Branch Bocock

Branch Bocock

Bocock pictured in Yackety Yack 1912, North Carolina yearbook
Biographical details
Born	(1884-03-10)March 10, 1884 Shenandoah, Virginia, U.S.
Died	May 25, 1946(1946-05-25) (aged 62) near Blackstone, Virginia, U.S.
Playing career
Football
1903–1906	Georgetown
Position(s)	Quarterback
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
Football
1908	Georgia
1909–1910	VPI
1911	North Carolina
1912–1915	VPI
1920–1921	LSU
1925–1926	South Carolina
1928–1930	William & Mary
1936–1938	William & Mary
Basketball
1909–1911	VPI
1913–1915	VPI
1920–1921	LSU
1924–1927	South Carolina
Baseball
1910–1911	VPI
1914	VPI
1922–1923	LSU
1925–1927	South Carolina
Administrative career (AD unless noted)
1909	VPI
1925–1926	South Carolina
Head coaching record
Overall	98–55–9 (football) 109–33 (basketball) 70–54–4 (baseball)
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
Football 2 Virginia Conference (1929–1930) Basketball 1 SoCon regular season (1927)

James Branch Bocock (March 10, 1884 – May 25, 1946) was an American college football, college basketball, and college baseball coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of Georgia (1908), Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute (VPI)—now known as Virginia Tech (1909–1910, 1912–1915), the University of North Carolina (1911), Louisiana State University (1920–1921), the University of South Carolina (1925–1926), and The College of William & Mary (1928–1930, 1936–1938), compiling a career college football head coaching record of 98–55–9. Bocock was also the head basketball coach at VPI (1909–1911, 1913–1915), LSU (1920–1921), and South Carolina (1924–1927), tallying a career college basketball head coaching mark of 109–33, and the head baseball coach at VPI (1910–1911, 1914), LSU (1922–1923), and South Carolina (1925–1927), amassing a career college baseball head coaching record of 70–54–2.

Early years

Bocock was a quarterback for the Georgetown Hoyas.

Coaching career

Although official records give Bocock credit only for coaching the Georgia Bulldogs football team in 1908, he also coached the last three games of Georgia's 1907 season. In 1907, Georgia head football coach Bull Whitney was caught in a controversy over the revelation that there were at least four paid professionals on the Georgia and Georgia Tech teams during the game played that year. As a result, Georgia removed all known ringers from its team and Whitney was forced to resign, handing the coaching duties over to Bocock for the last three games. Georgia was 2–1 in those three games.

At VPI, Bocock was the team's first true professional coach and the first head football coach to receive a full-time salary.

Later life

Bocock died at the age of 62 on May 25, 1946, at his home near Blackstone, Virginia.

Head coaching record

Football

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs
Georgia Bulldogs (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1908)
1908	Georgia	5–2–1	3–2–1	6th
Georgia:		5–2–1	3–2–1
VPI (Independent) (1909–1910)
1909	VPI	6–1
1910	VPI	6–2
North Carolina Tar Heels (Independent) (1911)
1911	North Carolina	6–1–1
North Carolina:		6–1–1
VPI Gobblers (South Atlantic Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1912–1915)
1912	VPI	5–4
1913	VPI	7–1–1
1914	VPI	6–2–1
1915	VPI	4–4
VPI:		34–14–2
LSU Tigers (Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association) (1920–1921)
1920	LSU	5–3–1	1–3
1921	LSU	6–1–1	2–1–1
LSU:		11–4–2	3–4–1
South Carolina Gamecocks (Southern Conference) (1925–1926)
1925	South Carolina	7–3	2–2	T–10th
1926	South Carolina	6–4	4–2	T–4th
South Carolina:		13–7	6–4
William & Mary Indians (Virginia Conference) (1928–1930)
1928	William & Mary	6–3–2	5–1	2nd
1929	William & Mary	8–2	5–0	1st
1930	William & Mary	7–2–1	5–0	1st
William & Mary Indians (Southern Conference) (1936–1938)
1936	William & Mary	1–8	0–5	16th
1937	William & Mary	4–5	1–3	13th
1938	William & Mary	3–7	0–4	15th
William & Mary:		29–27–3	16–13
Total:		98–55–9
National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth

Basketball

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
VPI (Independent) (1909–1911)
1909–10	VPI	11–0
1910–11	VPI	11–1
VPI Gobblers (Independent) (1913–1916)
1913–14	VPI	14–5
1914–15	VPI	9–4
1915–16	VPI	12–3
VPI:		57–13 (.814)
LSU Tigers (Southern Conference) (1920–1921)
1920–21	LSU	19–4	5–2
LSU:		19–4 (.826)	5–2 (.714)
South Carolina Gamecocks (Southern Conference) (1924–1927)
1924–25	South Carolina	10–7	4–2
1925–26	South Carolina	9–5	4–2
1926–27	South Carolina	14–4	9–1	1st
South Carolina:		33–16 (.673)	17–5 (.773)
Total:		109–33 (.768)
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

Baseball

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
VPI (Southern Conference) (1910–1911)
1910	VPI
1911	VPI
VPI Gobblers (Southern Conference) (1914)
1914	VPI	15–4–1
VPI:		38–18–2 (.672)
LSU Tigers (Southern Conference) (1922–1923)
1922	LSU	7–6
1923	LSU	8–9–2
LSU:		15–15–2 (.500)
South Carolina Gamecocks (Southern Conference) (1925–1927)
1925	South Carolina	4–9
1926	South Carolina	6–4
1927	South Carolina	7–8
South Carolina:		17–21 (.447)
Total:		70–54–4 (.563)

See also

• List of college football head coaches with non-consecutive tenure

Further reading

• Reed, Thomas Walter (1949). Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press. History of the University of Georgia; Chapter XVII: Athletics at the University from the Beginning Through 1947 imprint pages 3493