Bill Doolittle

Who is Bill Doolittle?

Francis William "Bill" Doolittle is a former American football player and coach in the United States. Doolittle attended high school in Mansfield, Ohio where he was selected as an all-state quarterback in his senior year. He enrolled at Ohio State University in 1941. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1943, served 53 months in the military and earned a Bronze Star for his service in the Pacific Theater before returning to Ohio State. He played college football as quarterback for the Ohio State Buckeyes football team in 1946 and 1947.

He began his coaching career in 1948 at Grandview High School in Columbus, Ohio. From 1949 to 1950, he was the backfield coach at Brown University, where he was Joe Paterno's position coach. He was an assistant football coach at Lincoln High School in Canton, Ohio in 1951 and head coach at Owosso High School in Owosso, Michigan in 1952–53, where his record was 6–12.

He later coached at Flint Central High School from 1954 to 1959, compiling a record of 37–14–3 at the school and leading his team to the Class A state championship in 1958. He returned to his alma mater, Mansfield High School, as the head football coach in 1960 and 1961, where his teams went 12–6–2.