Thomas Eck

Not to be confused with Tom Eck, the first head coach of the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team.

Thomas Eck

Sport(s)	Football
Biographical details
Born	March 29, 1914
Died
Playing career
1935–1937	Colgate
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1945	Massachusetts State
1947–1951	UMass
1952–1955	Thornton Academy (ME)
Head coaching record
Overall	17–23–4 (college)
Statistics College Football Data Warehouse

Thomas Woodrow Eck (March 29, 1914 – June 21, 1988) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Massachusetts Amherst—known as Massachusetts State College until 1947—in 1945 and from 1947 to 1951, compiling a record of 17–23–4. Eck was the head coach when the Redmen, not known as the Minutemen until 1972, transitioned from independent status to their first official football conference, the Yankee Conference, in 1947.

Eck played college football for three years at Colgate University, from which he graduated in 1938. After coaching high school football in Massachusetts, he served as a special projects officer in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. From 1952 to 1955, he coached football at Thornton Academy in Saco, Maine, tallying a mark of 33–4–2 that featured a 24-game winning streak. His teams at Thornton won two Western Maine Conference titles and two State of Maine Class FFF titles.

Head coaching record

College

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs
Massachusetts State Aggies (Independent) (1945)
1945	Massachusetts State	2–1–1
UMass Redmen (Yankee Conference) (1947–1951)
1947	UMass	3–4–1	0–1–1
1948	UMass	3–4–1	2–0
1949	UMass	3–5	1–1
1950	UMass	3–5	1–1
1951	UMass	3–4–1	2–0
UMass:		17–23–4	6–3–1
Total:		17–23–4

See also

• List of college football head coaches with non-consecutive tenure

External links

• Thomas Eck at the College Football Data Warehouse