The Founding Years 1900–1928
Seven head coaches in the fourteen seasons Wheaton played between 1914 and 1928, none of them for more than three years running. The record opens with two isolated games — a loss in 1900 and another in 1912 — before Jasper Turnbull put a standing team on the field in 1914. There was no season at all in 1918, and the 1917 squad played without a head coach. Robert Woodruff's 6–2 in 1921 and Jack Conley's 6–2 the year after were the high water marks of a program still deciding whether it was one.
Wheaton football in these years was a student enterprise with a faculty member attached. Coaches arrived and left in ones and twos, schedules were assembled out of whatever academies, YMCA squads and normal schools would take a date, and the program went dark entirely in 1918 with the campus given over to the war. Ed Coray, who closed the era with three seasons on the sideline, would outlast all of it — he became Wheaton's athletic director and held the job until 1950, when he handed it to a former player of his named Harve Chrouser.
Head Coaches
7 coaches across 16 seasons| Coach | Years | Seasons | Record | Pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jasper Turnbull | 1914–1915 | 2 | 6-8 | .429 |
| Bob Robinson | 1916 | 1 | 1-5 | .167 |
| Rex Gary | 1919–1920 | 2 | 6-6 | .500 |
| Robert Woodruff | 1921 | 1 | 6-2 | .750 |
| Jack Conley | 1922–1924 | 3 | 12-8-2 | .591 |
| Dave Gillespie | 1925 | 1 | 1-7 | .125 |
| Ed Coray | 1926–1928 | 3 | 5-14-3 | .295 |
Season by Season
1900–1928| Year | Record | CCIW | Honors | Coach |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1900 | 0-1-0 | |||
| 1912 | 0-1-0 | |||
| 1914 | 1-6 | Jasper Turnbull | ||
| 1915 | 5-2 | Jasper Turnbull | ||
| 1916 | 1-5 | Bob Robinson | ||
| 1917 | 2-4 | No Coach | ||
| 1918 | No season | |||
| 1919 | 2-3 | Rex Gary | ||
| 1920 | 4-3 | Rex Gary | ||
| 1921 | 6-2 | Robert Woodruff | ||
| 1922 | 6-2 | Jack Conley | ||
| 1923 | 2-3-2 | Jack Conley | ||
| 1924 | 4-3 | Jack Conley | ||
| 1925 | 1-7 | Dave Gillespie | ||
| 1926 | 0-6-1 | Ed Coray | ||
| 1927 | 2-4-1 | Ed Coray | ||
| 1928 | 3-4-1 | Ed Coray | ||
Turning Points
- 1914Jasper Turnbull fields the first continuous Wheaton team, going 1–6.
- 1915Turnbull’s second squad goes 5–2, the program’s first winning season.
- 1918No team. The season is lost to the First World War and the influenza epidemic.
- 1921Robert Woodruff goes 6–2 in his only year, the best record of the era.
- 1926Ed Coray takes over; he will run Wheaton athletics as director until 1950.