Howard Baughman

Howard Wesley Baughman (January 27, 1911 – November 17, 2000) was an American football coach who was a high school football coach in Ohio and spent two seasons as the head football coach at Muhlenberg College.

Early life Baughman grew up in Ashtabula, Ohio. He was a three-sport letter winner at Ashtabula High School and was All-Lake Shore League in football and basketball. He played football, baseball, and basketball for the Kent State Golden Flashes and graduated from Kent State University in 1938.

In 1944, Baughman became the head football coach at Cleveland Heights High School. He also coached the John Carroll University men's basketball team during the 1946–47 season.

In 1949, Baughman was named head coach of the Muhlenberg Mules football team. He succeeded Ben Schwartzwalder, who took the head coaching job at Syracuse University. Muhlenberg went 4–11–2 in its two seasons under Baughman. One of his players, Sisto Averno, went on to play in the National Football League.

In 1951, Baughman returned to high school football at Lincoln High School in Canton, Ohio. Four years later, citing his desire to no longer play "second fiddle" to Canton McKinley High School, he took the head coaching job at Portsmouth High School in Portsmouth, Ohio. The move reunited him with H. W. McKelvey, Portsmouth's superintendent who was principal of Harvey High School when Baughman coached there. Baughman posted only two winning seasons at PHS (6–3 in 1957 and 7–2 in 1958) and when his contract was up for renewal in 1961, many opponents and supporters appeared before the school board, which ultimately decided to give him a two-year extension. Portsmouth finished 1961 with a 3–7 record and Baughman was hanged in effigy several times during the season. He resigned at the conclusion of the school year to take a teaching position at Mentor High School.

Personal life On December 31, 1933, Baughman married Julia Cooper in Ashtabula. They had two daughters. Julia Baughman died on October 31, 1996, in Cincinnati. Baughman died four years later.