came in 1908 under the direction of Dr. A. R. "Bert" Kennedy, and his 52 career wins at Kansas remain the most of any coach in history. Not only that, they fired him after the 1910 season due to a new Missouri Valley Conference rule requiring coaches to be full-time faculty members. Kennedy, a practicing dentist, did not qualify. More on that later.
Kennedy grew up near Lawrence and played three years at Kansas (1985-1897) before heading to Penn in 1899 for dental school. He was a second-team player there and did not see action in 1899, but started in 1900. Oddly enough, John Outland followed a similar path, so they played their first college game at Kansas and their last game together at Penn.
He assisted at Penn while completing his studies and then returned to Lawrence and set up a practice. Kennedy coached Washburn, situated 28 miles away in Topeka, in 1903 and took over at Kansas in 1904, compiling a 52-9-4 record, including going 7-0-1 his first year.
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