Conrad Eugene Van Gent (December 23, 1889 â June 12, 1949) was an American college football and college basketball player and coach. He served as the head football at the University of Texas at Austin in 1916, at the University Farm, now the University of California, Davis, in 1920, and at Stanford University in 1921, compiling a career college football head coaching record of 14âÂÂ8âÂÂ3. Van Gent was also the head basketball coach at the University of Missouri (1914âÂÂ1916), Texas (1916âÂÂ1917), and Stanford (1921âÂÂ1922), tallying a career college basketball head coaching mark of 42âÂÂ19. Van Gent played football and basketball, and ran track at the University of WisconsinâÂÂMadison. He was selected to the College Basketball All-American team in 1914.
During his two seasons as basketball head coach at the University of Missouri, from 1914 to 1916, Van Gent led to the Tigers to a 21âÂÂ9 overall record. The University of Texas hired Van Gent as both football and basketball head coach in 1916. He coached for one season in each sport before joining the military to fight in the World War I. In the 1916 college football season, Van Gent directed Texas to a 7âÂÂ2 overall record in football and a 6âÂÂ1 record in Southwest Conference play. As men's basketball head coach for the 1916âÂÂ17 season, he directed the Longhorns to a 13âÂÂ3 overall record (7âÂÂ1 in conference play) and their third consecutive Southwest Conference championship. In 1921, Van Gent coached the Stanford Cardinal football team, compiling a 4âÂÂ2âÂÂ2 record. Van Gent also coached Stanford's basketball team in 1921âÂÂ22. He fell ill with encephalitis lethargica in December 1922 and was hospitalized in San Francisco.