![\"Dietzel](\"http:\/\/spec.lib.miamioh.edu\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Paul-Dietzel-01-Player-1947-Recensio-Archives-154x300.jpg\")
Dietzel as a player at Miami<\/p><\/div>\n
However, this was during World War II and Dietzel enlisted in the Army Air Corps.\u00a0 While in the Army, Dietzel was stationed all over the country and saw action in the Pacific and Japan.\u00a0 Upon returning to the states he was allowed to leave the Army.\u00a0 He then enrolled at Miami University in 1946.<\/p>\n
Under Coach Gillman Dietzel played his old position of center on the undefeated 1947 Sun Bowl team.\u00a0 He was also named 2nd<\/sup> team All-American that year.\u00a0 After Dietzel graduated in the fall of \u201947, Coach Gillman offered him a graduate assistant position.\u00a0 Dietzel, of course, accepted.\u00a0 However, in a strange turn of events, Gillman was offered the offensive coordinator position at Army by the legendary Earl Blaik after Blaik visited spring practice.\u00a0 He accepted the position and asked Dietzel to come with him.\u00a0 While at Army, Dietzel coached the plebes (freshmen) in football and basketball.<\/p>\n After one season at Army, Gillman accepted the head coaching position at Miami\u2019s rival, Cincinnati.\u00a0 He offered Dietzel the position of defensive coordinator. \u00a0Dietzel accepted, to Coach Blaik\u2019s chagrin.\u00a0 Dietzel would stay in this position for two years.\u00a0 In 1951 he was offered a position at the University of Kentucky under another future coaching legend, Paul \u201cBear\u201d Bryant.\u00a0 Moving to the Southeastern Conference (SEC) was a step up, professionally, and after much indecisiveness, he accepted.\u00a0 Dietzel coached the offensive line for \u201cThe Bear.\u201d<\/p>\n Dietzel coached at Kentucky for two years before going back to West Point in 1953.\u00a0 Re-joining Blaik\u2019s staff, Dietzel coached the offensive line.\u00a0 After the 1954 season, all four varsity assistant coaches left Army for head coaching positions elsewhere, the last of them being Dietzel.\u00a0 Paul Dietzel was named the head coach of the Louisiana State (LSU) Tigers in 1955, his first head coaching position.<\/p>\n Dietzel\u2019s first three years at LSU were rebuilding years.\u00a0 They hadn\u2019t had a winning season since 1953, or won a bowl game since 1944.\u00a0 In those first three seasons (1955-1957), LSU\u2019s records were 3-5-2, 3-7 and 5-5, respectively.\u00a0 Year four, 1958, was when Dietzel got the program turned around.\u00a0 That year he led the Tigers to a record of 10-0 regular season and a SEC Championship.\u00a0 They were invited to play in the Sugar Bowl against Clemson.\u00a0 LSU was ranked #1 going into the game and Clemson #12.\u00a0 LSU won the game 7-0 and bringing LSU its first National Championship in school history.\u00a0 Dietzel was also named Coach of the Year.\u00a0 He was the youngest coach ever to win the award and also won it by the widest margin ever.<\/p>\n The following year, 1959, LSU was the unanimous selection as preseason #1.\u00a0 They started out that season winning their first seven games including a win over #3 Ole Miss.\u00a0 This brought their winning streak to 19 games, the longest of Dietzel\u2019s career.\u00a0 In the eighth game of the year against Tennessee, LSU lost 14-13.\u00a0 They ended the regular season 9-1 and running back Billy Cannon won the Heisman Trophy, the only person in LSU history to do so.\u00a0 LSU was invited to play in the Sugar Bowl in a rematch against Ole Miss, a\u00a0team they already defeated.\u00a0 Dietzel did not want to accept, because he felt there was no reason to play a team you had already defeated; fearing the team would not \u201cget up\u201d for a game against a team they had already defeated.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the athletic director felt otherwise and they accepted.\u00a0 Dietzel proved to be right and LSU lost 21-0, ending the season at 9-2.<\/p>\n Dietzel with Sid Gillman<\/p><\/div>\n Dietzel had a few more successful years at LSU going 5-5 in 1960 and 10-1 in 1961.\u00a0 In seven seasons at LSU Dietzel\u2019s record was 46-24-3 (65%) and 35-7-1 (83%) from 1958 to 1961.\u00a0 They won two SEC Championships (1958 and 1961) and one National Championship (1958).\u00a0 After the 1961 season Dietzel was offered the head coaching position at Army.\u00a0 He accepted and returned to West Point in 1962.<\/p>\n When he was named Army\u2019s head coach, he became the first non-Army graduate to become head coach.\u00a0 Dietzel was the head coach of Army for four seasons, 1962-1965.\u00a0 In those seasons Army had records of 6-4, 7-3, 4-6 and 4-5-1, respectively, for an overall record of 21-18-1 (54%).\u00a0 After the 1965 season Dietzel received a call from the President of the University of South Carolina.\u00a0 Ultimately he was offered the position of head football coach and athletic director with the hopes of turning around South Carolina\u2019s abysmal athletic program.<\/p>\n The athletic department was on probation and in serious debt.\u00a0 Dietzel\u2019s first few years coaching the South Carolina football team were rough.\u00a0 From 1966-1968 South Carolina won 10 games, which was an improvement of the previous three years (9 wins).\u00a0 However, in 1969 Dietzel\u2019s team went 7-4 and finished first in the Athletic Coast Conference (ACC).\u00a0 This was the first time that any team from South Carolina had won a conference championship.\u00a0 They were invited to play in the Peach Bowl.\u00a0 This was only the second time in school history they had played in a bowl game (the other in 1948).\u00a0 Dietzel was named ACC coach of the year that year.\u00a0 Ultimately, his time as head coach of South Carolina was disappointing, record wise; their record 42-53-1 (53%) in Dietzel\u2019s nine years.\u00a0 However, as athletic director he had turned around the program.\u00a0 Season ticket sales for football increased from 3000 to 25000 a year, the department was out of debt and he tremendously upgraded the athletic facilities.<\/p>\n After the 1973 season Dietzel decided to retire as a football coach.\u00a0 He wanted to coach for twenty seasons, and that is what he did.\u00a0 He had wanted to retire from coaching but remain athletic director.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the coach that was hired to replace him was given the athletic director position.\u00a0 He was reassigned to the position of Vice President of University Relations.\u00a0 He was unhappy in his new role and resigned.<\/p>\n Dietzel would not stay unemployed for long.\u00a0 Through an old friend he became aware of a position as commissioner of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC).\u00a0 He interviewed for and was offered the position.\u00a0 He accepted, but held the position for only one year, 1975.<\/p>\n While commissioner of the OVC he ran into a former colleague, basketball coaching legend Bob Knight.\u00a0 Dietzel and Knight had been head coaches of their respective sports at Army.\u00a0 Knight informed him that the athletic director position at Indiana University (IU) in Bloomington, Indiana, where Knight was currently coaching, was available.\u00a0 Through Knight\u2019s influence (IU had just won the National Championship in basketball) Dietzel was asked to come in for an interview.\u00a0 He was offered the position and accepted.\u00a0 He would remain in Bloomington for two years.<\/p>\n Dietzel with Anne in front of his Statue in the Cradle of Coaches Plaza<\/p><\/div>\n In 1978 LSU came calling.\u00a0 Their athletic director had resigned and they asked Dietzel if he was interested.\u00a0 The Dietzels had made a lot of friends in Baton Rouge, but he was a little worried that some people had not forgiven him for leaving in 1961.\u00a0 Ultimately he accepted and returned to LSU in 1978.\u00a0 Dietzel was the athletic director for LSU from 1978 to 1982.\u00a0 Unfortunately, in 1982 he was reassigned to another position within the university.\u00a0 He resigned shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n Upset with the way things happened at LSU, Dietzel and his wife moved to North Carolina.\u00a0 He enjoyed skiing and they had visited their often.\u00a0 During this time he worked in real-estate, as a ski instructor and as a fudge shop owner.\u00a0 The shop was fairly successful and eventually it became too much work for one person and he sold it.<\/p>\n In 1983 he was asked by Samford University to create an athletic department.\u00a0 He accepted the position of Vice President for Athletics.\u00a0 He did not enjoy this work and when his two year agreement was up, in 1985, he retired. \u00a0After retirement Paul Dietzel and his wife moved back to Baton Rouge.\u00a0 He spent his retirement painting and enjoying time with his wife, kids and grandkids. \u00a0Dietzel passed away on September 24, 2013 at the age of 89. He is survived by his wife Anne, daughter Kathie DuTremble, son Steve, and two grandchildren.<\/p>\n If you would like to know more about Paul Dietzel, his autobiography, Call Me Coach: A Life in College Football,<\/i>\u00a0is available at the Miami University library.<\/p>\n John Cooper With a heavy heart I write that Miami alumnus Paul Dietzel\u00a0(Class of ’48) has passed away. \u00a0The Walter Havighurst Special Collections at Miami University would like to commemorate Dietzel’s life and accomplishments. Paul Dietzel was born on September 5, 1924…<\/span><\/p>\n![\"Dietzel](\"http:\/\/spec.lib.miamioh.edu\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Paul-Dietzel-03-with-Sid-Gillman-1947-Recensio-Archives-228x300.jpg\")
![\"Dietzel](\"http:\/\/spec.lib.miamioh.edu\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/Paul-Dietzel-Statue-with-Wife-Anne-ICA-200x300.jpg\")
\nVisiting Librarian
\nWalter Havighurst Special Collecitons<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"