A preacher in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Ganfield was hired to join the history faculty at Carroll in 1904 and stayed in Waukesha until 1915, when he was elected president of what is now Centre College.

There, he reversed decisions made by his predecessor, Frederick W. Hinitt, in order to restore the school's close connection with the church, leading to an increase in enrollment and a successful fundraiser.

Ganfield, who took office at Carroll directly after the school's first lay president, kept its ties to the church intact and maintained daily chapel attendance as a requirement of all students.

The church offered him the pastorate in full in February 1912; he declined, but agreed to remain on in an interim capacity until at least June of that year.

[13][14] He inherited a college with declining enrollment, partially as a result of decisions made by his predecessor, Frederick W. Hinitt, to sever formal ties with the Presbyterian Church for the first time.

[15] Those changes were made in order to gain Central admittance into the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, which required member schools be "non-sectarian", in 1908.

Ganfield recruited Charley Moran to take over as head coach starting in 1917, and the hiring of Texas high school football coach Robert L. Myers as athletic director meant that his star players Bo McMillin, Red Weaver, and Red Roberts joined him in Danville as members of the football team.

[24][25][26] The team's success and fame peaked as a result of their October 29, 1921, victory over Harvard, generally viewed as one of the largest upsets in college football history.

[27] This athletic success came at the price of declining academic standards; Centre was dropped from the Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of Southern States in 1920 and was not restored until 1923.

[29][30] He had been Carroll's first choice to replace Wilbur Oscar Carrier when he resigned the presidency in 1917, but Ganfield declined because he was less than two years into his term at Central.

[34] Shortly after returning to Carroll, Ganfield entered the Republican primary for Wisconsin's Class 1 U.S. Senate seat being contested in the 1922 elections.

[9] He remained involved in politics and was part of Wendell Willkie's platform committee during his run for president of the United States in 1940.

[39] A new gymnasium was constructed at Carroll starting in 1923, though a collapse of the steel framework in November of that year delayed its completion.

[47] Despite the economic hardship nationwide, Carroll experienced relative prosperity during this time; with tuition costs at $200 (equivalent to $4,000 in 2023) per student, the college finished with surpluses on multiple occasions, received a record number of applications, and maintained steady enrollment.

[49] Carroll's enrollment had reached 500 students by 1935, and that academic year also saw faculty salaries receive a slight increase.