J. Burton Rix
John Burton Rix was an American football and basketball player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Austin College, Southwestern University, Southern Methodist University, the University of Miami, compiling a career college football head coaching record of 39–34–11. Rix was also the head basketball coach at the Texas at Austin and at Southern Methodist, tallying a career college basketball coaching mark of 29–37.
Early life and education
Rix was born on March 24, 1882, in Cincinnati.He attended Dartmouth College, where he played on the football team as a halfback in 1905. He served as the basketball team captain for the 1903–04 and 1904–05 seasons.
Rix graduated from Dartmouth with an A.B. degree in 1906. He was a member of Pi chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity and the Casque and Gauntlet.
In 1910, he was also an English instructor at Austin College.
Coaching career
University of Texas
In 1912, Rix became the head basketball coach at Texas, replacing W. E. Metzenthin, who had moved into the position of athletic director. Rix served in that capacity for one season and without pay. According to the student yearbook, the Cactus, he "took hold of the squad when it found itself without a leader and quickly demonstrated his ability to transform it into a quintet that was as good as any in the state."At Texas, he also served as an assistant football coach under Dave Allerdice from 1911 through 1913.
After a 30–7 loss to Notre Dame in 1913, Rix wrote in The Alcalde, "I was asked to criticize the playing of our team in this game. Had we won I should perhaps have been willing to do so. As it is, there is no necessity for it, for our men themselves, you may be assured, are criticizing themselves with a self-analysis, and sincerity and effectiveness that will do more for the development of football in Texas than a whole season of ordinary games."