Mean Green Pioneer Hayden Fry Passes Away

Hayden Fry, former North Texas football coach and athletic director and a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and the North Texas Athletics Hall of Fame, passed away Tuesday with his family by his side. He was 90 years old.

Fry was head football coach at North Texas, SMU and Iowa, compiling a record of 232–178–10 and earning enshrinement in the College Football Hall of Fame. He is one of four coaches in UNT football history with a winning percentage over .600, and guided the Mean Green to one of its most famous victories, a 21-14 win over Tennessee in 1975. Fry also oversaw the implementation of one of North Texas' most iconic symbols: the Flying Worm logo North Texas teams bore during Fry's tenure as football coach and athletic director.

"Everyone who had the opportunity to be around Coach Fry knew just how special of a person he was," Vice President and Director of Athletics Wren Baker said. "He leaves a legacy that extends way beyond the game of football. He impacted lives at every stop in his career, including many at UNT and the entire Denton community. He coached his players to win football games, but more importantly to be successful in life. I feel privileged to have been able to meet and visit with him the past few years. I will cherish those moments I spent with Coach Fry. The prayers of all the Mean Green family is with the Fry family. He is a legend and will always be remembered at UNT."

Fry leaves a prodigious legacy. He had 232 career victories and coached at Iowa for two decades, more than twice as long as any of his predecessors. He led the Hawkeyes to 14 bowl games, three Big Ten titles and three Rose Bowl appearances. Thirteen of his former assistants went on to be head coaches, including Barry Alvarez and Bill Snyder who have already joined Fry in the Hall of Fame, others like Bob Stoops and Kirk Ferentz who are certain to follow, and Dan McCarney, who was head coach at North Texas. Fry and his disciples have amassed almost 1,400 victories.

Fry even inspired the lead character, Hayden Fox, in the television sitcom "Coach," which ran for nine seasons.

"We lost an incredible member of the coaching community with the passing of Coach Fry," head coach Seth Littrell said. "Our North Texas family is indebted for his contribution to this university and the game of football. He set a standard for success that will be hard to be repeated and his legacy will live on forever with the the Mean Green football program. I am saddened today, but forever grateful for his impact on me as a coach and a person."

John Hayden Fry was born in Eastland, Texas. His family tracked its Texas roots back to a great-great-grandfather who fought in the Texas War of Independence at the Battle of San Jacinto.

When Fry was eight, his family moved to Odessa. Fry played basketball and ran track, but his passion was football. With Fry playing quarterback, Odessa High won 14 straight games and won the Texas state high school championship in 1946.

Fry played collegiately at Baylor. He started a few games as an upperclassman but could never win the full-time starting quarterback job.

After graduating in 1951, Fry became a history teacher and assistant football coach at Odessa High School for a year. He also married HueLeita Zachary[1], who he met at Baylor. They had five children, sons Randy, Zach, Kelly and Adrian, and daughter Robin.

In 1952, Fry joined the Marines, serving until 1955. During his service, he coached a six-man football team, an experience that helped him develop innovative new creative schemes. Fry was discharged from the Marines in February 1955 with the rank of captain.

Fry returned to Odessa as teacher and assistant coach, then took over the head coaching duties at age 26. After three seasons, Fry was hired as an assistant at Baylor coaching defensive backs, overseeing a secondary that helped Baylor lead the nation in pass defense.

Continuing his coaching climb, Fry joined Frank Broyles' staff at Arkansas in 1961, and a year later Fry got his first college head coaching job, at SMU. Fry broke the color barrier at SMU and in the Southwest Conference in 1965 by recruiting Jerry LeVias, who became the first African-American scholarship athlete at SMU and in the league. Led by LeVias, SMU won the SWC championship in 1966.

Fry had three winning seasons in his 11 years with the Mustangs, SMU's only winning campaigns since the 1940s. But after a 7-4 mark in 1972 and a runnerup finish in the SWC, SMU fired Fry.

North Texas quickly hired Fry as its head coach and athletic director in 1973, and, in his first year, Fry's Eagles won the Missouri Valley Conference championship. Fry won 40 games at North Texas, the sweetest of which may have been a 24-13 victory over SMU in 1977 at Texas Stadium.

Fry's staff was one of the best in North Texas history, including offensive coordinator Bill Snyder, who would go on to become a legendary head coach at Kansas State; and Bill Brashier, who was a star player at North Texas before working as Fry's defensive coordinator through three decades at North Texas and Iowa.

During his years in Denton, Fry coached three of his sons. Kelly was a three-year letterwinner at North Texas, and Randy and Zach were two-year letterwinners.

Among the changes Fry brought to North Texas was a change from its traditional dark green to a bright lime green and the introduction of a new logo, a stylized eagle design that North Texas students nicknamed The Flying Worm. Under Fry, North Texas left the Missouri Valley and became independent, with the goal to join a more major conference. It was a move that would huge repercussions for North Texas and Fry.

The Mean Green flourished under Fry, going 40-23-1 and and posting a winning record in four of his six seasons. But North Texas never received a bowl invitation nor did it draw interest from a major conference, so Fry looked for a bigger stage.

"After getting rejected by the bowls four straight years, I was ready to listen," Fry said in his autobiography.[2]

His chance came after the 1978 season when Fry accepted the head coaching job at Iowa. The move would eventually set the stage for Fry to ascend to national prominence. North Texas football, without a conference, would struggle in the next four seasons before dropping down to Division I-AA for 12 years.

Fry's task in Iowa City was daunting. The Hawkeyes had struggled in the Big 10 and had not enjoyed a winning season since 1961. But Iowa had strong fan support, and, shed of athletic director duties, Fry turned his full attention to ending Iowa's 17-year skid of losing seasons.

"When it's football season, I'm all football," Fry once said.

The move to Iowa also coincided with a significant change in Fry's personal life. In January 1979, Fry and HueLeita divorced[3]. Later in 1979, Fry married Shirley Griffin, who he had met at a North Texas fundraiser[4]. She had two children, son Bryan and daughter Jayme.

In changing the culture at Iowa, Fry made good use of his psychology degree from Baylor. First, he updated the program's image. He hired a marketing firm to create Iowa's TigerHawk logo, which is still in use, and overhauled Iowa's uniforms in the image of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Next, he had his team hold hands as they took the field, a show of solidarity. And he had the visitor's locker room painted pink, a color used in jails and mental institutions to pacify occupants. Fry also hoped the gaudy color might distract opponents.

After posting losing records in his first two seasons, Fry's squad broke through in 1981. The Hawkeyes upset sixth-ranked Nebraska, to whom Iowa lost 57–0 the previous season; beat sixth-ranked UCLA for Fry's 100th career win; knocked off Michigan in Ann Arbor for their first victory over the Wolverines in 19 years; beat Purdue to end a 20-game losing streak to the Boilermakers; and capped the season with a win over Michigan State. After 19 straight losing seasons, Iowa finished with a winning record, earned its first bowl invitation in 23 years and garnered a share of the Big Ten championship.

A year later, Fry led Iowa to another winning season and its first bowl victory since 1959.

In 1984, the Hawkeyes played in the Freedom Bowl against Texas, Fry's first game against a Texas school since leaving the state in 1978. The Hawkeyes crushed the Longhorns, 55-17. A year later, Iowa rose to a No. 1 ranking in the AP national poll, defeated No. 2 Michigan, and won its first outright Big Ten title in 27 years.

In 1997, Fry was inducted into the North Texas Athletics Hall of Fame.

After 20 years at Iowa, Fry retired in 1998. He is one of only 23 Division I head coaches with 200 or more victories.

Honors poured in after Fry's retirement. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2003, alongside his former SMU star player Jerry LeVias. In 2005, the American Football Coaches Association awarded Fry the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award. In 2009, First Avenue in Iowa City, one of the main routes to Iowa's Kinnick Stadium, was renamed Hayden Fry Way.

In 2010, Fry was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame. In 2016, a statue of Fry was installed near Kinnick Stadium.

Iowa also honored the coach by naming its football complex after Fry. The Hayden Fry Football Complex includes Kinnick Stadium, the school's athletic center and practice facility.

[1] "Hayden Fry: A High Porch Picnic" by Hayden Fry with George Wine, Chapter Five, page 26
[2] "Hayden Fry: A High Porch Picnic" by Hayden Fry with George Wine, Chapter Fifteen, page 97
[3] "Hayden Fry: A High Porch Picnic" by Hayden Fry with George Wine, Chapter Sixteen, page 103
[4] "Hayden Fry: A High Porch Picnic" by Hayden Fry with George Wine, Chapter Sixteen, page 105

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Mean Green Pioneer Hayden Fry Passes Away

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