Longtime Edina Resident, Gophers Legend Murray Warmath Dies

Murray Warmath, who guided the University of Minnesota football team to a national title and two trips to the Rose Bowl, died March 16 at the age of 98.

Warmath resided for nearly 50 years in Edina. He died of natural causes as a resident at Friendship Village in Bloomington where he lived the last eight years of his life.

Warmath’s funeral was held March 21 at in Edina with a reception afterward at the .

His wife of 62 years, Mary Louis, and two children, son Bill and daughter Carol Dillow preceded him in death. A son, Murray Jr., a radiologist in San Diego, survives him.

Born and raised in Tennessee, Warmath played football at the University of Tennessee in the early to mid-1930s, later served as an assistant coach at his alma mater, then as an assistant at Mississippi State and Army.

While at Army from 1949-51, he served with the legendary Vince Lombardi on the staff coached by the famed Earl “Red” Blaik.

He was the head coach at Mississippi State in 1952 and 1953.

Warmath became head coach at the University of Minnesota for the start of the 1954 season and his first Golden Gopher team went 7-2.

Warmath’s 1957 team was considered a contender for the Big Ten title and a trip to the Rose Bowl on the heels of a previous season in which their record was 6-1-2. Although the ’57 team started out with three straight wins, it went on to lose five of its next six games to finish 4-5. The 1958 team won just one game and the 1959 team won only two games.

There were calls from the public for Warmath to be replaced. However, the U of M was willing to give him another season in that he had a lot of young talented players returning, plus an outstanding in-coming class who would eligible in 1960.

That team won the national championship, went to the Rose Bowl and Warmath was unanimous Coach of the Year.

The 1961 team was nearly as good and returned to the Rose Bowl where they beat UCLA 21-3.

John Hankinson played quarterback for Warmath in the early to mid-1960s following a stellar athletic career at Edina High School.

"On the surface, he was a gruff, hard-boiled guy who intimidated practically everyone," Hankinson recalled. "But underneath, he was warm and absolutely cared about you as a person and not just a football player.

"No coach was more disciplined and prepared than Murray," he recalled. "During the season and spring practice, we had quarterback meeting at 5:30 in the morning and I know that he often was in his office most nights until midnight looking at film and preparing for the next game."

Another large factor contributing to the sudden success of his teams was because Warmath began to actively recruit the growing number of outstanding black high school football players in the country. Segregation still ruled in the South and Southwest and many northern schools offered very few blacks the chance to play major collegiate football.

Warmath landed the likes of Sandy Stephens, Bobby Bell, Carl Eller, Bill Munsey and Judge Dickson in the late 1950s and they were integral to the Gophers’ success.

Warmath’s 1967 team shared the Big Ten title with Purdue and Indiana.

After he was done coaching following the 1971 season, Warmath stayed at the University as an assistant athletic director and did color commentary on the broadcasts of Gopher games from 1972 through 1977 on WCCO-AM. He then returned to coaching as a defensive line coach for Bud Grant and the Minnesota Vikings in 1978 and 1979, before serving as a scout for the Vikings until the mid-1990s.