Don Nehlen, West Virginia University Head Football Coach, Papers, 1988/2021

Access and use

Location of collection:
West Virginia and Regional History Center
West Virginia & Regional History Center
West Virginia University
P.O. Box 6069
1549 University Avenue
Morgantown, WV 26506
Contact for questions and access:
POC: Lori Hostuttler
Phone: (304) 293-3536
Restrictions:

No special access restriction applies.

Researchers may access born digital materials by requesting to view the materials in person by appointment or remotely by contacting the West Virginia & Regional History Center reference department.

Researchers may access born digital materials by requesting to view the materials in person by appointment or remotely by contacting the West Virginia & Regional History Center reference department.

Terms of access:

Permission to publish or reproduce is required from the copyright holder. For more information, please see the Permissions and Copyright page on the West Virginia and Regional History Center website.

Preferred citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Don Nehlen, West Virginia University Head Football Coach, Papers, A&M 4312, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Summary

Extent:
1.7 Linear Feet 1 ft. 7 1/2 in. (3 document cases, 2 1/2 in. each); (1 index card box, 12 in.) and 4.29 Gigabytes 25 files, formats include .tif, .iso, and .rw2
Creator:
Nehlen, Don
Language:
English
Preferred citation:

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Don Nehlen, West Virginia University Head Football Coach, Papers, A&M 4312, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Background

Scope and content:

Papers of Donald Nehlen, Hall of Fame head football coach for the West Virginia University Mountaineers, 1980-2000. The collection includes correspondence, memorabilia, ephemera and the 2000 season Mountaineer offense playbook. There are also several reproductions, both digital and prints, of photographs from several events celebrating his career, and images of awards and honors presented to Coach Nehlen for his contribution to college football.

This series consists of photographs of awards given to Coach Nehlen, photos from the 1988 Walter Camp Awards, and Coach Nehlen's 2001 Tribute party among others.

Awards - Box 1 - Folder 1
1988 Walter Camp Awards - Box 1 - Folders 2-6
2001 Tribute party - Box 1 - Folders 7-22
"House That Don Built" collage - Box 1 - Folder 23
Note from Gaston Caperton - Box 1 - Folder 24
Photos of newspaper clippings - Box 1 - Folder 25
Photos of Don Nehlen's watch and ring collection - Box 1 - Folder 26

All of these photos have been digitized for preservation. For digital versions see Series 8. Digital Files.

Series consists of the playbook for the 2000 West Virginia University football team. Also includes material related to the 48th Annual National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame's Awards Dinner.

Box 2 - Folders 1-15

Series contains a Wikipedia article detailing the life of Don Nehlen.

Box 3 - Folder 1

Correspondence series includes retirement letters sent to Don Nehlen from various NCAA and NFL coaches and team owners, such as Pete Carroll, Bill Cowher, and Lou Holtz, among others. Also includes messages written for Coach Nehlen from his retirement party guestbook.

Box 3 - Folders 2-8

Comprised of notes/outlines written by Don Nehlen for various speeches regarding leadership, success, the importance of education, and religion, among other topics.

Box 3 - Folder 9

Contains one DVD from the 48th Annual National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame's Awards Dinner (box 3, folder 10); four awards that were digitized and returned to Nehlen; Photographs of Don and Cath Nehlen and Championship Rings, Watches, and Award; and Photographs of Framed Newspaper, Photograph, Signed Longhorn Football, and Letter.

The artifacts series contains one miniature football with one quarter panel depicting Jeff Hostetler and his signature.

Biographical / historical:

Don Nehlen was born January 1, 1936 in Mansfield, Ohio. He was a star athlete in high school and at Bowling Green State University. After college, Nehlen began coaching at Canton area high schools, moving on to assistant coach positions in college football before taking the head coaching job at Bowling Green in 1968 where he compiled a 53-35-4 record over nine years. In 1977, Bo Schembechler hired him as the quarterbacks coach at the University of Michigan. Two years later, West Virginia University named Don Nehlen as the Mountaineers' head coach. Over his 21 year career at WVU, 1980 to 2000, Don Nehlen compiled a 149-93-4 record which includes two perfect regular season records. He retired before the 2001 season with career record of 202 wins, at the time the 17th winningest college football coach in the history of the game. Don Nehlen was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2005.

Physical location:
West Virginia and Regional History Center / West Virginia University / 1549 University Avenue / P.O. Box 6069 / Morgantown, WV 26506-6069 / Phone: 304-293-3536 / URL: West Virginia & Regional History Center
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard