Seventh-year head coach Tiny Thornhill led the team to a 1–7–1 record, which ultimately contributed to his relief at the end of the season.

He was replaced by Clark Shaughnessy, who surprised critics by leading the following year's team, largely made up of the same players, to the Rose Bowl.

[3] Before the season, the Stanford Board of Athletic Control retained Thornhill as head coach, despite opposition from some of the alumni base.

[5] Contemporary sources called the 1939 squad the worst football team to represent Stanford University in the history of the program.

[1] After the game, the United Press wrote, "Stanford, the worst team the West Coast has produced in years, pulled the day's gridiron surprise by walloping the strong Dartmouth eleven.