The Early Years

Born on October 6, 1881 in Knoxville, Tennessee, Saxton (Sax) Daryl Crawford Senior was an American college football player and later, head coach at the University of Tennessee.

He was a keen sportsman, having played baseball, tennis, football as well as running track during his time at high school. After graduating Culver School in Knoxville, he attended the University of Tennessee where he played as a quarterback for the Volunteers.

Having played for two seasons at the University of Tennessee, he moved onto the position of Head Coach at his alma mater straight after graduating from college.

Coaching History & Timeline

In 1904 he began his only season as Head Coach at the University of Tennessee.

The Volunteers went 3-5-1 under his leadership, and was a disappointing losing season. It can be said that more was expected from Crawford, especially as he had played for the Volunteers himself prior to coming on board as head coach.

In a similar fashion to previous Head Coach Hubert Fisher, Crawford had an all or nothing season, either winning games without losing a point or losing without scoring a point.

The opening game of the season was a 17-0 win against Maryville University. But, after a 0-0 tie the following week against Nashville, the Volunteers had five consecutive losses.

The losses gradually got worse starting with a narrow loss against Georgia Tech going 0-2, followed by a loss against Sewanee 0-12 and Vanderbilt 0-22.

Whilst the match on November 12 against Clemson was a 0-6 loss, the following game against Cincinnati was a bad loss, going 0-35 at League Park.

It was clearly a tough season for both the Volunteers and Crawford. It also meant that that they had to dig deep and remain positive after difficult losses, as it was almost six weeks before they even scored a point, let alone won a match.

Not that it was a great consolation, but their last two matches ended in victory, going 23-0 against Grant University and 5-0 against The University of Alabama in the final match of the season.

His record was 1-4-1 in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association (SIAA) Conference, and although he had a losing season, Crawford was credited as being Tennessee’s first ever Head Coach to lead his team to a win over the University of Alabama.

Alabama’s Crimson Tide were a force to be reckoned with, and the Volunteers were able to beat them 5-0 in their last game of the season. Not only were they able to beat one of their rivals, but do so without conceding any points. This was luckily the last game of the season, and Crawford’s last ever match as Head Coach, so Crawford was able to at least finish his career on a high.

Life After Coaching

There is little knowledge of Crawford’s life after he finished coaching at the University of Tennessee.

It’s understood that he became a businessman in the area and passed away in hospital in Birmingham, Alabama on February 11, 1964 at the age of 82.