Mike Donahue

Michael Joseph "Iron Mike" Donahue (June 14, 1876 – December 11, 1960) was an American football player, coach of football, basketball, baseball, tennis, track, soccer, and golf, and a college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Auburn University (1904–1906, 1908–1922), at Louisiana State University (1923–1927), and at Spring Hill College (1934–?). Donahue also coached basketball (1905–1921), baseball, track, and soccer (1912–?) at Auburn and baseball (1925–1926) and tennis (1946–1947) at LSU. He was inducted as a coach into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951. Donahue Drive in Auburn, Alabama, on which Jordan–Hare Stadium is located and the Tiger Walk takes place, is named in his honor.

Playing career
Donahue played quarterback at Yale University, from which he graduated in 1903.

Auburn
Upon graduating college, Donahue became the tenth head coach of the Auburn Tigers football team beginning in 1904. His coaching career saw immediate success, as his first team went undefeated at 5–0. Donahue's Auburn teams won two Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association titles, in 1913 and 1919. His 1913 squad has been retroactively recognized as a national champion by the Billingsley Report. Donahue's 1913 and 1914 teams went undefeated, with the 1914 squad allowing zero points to be scored all year. From 1913 into 1915, Auburn went 22 consecutive games without a loss. Donahue's 1920 team averaged 36.9 points per game.

In 18 seasons coaching football at Auburn, Donahue amassed a record of 106–35–5 and had three squads go undefeated with four more suffering only one loss. His .743 career winning percentage is the second highest in Auburn history, surpassing notable coaches including John Heisman, Ralph "Shug" Jordan, Pat Dye, Terry Bowden, and Tommy Tuberville.

Donahue also served as athletic director, basketball coach, baseball coach, track coach, and soccer coach while at Auburn. In 1905, Donahue initiated the school's first official varsity basketball team, which went 3–1–1, including victories over Georgia Tech and Tulane, a two point loss to the Columbus (Georgia) All-Stars, and a tie with the Birmingham Athletic Club. Under Donahue, basketball practice was a contact sport; a former player once lamented, "He never bothered calling fouls--said it slowed up the game." In 1912, he coached Auburn's first soccer team. By the beginning of the 1915 season, Auburn was only playing athletic clubs and prep schools and had yet to participate in an intercollegiate match, due to a lack of soccer programs at other Southern colleges.

LSU
Donahue went on to become the seventeenth head football coach at LSU in 1923 and had a 23–19–3 record over five seasons before retiring from coaching after the 1927 season. He also served briefly as the head coach of the LSU Tigers baseball team (1925–1926), compiling a record of 15–15–3, and as the head men’s tennis coach at LSU (1946–1947), tallying a mark of 0–7.

In 1934, Donahue reentered the coaching ranks at Spring Hill College, where he mentored his son, Mike, Jr.