Merle Edwin Wagoner (April 15, 1894 â August 18, 1971) was an American football, basketball, baseball, track, and tennis coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Kent State CollegeâÂÂnow known as Kent State Universityâ from 1925 to 1932, compiling a record of 15âÂÂ33âÂÂ9. Wagoner was the head basketball coach at Kent State from 1925 to 1933, tallying a mark of 43âÂÂ81, and the school's head baseball coach from 1926 to 1933, amassing a record of 27âÂÂ34. He was the Kent State's athletic director from 1925 to 1933 and also coached track and tennis there.
Wagoner was born in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania and attended Mercersburg Academy in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. He died of an apparent heart attack on August 18, 1971, at St. Joseph Hospital in Phoenix, Arizona.