Former Vanderbilt football coach Fred Pancoast dead at 90

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Former college football and Vanderbilt football head coach Fred Pancoast died in Nashville on Easter Sunday at the age of 90.

Pancoast coached the Commodores from 1975-78. His debut team not only had his best record there at 7-4 but also was able to beat in-state rival Tennessee, Virginia, Kentucky and Army to end the season.

Before he began his coaching career in 1962, Pancoast served in the U.S. Marine Corps. A brief look at his collegiate coaching career:

• Head coach at the University of Tampa
• Offensive backfield coach and eventually the offensive coordinator at the University of Florida
• Offensive coordinator at the University of Georgia
• Head coach at the University of Memphis (formerly Memphis State)
• Head coach at Vanderbilt

A career that spanned nearly two decades came to an end in 1978 when he retired from coaching college football. He was able to have professional success outside of football building Pancoast Benefits which was an employee benefits marketing and consulting firm.

He was awarded the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 and the Middle Tennessee Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame “Fred Russell Distinguished American Award” in 2011.

His life will be honored at Christ the King Catholic Church on Friday, April 14 with a visitation at 9:15 a.m. and a funeral Mass to follow at 11 a.m. The family requests that donations be made to Room In the Inn in lieu of flowers.

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