Bierman's five national championships rank him among the greatest college football coaches of all time, as only Nick Saban (7) and Bear Bryant (6) have won more.

[2] His family moved to Oklahoma when he was a baby, but returned to Minnesota, living in Waseca, Paynesville, Litchfield, and Minneapolis.

The family returned to Litchfield in 1908, and it was there that Bierman attended high school and played football, baseball, and track, before graduating in 1912.

[3] Bierman's high school athletic success is remarkable given his bout of osteomyelitis which confined him to crutches for 3 years as a boy.

[8] After completing his military service, he was hired in May 1919 as head football, basketball and track coach at the University of Montana.

[6] Bierman later recalled that he "couldn't shake my natural love" for football, and in the summer of 1923, he accepted an offer to become a part-time assistant coach at Tulane University under his Minnesota teammate Clark Shaughnessy.

[10] In April 1925, he was hired as head football coach and associate professor of physical education at Mississippi A&M.

In January 1932, Bierman was hired to replace Fritz Crisler as Minnesota's head football coach.

Bierman cited the 1934 victory over Pittsburgh as the "high spot" of the season in which the Golden Gophers "blossomed" into a great team.

[16] Bierman coached nine consensus All-Americans between 1934 and 1941: fullback Pug Lund, halfbacks George Franck and Bruce Smith, end Frank Larson, guard Bill Bevan, and tackles Ed Widseth, Dick Smith, Urban Odson, and Dick Wildung.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Bierman was ordered to report to active duty with the Marines in January 1942.

[19] In March 1942, he was named athletic director and head football coach of the Navy's new pre-flight training school at the University of Iowa.

[21] His order to report for sea duty was remanded, and he spent the summer and early fall of 1943 at Marine Corps base in San Diego.

[2] His teams ran a single-wing formation behind an unbalanced line, emphasizing a conservative running game with little use of the forward pass.

[6] Bierman died on March 7, 1977, at Saddle Community Hospital in Laguna Hills, California, after a long illness.