Mike Nixon

For the Canadian politician, see Mike Nixon (politician).

Michael Regis Nixon (November 21, 1911 – September 22, 2000) was an American football player, coach and scout. His most prominent positions were as head coach of the National Football League (NFL)'s Washington Redskins and Pittsburgh Steelers.

Mike Nixon

No. 12, 30
Born:	(1911-11-21)November 21, 1911 Masontown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died:	September 22, 2000(2000-09-22) (aged 88) Schaumburg, Illinois, U.S.
Career information
Position(s)	Halfback
Height	5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight	181 lb (82 kg)
College	Pittsburgh
Career history
As coach
1936–1939	Pittsburgh Steelers (assistant)
1940–1941	West Virginia (assistant)
1946-1951	Pittsburgh Steelers (assistant)
1952–1953	Chicago Cardinals (assistant)
1954–1958	Washington Redskins (assistant)
1959–1960	Washington Redskins
1961–1964	Pittsburgh Steelers (assistant)
1965	Pittsburgh Steelers
1966–1968	Philadelphia Eagles (assistant)
As player
1935	Pittsburgh Pirates
1942	Brooklyn Dodgers
As scout
1969 – c. 1981	Cleveland Browns
Career stats
Playing stats at NFL.com Coaching stats at Pro Football Reference
Military career
Allegiance	United States
Service / branch	U.S. Navy
Years of service	1943–1946
Rank	Lieutenant
Battles / wars	World War II

Early life

The son of an immigrant coal miner, Mike was born and raised in the Pittsburgh area community of Masontown, Pennsylvania, and attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he played three seasons under the legendary Jock Sutherland, including action in the 1933 Rose Bowl. At Pitt, he won All-America recognition as a running back, while also working summers in the same coal mines as his father. He then advanced to the NFL, but played just one season with the Steelers in 1935 before entering the coaching fraternity at his alma mater the next year.

During this same period, he also played third base in minor league baseball's Southern Association, while seeking other coaching opportunities. When Sutherland resigned on March 6, 1939, Nixon stayed on for a year before joining Bill Kern's staff at West Virginia University.

Professional coaching career

Nixon departed after two seasons to return to the professional level as an assistant with the NFL's Brooklyn Dodgers. With player shortages beginning that year due to World War II, Nixon briefly resumed his playing career by signing a contract with the team on November 19, 1942. Nixon himself eventually left to serve as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy for three years, but returned in 1946 as a Steelers assistant under his former coach Sutherland.

He stayed in that role for the next six seasons, but left on June 3, 1952, to join Joe Kuharich, who had been named head coach with the Chicago Cardinals. Kuharich's tenure with the team was brief, but when he was named as head coach of the Redskins after the 1953 NFL season, Nixon followed him to the nation's capital.

Kuharich's five-year tenure in Washington was only slightly better than his Cardinals stint, with the mentor leaving for the head coaching position at the University of Notre Dame following the conclusion of the 1958 NFL season. On December 22 of that year, Nixon earned his first head coaching position when he was promoted by Redskins' owner George Preston Marshall.

The next two years would be miserable for Nixon, who watched his team compile a record of 4–18–2, predictably resulting in his dismissal after the 1960 NFL season had ended. After seeking another head coaching job, Nixon settled for an assistant's role on February 11, 1961, back with the Steelers under Buddy Parker. After a 6-8 campaign in his first year, the team improved to a 9–5 record the following year, and was one game away from winning the Eastern Conference title in 1963. However, by the time the next season started, age and injuries had caught up with the Steelers. Two weeks before the start of the 1965 NFL season, Parker abruptly quit. Nixon was promoted to head coach the next day, but endured (up to that time) the franchise's worst season with a 2–12 mark.

Nixon was fired after the season ended, but found work a few months later, again with Kuharich, now the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles. Following a 9–5 season in 1966, the team won three fewer games the following year, then bottomed out with a 2–12 mark in 1968. Once again, Nixon was looking for work after Kuharich was dismissed after the arrival of new owner Leonard Tose.

On July 1, 1969, Nixon was signed as a scout for the Cleveland Browns, spending his first season looking only at teams in the American Football League. The strategy was for Nixon to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of the teams that would be facing the Browns after they changed leagues because the AFL–NFL merger. In subsequent years, Nixon focused on college scouting, becoming the team's director of college scouting on February 20, 1974. He kept that role until his retirement in the early 1980s.

Nixon died in 2000 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.