Bob Commings (December 24, 1932 – February 20, 1992) was a college football player and coach at the University of Iowa. He was also a high school football coach for 24 years in the state of Ohio.
Early life and playing career
Commings was born on Christmas Eve at the height of the Great Depression. He grew up in Ohio and played high school football at Youngstown's East High School. After graduating from high school in 1952, he enrolled at the University of Iowa. Commings spent his first two years at Iowa, lettering as a sophomore in 1953. That season, Coach Forest Evashevski's Hawkeyes finished the year ranked ninth in the nation in the final AP Poll.
With the Korean War raging abroad, Commings signed up with the Marine Corps, serving for two years before returning to Iowa. He played his junior season in 1956 on the offensive and defensive lines. That Iowa team won the Big Ten Conference title, and Commings started in the 1957 Rose Bowl for the Hawkeyes, helping Iowa to a 35–19 victory.
As a senior in 1957, Commings helped Iowa to a 7–1–1 record and a number six ranking in the final AP Poll. He was good friends with fellow lineman Alex Karras, who later had success as a professional athlete and actor. Though Karras won the 1957 Outland Trophy, it was Bob Commings at the end of the year that was voted as Iowa's 1957 MVP. In his three years at Iowa, Commings helped the Hawkeyes to a 21–5–1 record, and Iowa finished the year ranked in the top ten of the AP poll in each of his three years as a Hawkeye player.
Early coaching career
Commings was an assistant coach at Iowa for two seasons in 1958 and 1959 before leaving to become a high school coach in Ohio. He coached Struthers High School in Struthers, Ohio, for seven seasons from 1962–1968, compiling a 50–16–4 record. Commings then took over at Massillon Washington High School in Massillon, Ohio.
In five seasons from 1969–1973, Commings' teams had a combined 43–6–2 record. His 1970 Massillon team had an undefeated 10–0 record, outscoring their opponents 412–29 and winning a state poll championship. His 1971 team lost two games by one point each but outscored their other eight opponents 287–18. His 1972 team took a 10–0 record to the first Ohio state playoffs before losing. His 1973 team was unbeaten before dropping its season finale to archrival Canton McKinley. The 21–0 loss to the Bulldogs was his worst loss in five years at Massillon.
Iowa coaching career
In 1974, Iowa football was in the midst of an extended slump, having not had a winning season since 1961. The school had just fired their previous coach, Frank Lauterbur, for having a 4–28–1 record over three years, and Iowa was gaining a reputation as a coaching graveyard, and many wondered if any coach could win at Iowa.
Commings let it be known that he wanted the job badly, and he even came to Iowa to campaign for it. At one of these rallies, Commings told reporters, "I feel I can win at Iowa. Obviously, it's going to take football players, but I don't feel anybody has a better rapport with the high school players than me. We have always had a very sophisticated football program at Massillon. My coaching staff (nine men) is larger than at most colleges."
Commings appealed to Iowa fans, because he had a Hawkeye background as a player and assistant coach during the Rose Bowl years. Though he had never coached at the college level, he had had tremendous success coaching high school football in Ohio, a state known as a hotbed for football talent. Finally, his enthusiasm for the job was evident. Commings stated that the Iowa job was the only college job he would ever want, and he offered to work with a one-year contract if necessary. If he did not deliver on his promise to win at Iowa, he could be let go after just one year. Commings said, "All I want is the job. If they had told me I had to pick corn in the off-season to get the job, I'd have done it." Iowa athletic director Bump Elliott took Bob Commings up on his challenge, making him the 23rd head coach in the history of Iowa football by signing him to a one-year contract for the 1974 season. He was the third Iowa graduate to take the reins as Iowa's head football coach, joining John G. Griffith in 1909 and Leonard Raffensperger in 1950–1951.