Don Nehlen

Don Nehlen played quarterback at Bowling Green University from 1955 to 1957 and led his team to a Mid-American Conference Championship in 1956. After earning his degree from Bowling Green he turned his focus to coaching. In 1958 he was hired as the head football coach at Mansfield Senior High School and later served in that same role at Canton South High School and Canton McKinley High School. In 1963 he was hired as an assistant coach at the University of Cincinnati and returned to Bowling Green as an assistant in 1967 before being named the head coach at his alma mater in 1968. During his nine-year stint at the helm at Bowling Green his teams won 53 games and finished as the runner-up in the Mid-American Conference three times. In 1977 he was hired as the quarterbacks coach at the University of Michigan and served in that role for three years. In 1980 he was named the head coach at the University of West Virginia and went on to 149 games over the next 20 years. Coach Nehlen retired in 2010 with 202 career wins and a reputation as one of the greatest college football coaches in the history of the game.