Texas Football: 5 worst coaching hires in Longhorns history

2. Jack Chevigny (1934-1936)

Record: 13-14-2 (.483 winning percentage)

The three-year tenure of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish legend Jack Chevigny as Texas’ head coach in the mid-1930s was a time to forget in his coaching and playing days in college football. That’s not to say that there wasn’t a lot of optimism regarding the hiring of Chevigny ahead of the 1934 campaign in Austin, though.

Chevigny was an assistant coach under legendary head coach Knute Rockne at Notre Dame in the late 1920s and early 1930s. But he left Notre Dame after the tragic plane crash that took Rockne’s life in 1931.

The first college head coaching position Chevigny held was at St. Edwards in the Austin area in 1933, where he posted a solid record of 7-2-0. He would then be hired to replace Clyde Littlefield in 1934.

Chevigny did get off to a pretty good start as the Longhorns’ head coach during the 1934 season. Texas posted a record of 7-2-1 in 1934, which included wins over its three biggest rivals. If convincing wins over the Arkansas Razorbacks, Oklahoma, and Texas A&M weren’t enough, Texas was able to come up with its first and only win ever against Notre Dame in South Bend.

But the next two seasons were much less fortunate for Chevigny and the Longhorns. Texas struggled in 1935 and 1936, posting a combined record of 7-13-1. Chevigny resigned from his post as Texas’ head coach in 1937 after he was appointed as the Deputy Attorney General of Texas.

Chevigny’s tenure concluded with him posting the second-worst winning percentage of any Texas head coach in program history.