John Bain "Jock" Sutherland (March 11, 1889–April 11, 1948) was a highly successful American football coach with both college and professional teams, and an inductee into the College Football Hall of Fame.

A native of Coupar Angus in Scotland, Sutherland got his start in football by playing end at the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) under legendary coach Glen S. "Pop" Warner. Sutherland was named an All-American, and played on Pitt's National Championship teams in 1915 and 1916.

Following his playing career, Sutherland graduated from the University of Pittsburgh's School of Dentistry, and held a professorship there in the instruction of bridge and crown. Sutherland also was head coach at Lafayette College from 1919 to 1923, leading the Leopards to the 1921 Eastern Collegiate Championship.

In 1924, Sutherland replaced Warner as head coach at Pitt. Sutherland, who was described as "a national hero" in a Saturday Evening Post article,^[1] became a highly admired and influential coach at the University while compiling a record of 111-20-12. During his tenure, Sutherland's teams were named Eastern football champions seven times including 1925, 1927, 1929, 1931, 1934, 1936, and 1937.^[2] During this time, Pitt appeared in four Rose Bowl games (1928, 1930, 1933, and 1937) and turned down a bid for the 1938 Rose Bowl.^[3] Sutherland's teams were named "National Champions" by various selectors for nine different seasons including 1925, 1927, 1929, 1931, 1933, 1934, 1936, 1937, and 1938.^[4][5] Of these, the University of Pittsburgh officially recognizes five of those years as national championship seasons (1929, 1931, 1934, 1936, and 1937),^[5] while one of them, 1937, includes the Associated Press national championship designation which, at the time, was only the third instance in which the AP poll had been published. Sutherland resigned in 1938 because the school's Chancellor, John Gabbert Bowman, instituted a program of de-emphasis for the football program. Bowman's moves, which resulted in Sutherland's departure, were controversial among students and supporters of the football program.^[6]

Sutherland later coached in the National Football League with the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He led the Steelers to their first playoff appearance in 1947.

Sutherland died suddenly of a brain tumor in Pittsburgh in 1948, and is interred in Pittsburgh's Homewood Cemetery.

Honors

Sutherland was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 as both a player and a coach.

He is memorialized on the Pitt campus with a street, Sutherland Drive, and the student residence Sutherland Hall .

External links

• Sutherland's Page at College Football Hall of Fame
• Satellite image from Google Maps showing Sutherland Drive and Sutherland Hall (building with red roof between University Drive and Allequippa Street)

References