{{Short description|American athlete and coach (1887–1928)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}} {{Infobox college coach | name = E. J. Mather | image = EdwinJMather.jpg | alt = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1887|6|4}} | birth_place = [[Ottumwa, Iowa]], U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1928|8|26|1887|6|4}} | death_place = [[Ann Arbor, Michigan]], U.S. | alma_mater = | player_sport1 = Football | player_years2 = ?–1909 | player_team2 = [[Lake Forest Foresters football|Lake Forest]] | player_sport3 = Basketball | player_years4 = ?–1910 | player_team4 = [[Lake Forest Foresters men's basketball|Lake Forest]] | player_positions = [[End (gridiron football)|End]] (football) | coach_sport1 = Football | coach_years2 = 1911–1915 | coach_team2 = [[Kalamazoo Hornets football|Kalamazoo]] | coach_years3 = 1916–1918 | coach_team3 = [[Lake Forest Foresters football|Lake Forest]] | coach_years4 = 1919–1927 | coach_team4 = [[Michigan Wolverines football|Michigan]] (assistant) | coach_sport5 = Basketball | coach_years6 = 1911–1916 | coach_team6 = [[Kalamazoo Hornets men's basketball|Kalamazoo]] | coach_years7 = 1919–1928 | coach_team7 = [[Michigan Wolverines men's basketball|Michigan]] | coach_sport8 = Baseball | coach_years9 = 1912–1916 | coach_team9 = [[Kalamazoo Hornets baseball|Kalamazoo]] | overall_record = 16–25 (football)<br>137–66 (basketball) | bowl_record = | tournament_record = | championships = Basketball<br>3 [[Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association|MIAA]] regular season (1914–1916)<br>3 [[Big Ten Conference|Big Ten]] regular season (1921, 1926, 1927) | awards = | coaching_records = }} '''Edwin James''' "'''Murf'''" '''Mather''' (June 4, 1887 – August 26, 1928) was an American [[college football]] and [[college basketball]] player and coach. He was selected as an All-Western football player while playing for [[Lake Forest University]] in 1909 and went on to a coaching career at [[Kalamazoo College]] (1911–1916), Lake Forest (1916–1918), and the [[University of Michigan]] (1919–1928).
==Early life and playing career== Mather was born in [[Ottumwa, Iowa]] and played three sports at [[Ottumwa High School]].<ref name=Obit>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Michigan Basketball Mentor Stricken Sunday Night: Never Recovered After Operation; Did Last Active Coaching During 1926-27 Court Season |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/21494917/ironwood_daily_globe/ |newspaper=[[Ironwood Daily Globe]] |location=[[Ironwood, Michigan]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date=August 27, 1928 |page=7 |access-date=July 2, 2018 |via=[[Newspapers.com]] {{Open access}} }}</ref> He enrolled at [[Lake Forest University]], where he played at the [[End (American football)|end]] position on the school's football team. In 1909, he was captain of the Lake Forest football team and was selected as an all-Western end by the ''Chicago Daily News''.<ref name=Obit/> In selecting him for its All-Illinois football team that same year, the ''Chicago Record-Herald'' wrote: "Mather, by virtue of his glittering achievements in 1908, had little trouble in clinching a place on the all-state combine. With another season in which to perfect the forward pass and the open style of play Mather developed into a terror on offense. As a defensive player he is rated among the headliners throughout Illinois. His forte is left end. The game with DePauw Thanksgiving day marked the windup of Mather's college career."<ref>{{cite news|title=Milliken Men On "All-State"|newspaper=Daily Review|date=November 29, 1909}}</ref> He was also captain of the Lake Forest basketball team in his senior year.
==Coaching career== ===Kalamazoo=== In 1911, Mather was hired as the coach of all sports at [[Kalamazoo College]], where he remained until 1916.<ref name=Obit/> He was the head football coach for five seasons, from 1911 until 1915, compiling a record of 13–12.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hornets.kzoo.edu/sports/fball/history/coaching-history |title=Kalamazoo College Football Coaching History |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= |publisher=Kalamazoo College Athletics |access-date=July 2, 2018 }}</ref> Mather's basketball teams at Kalamazoo won all of their home games four times and went undefeated in the 1914–15 season. The teams also won the [[Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association]] titles in four of Mather's five years as the coach.<ref name=Obit/> Mather's Kalamazoo College basketball teams had a combined record of 29–13.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hornets.kzoo.edu/sports/mbkb/history/records-coaching |title=Men's Basketball Coaching History |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= |publisher=Kalamazoo College Athletics |access-date=July 2, 2018 }}</ref>
===Arkansas=== With the entry of the United States into [[World War I]], Mather entered the [[United States Army]]. In March 1919, after being discharged from the Army, Mather took over as director and coach of athletics at the [[University of Arkansas]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Mather Is Appointed Univ. Athletic Coach|newspaper=Fayetteville Democrat|date=March 14, 1919}}</ref> In April 1919, Mather was reported to be organizing teams in basketball, tennis, volleyball, and track at the [[Fayetteville, Arkansas]] campus.<ref>{{cite news|title=Practice Has Begun and Teams Are Formed in All Kinds of Sports|newspaper=Hutchinson News|date=April 2, 1919}}</ref>
===Michigan=== In the fall of 1919, Mather was hired by the [[University of Michigan]]. He was the head basketball coach at Michigan from 1919 to 1928 and coached the team to three [[Big Ten Conference]] titles and an overall record of 108–53 in his nine seasons as coach. He led the team to an 18–4 overall record (8–4 in conference) during the 1920–21 season. The 1921 team won its first eight and last eight games to tie the [[Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball|Wisconsin Badgers]] and [[Purdue Boilermakers men's basketball|Purdue Boilermakers]] for the Big Ten title. The team won back-to-back championships in 1925–26 and 1926–27. The 1926 squad, which was captained by Richard Doyle who became the team's first [[All-American]], tied with Purdue, the [[Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball|Iowa Hawkeyes]] and [[Indiana Hoosiers men's basketball|Indiana Hoosiers]] for the conference championship. The 1927 team had a new All-American, [[Bennie Oosterbaan]], and won the school's first back-to-back championships and first outright championship with a 14–3 overall (10–2, Big Ten) record.
Mather was also an assistant football coach at Michigan for nine seasons, from 1919 to 1927.<ref>{{cite news|title=1919 Football Team|publisher=University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library|url=https://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/fbteam/1919fbt.htm}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=1927 Football Team|publisher=University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library|url=https://bentley.umich.edu/athdept/football/fbteam/1927fbt.htm}}</ref>
==Sickness and death== A few weeks after the Wolverines won the Big Ten championship for the 1926–27 season, Mather underwent surgery for cancer. Mather never fully recovered from the operation. In the fall of 1927, he was put in charge of Michigan's freshman football team, and he returned as basketball coach at the beginning of the 1927–28 season. However, Mather was forced to step down from his coaching duties on advice from his doctor. While he visited the team for practices, the 1927–28 basketball team was coached by Michigan's athletic director, [[Fielding H. Yost]]. A telephone line was installed at Mather's bedside, and football coach [[Harry Kipke]] relayed the plays to him and gave him a summary at the end of each game.<ref name=Obit/>
Mather died of cancer after a long illness in August 1928. He was age 41 at the time of his death and was survived by his wife and two small sons.<ref name=Obit/>
==Head coaching record== ===Football=== {{CFB Yearly Record Start | type = coach | team = | conf = | bowl = | poll = no }} {{CFB Yearly Record Subhead | name = [[Kalamazoo Hornets football|Kalamazoo Baptists]] | conf = [[Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association]] | startyear = 1911 | endyear = 1915 }} {{CFB Yearly Record Entry | championship = | year = [[1911 college football season|1911]] | name = [[1911 Kalamazoo Baptists football team|Kalamazoo]] | overall = 2–2 | conference = 0–2 | confstanding = 4th | bowlname = | bowloutcome = | bcsbowl = | ranking = no | ranking2 = no }} {{CFB Yearly Record Entry | championship = | year = [[1912 college football season|1912]] | name = [[1912 Kalamazoo Baptists football team|Kalamazoo]] | overall = 2–3 | conference = 1–3 | confstanding = T–4th | bowlname = | bowloutcome = | bcsbowl = | ranking = no | ranking2 = no }} {{CFB Yearly Record Entry | championship = | year = [[1913 college football season|1913]] | name = [[1913 Kalamazoo Baptists football team|Kalamazoo]] | overall = 2–4 | conference = 0–4 | confstanding = 6th | bowlname = | bowloutcome = | bcsbowl = | ranking = no | ranking2 = no }} {{CFB Yearly Record Entry | championship = | year = [[1914 college football season|1914]] | name = [[1914 Kalamazoo Baptists football team|Kalamazoo]] | overall = 4–1 | conference = 3–1 | confstanding = 3rd | bowlname = | bowloutcome = | bcsbowl = | ranking = no | ranking2 = no }} {{CFB Yearly Record Entry | championship = | year = [[1915 college football season|1915]] | name = [[1915 Kalamazoo Baptists football team|Kalamazoo]] | overall = 3–2 | conference = 2–2 | confstanding = 4th | bowlname = | bowloutcome = | bcsbowl = | ranking = no | ranking2 = no }} {{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal | name = Kalamazoo | overall = 13–12 | confrecord = 6–12 }} {{CFB Yearly Record Subhead | name = [[Lake Forest Foresters football|Lake Forest Foresters]] | conf = Independent | startyear = 1916 | endyear = 1918 }} {{CFB Yearly Record Entry | championship = | year = [[1916 college football season|1916]] | name = Lake Forest | overall = 1–7 | conference = | confstanding = | bowlname = | bowloutcome = | bcsbowl = | ranking = no | ranking2 = no }} {{CFB Yearly Record Entry | championship = | year = [[1917 college football season|1917]] | name = Lake Forest | overall = 2–5 | conference = | confstanding = | bowlname = | bowloutcome = | bcsbowl = | ranking = no | ranking2 = no }} {{CFB Yearly Record Entry | championship = | year = [[1918 college football season|1918]] | name = Lake Forest | overall = 0–1 | conference = | confstanding = | bowlname = | bowloutcome = | bcsbowl = | ranking = no | ranking2 = no }} {{CFB Yearly Record Subtotal | name = Lake Forest | overall = 3–13 | confrecord = }} {{CFB Yearly Record End | overall = 16–25 | bowls = no | poll = no | polltype = | legend = no }} <ref>{{cite web |author=<!--Not stated--> |title=NCAA Statistics; Coach; Edwin "E.J." Mather; Football |url=https://stats.ncaa.org/people/10299?sport_code=MFB |publisher=[[National Collegiate Athletic Association]] |access-date=December 22, 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=<!--Not stated--> |title=Kalamazoo College Football Year-by-Year |url=https://hornets.kzoo.edu/sports/2024/7/23/fball-year-by-year.aspx |publisher=[[Kalamazoo College]] |access-date=December 22, 2025 }}</ref>
===Basketball=== {{CBB Yearly Record Start | type = | conference = | postseason= | poll = }} {{CBB Yearly Record Subhead | name = [[Kalamazoo Hornets men's basketball|Kalamazoo Hornets]] | conference = [[Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association]] | startyear = 1911 | endyear = 1916 }} {{CBB Yearly Record Entry | championship = | season = 1911–12 | name = Kalamazoo | overall = 7–3 | conference = 0–1 | confstanding = 4th | postseason = }} {{CBB Yearly Record Entry | championship = | season = 1912–13 | name = Kalamazoo | overall = 1–4 | conference = 0–2 | confstanding = 4th | postseason = }} {{CBB Yearly Record Entry | championship = conference | season = 1913–14 | name = Kalamazoo | overall = 8–3 | conference = 3–1 | confstanding = 1st | postseason = }} {{CBB Yearly Record Entry | championship = conference | season = 1914–15 | name = Kalamazoo | overall = 7–0 | conference = 6–0 | confstanding = 1st | postseason = }} {{CBB Yearly Record Entry | championship = conference | season = 1915–16 | name = Kalamazoo | overall = 6–3 | conference = 3–0 | confstanding = 1st | postseason = }} {{CBB Yearly Record Subtotal | name = Kalamazoo | overall = 29–13 | confrecord = 12–4 }} {{CBB Yearly Record Subhead | name = [[Michigan Wolverines men's basketball|Michigan Wolverines]] | conference = [[Big Ten Conference]] | startyear = 1919 | endyear = 1927 }} {{CBB Yearly Record Entry | championship = | season = [[1919–20 NCAA men's basketball season|1919–20]] | name = [[1919–20 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team|Michigan]] | overall = 10–13 | conference = 3–9 | confstanding = T–7th | postseason = }} {{CBB Yearly Record Entry | championship = conference | season = 1920–21 | name = [[1920–21 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team|Michigan]] | overall = 18–4 | conference = 8–4 | confstanding = T–1st | postseason = }} {{CBB Yearly Record Entry | championship = | season = 1921–22 | name = [[1921–22 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team|Michigan]] | overall = 15–4 | conference = 8–4 | confstanding = T–2nd | postseason = }} {{CBB Yearly Record Entry | championship = | season = 1922–23 | name = [[1922–23 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team|Michigan]] | overall = 11–4 | conference = 8–4 | confstanding = 3rd | postseason = }} {{CBB Yearly Record Entry | championship = | season = 1923–24 | name = [[1923–24 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team|Michigan]] | overall = 10–7 | conference = 6–6 | confstanding = 7th | postseason = }} {{CBB Yearly Record Entry | championship = | season = 1924–25 | name = [[1924–25 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team|Michigan]] | overall = 8–6 | conference = 6–5 | confstanding = 5th | postseason = }} {{CBB Yearly Record Entry | championship = conference | season = 1925–26 | name = [[1925–26 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team|Michigan]] | overall = 12–5 | conference = 8–4 | confstanding = T–1st | postseason = }} {{CBB Yearly Record Entry | championship = conference | season = 1926–27 | name = [[1926–27 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team|Michigan]] | overall = 14–3 | conference = 10–2 | confstanding = 1st | postseason = }} {{CBB Yearly Record Entry | championship = | season = 1927–28 | name = [[1927–28 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team|Michigan]] | overall = 10–7 | conference = 7–5 | confstanding = 5th | postseason = }} {{CBB Yearly Record Subtotal | name = Michigan | overall = 108–53 | confrecord = 24–10 }} {{CBB Yearly Record End | overall = 137–66 }}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Find a Grave}}
{{navboxes|list= {{Kalamazoo Hornets football coach navbox}} {{Lake Forest Foresters football coach navbox}} {{Michigan Wolverines men's basketball coach navbox}} {{1923 Michigan Wolverines football navbox}} }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mather, E. J.}} [[Category:1887 births]] [[Category:1928 deaths]] [[Category:American football ends]] [[Category:American men's basketball players]] [[Category:Arkansas Razorbacks football coaches]] [[Category:Kalamazoo Hornets baseball coaches]] [[Category:Kalamazoo Hornets football coaches]] [[Category:Kalamazoo Hornets men's basketball coaches]] [[Category:Lake Forest Foresters football coaches]] [[Category:Lake Forest Foresters football players]] [[Category:Lake Forest Foresters men's basketball players]] [[Category:Michigan Wolverines football coaches]] [[Category:Michigan Wolverines men's basketball coaches]] [[Category:College men's basketball head coaches in the United States]] [[Category:United States Army personnel of World War I]] [[Category:Sportspeople from Ottumwa, Iowa]] [[Category:Coaches of American football from Iowa]] [[Category:Players of American football from Iowa]] [[Category:Baseball coaches from Iowa]] [[Category:Basketball coaches from Iowa]] [[Category:Basketball players from Iowa]] [[Category:Military personnel from Ottumwa, Iowa]] [[Category:Deaths from cancer in Michigan]] [[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]