Billy Tohill
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 5, 1939 Batesville, Mississippi |
| Died | April 11, 2000 (aged 61) Hoover, Alabama |
| Alma mater | Mississippi State University |
| Playing career | |
| 1958–1960 | Mississippi State |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1961–1965 | Mississippi State (assistant) |
| 1966–1970 | Tulane (assistant) |
| 1971 | TCU (assistant) |
| 1971–1973 | TCU |
| 1974 | Birmingham Americans (DB) |
| 1975 | Birmingham Vulcans (DB) |
| 1980–1981 | Hueytown HS (AL) (assistant) |
| 1982–1990 | Pelham HS (AL) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 11–15 |
Billy Tohill (April 5, 1939 – April 11, 2000)[1] was an American football player and coach. He served as head coach at Texas Christian University (TCU) from 1971 to 1973.[2][3]
A native of Batesville, Mississippi, Tohill played at Mississippi State University from 1958 to 1960, where he was awarded letters in 1959 and 1960.[2] He served as an assistant at TCU before taking over as head coach for Jim Pittman, who died midway through the 1971 season.[4][5] Seventeen months after replacing Pittman, Tohill had a serious automobile accident that nearly killed him and left him with a prosthetic foot.[4][5] Tohill compiled an 11–15 record overall at TCU. He was fired after the 1973 season. In 1974, Tohill became part of the recruiting team and the coach of the defensive backs[6] for the Birmingham Americans of the World Football League (WFL).[7] One of his final coaching jobs was at Pelham High School in Alabama, where in 1986 he coached the Panthers in their first winning season ever. Tohill lives in Hoover, Alabama.[2]
Current Clemson University head football coach, Dabo Swinney, played high school football for Tohill at Pelham High School. Swinney went on to play for the 1992 national championship team at the University of Alabama under coach Gene Stallings and later coached as an assistant at Alabama.
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TCU Horned Frogs (Southwest Conference) (1971–1973) | |||||||||
| 1971 | TCU | 3–1[n 1] | 3–1[n 1] | 3rd | |||||
| 1972 | TCU | 5–6 | 2–5 | T–7th | |||||
| 1973 | TCU | 3–8 | 1–6 | 7th | |||||
| TCU: | 11–15 | 6–7 | |||||||
| Total: | 11–15 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Notes
- ^ a b Jim Pittman coached the first seven games of the season before he died on October 30, 1971. Pittman led TCU to an overall record of 3–3–1 with a conference mark of 2–1. TCU finished 6–4–1 overall and 5–2 in conference for the season.
References
- ^ "Social Security Death Index: Billy Tohill (1939–2000)". mocavo.com. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
- ^ a b c "Lost Lettermen-Billy Tohill". Lost Lettermen. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
- ^ "Billy Tohill". Sports-Reference. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
- ^ a b Sherrington, Kevin (18 September 2010). "TCU's tradition was tragedy". Dallas Morning News Sports Day. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
- ^ a b Jenkins, Dan (5 August 2008). "Purple Reign". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
- ^ "World Foodball League 1974 WFL Teams". World Football League Website. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
- ^ "Birmingham Americans-1974". HelmetHut. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
External links
 | This biographical article relating to a college football coach first appointed in the 1970s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- 1939 births
- 2000 deaths
- Mississippi State Bulldogs football coaches
- Mississippi State Bulldogs football players
- TCU Horned Frogs football coaches
- Tulane Green Wave football coaches
- Birmingham Americans coaches
- High school football coaches in the United States
- People from Batesville, Mississippi
- Players of American football from Mississippi
- College football coaches first appointed in the 1970s stubs