David George Puddington (July 9, 1928 – October 18, 2023) was an American football coach. He served as the head football coach at Washington University in St. Louis from 1962 to 1967 and at Kent State University from 1968 to 1970, compiling a career college football coaching record of 45–37–3. Puddington was a native of Canton, Ohio. He played football and basketball at Ohio Wesleyan University. After serving in the United States Navy, Puddington began his coaching career as an assistant to Jack Fouts at Fairmont High School in Kettering, Ohio. He was appointed head football coach there in 1958 and led his team to a 9–0 record and a seventh-place ranking among high schools in the state that season. In 1959, Puddington moved to Kent State, where he served as backfield coach under Trevor J. Rees for three seasons.

Puddington resigned as head coach at Kent State following the 1970 season, noting "the prevailing contagious negativism on campus and in the community". Four students had been killed that May in the Kent State shootings. Puddington returned to coaching for one season in 1977 at Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke, Virginia.

Dave Puddington

Following his coaching career, Puddington worked in fundraising and public relations for Ohio University, West Virginia Wesleyan College, Thomas Edison State University, and Morrisville State College. He and his wife, Jean, moved to Lowville, New York in 2009. Puddington died on October 18, 2023, at the home of his son, Jim, in Gainesville, Georgia. He was 95.

Dave Puddington

Head coaching record

College

References

1928 births

2023 deaths

American men's basketball players

American football centers

American football linebackers

Kent State Golden Flashes football coaches

Ohio University people

Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops football players

Ohio Wesleyan Battling Bishops men's basketball players

Washington University Bears football coaches

High school football coaches in Ohio

High school football coaches in Virginia

United States Navy officers

Coaches of American football from Ohio

Players of American football from Canton, Ohio

Basketball players from Canton, Ohio

Military personnel from Ohio

Dave Puddington