Tuffy Knight

Who is Tuffy Knight?

David "Tuffy" Knight is a former coach of Canadian university football and a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.

Knight was a high school football, track, and basketball coach in Southeastern Ohio who moved to Canada in 1965 to become head coach of the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks in Waterloo, Ontario. He coached the Hawks until 1983. Knight then joined the Toronto Argonauts as director of player personnel, returning to Waterloo in 1988 to coach Laurier's cross-town rivals at the University of Waterloo. At the time, the Waterloo Warriors hadn't won a game since 1985. He missed the entire 1988 season after suffering a mild heart attack, and the Warriors had an 0-7 season in his absence. Knight came back to be Canadian university football coach of the year in 1989. He coached the Warriors to the Yates Cup provincial title in 1997 and then retired. Knight came out of retirement in 2000 to be an assistant coach for the Golden Hawks, working three seasons under head coach Rick Zmich.

Knight won four Yates Cups over his career as head coach. At the time of his retirement, he was the winningest coach in Canadian university football history with 153 career wins. He was a three-time winner of the Frank Tindall Trophy as the top university football coach in Canada. Knight was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2007.