Don Nehlen, West Virginia University Head Football Coach, Papers

Access and use

Location of collection:
West Virginia and Regional History Center
West Virginia & Regional History Center
West Virginia University
P.O. Box 6069
1549 University Avenue
Morgantown, WV 26506
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Lori Hostuttler
Phone: (304) 293-3536
Restrictions:

No special access restriction applies.

Researchers may access born digital materials by requesting to view the materials in person by appointment or remotely by contacting the West Virginia & Regional History Center reference department at https://westvirginia.libanswers.com/wvrhc.

Terms of access:

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Preferred citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Don Nehlen, West Virginia University Head Football Coach, Papers, A&M 4312, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Summary

Extent:
1.7 Linear Feet 1 ft. 7 1/2 in. (3 document cases, 2 1/2 in. each); (1 index card box, 12 in.) and 4.29 Gigabytes 25 files, formats include .tif, .iso, and .rw2
Creator:
Nehlen, Don
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Don Nehlen, West Virginia University Head Football Coach, Papers, A&M 4312, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Background

Scope and content:

Papers of Donald Nehlen, Hall of Fame head football coach for the West Virginia University Mountaineers, 1980-2000. The collection includes correspondence, memorabilia, ephemera and the 2000 season Mountaineer offense playbook. There are also several reproductions, both digital and prints, of photographs from several events celebrating his career, and images of awards and honors presented to Coach Nehlen for his contribution to college football.

Biographical / historical:

Don Nehlen was born January 1, 1936 in Mansfield, Ohio. He was a star athlete in high school and at Bowling Green State University. After college, Nehlen began coaching at Canton area high schools, moving on to assistant coach positions in college football before taking the head coaching job at Bowling Green in 1968 where he compiled a 53-35-4 record over nine years. In 1977, Bo Schembechler hired him as the quarterbacks coach at the University of Michigan. Two years later, West Virginia University named Don Nehlen as the Mountaineers' head coach. Over his 21 year career at WVU, 1980 to 2000, Don Nehlen compiled a 149-93-4 record which includes two perfect regular season records. He retired before the 2001 season with career record of 202 wins, at the time the 17th winningest college football coach in the history of the game. Don Nehlen was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2005.

Physical location:
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: https://wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu/
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard