Dick Strahm, the legendary football coach who turned the University of Findlay into a small-college powerhouse and earned a place in the College Football Hall of Fame, has died. He passed away on June 9, 2026, at the age of 92.
Born in Toledo, Ohio, on February 23, 1934, Strahm built a coaching life that became synonymous with the city of Findlay. Before taking over the Oilers, he sharpened his craft as an assistant, serving as defensive coordinator at Toledo from 1970 to 1972 and as an assistant at Kansas State in 1973 and 1974. But it was the head job at Findlay, which he held from 1975 to 1998, that would define his career and his legacy.
The numbers tell part of the story. Across 24 seasons, Strahm compiled a remarkable record of 183 wins, 64 losses, and 5 ties. His teams captured four NAIA national championships, in 1979, 1992, 1995, and 1997, the last of those capping a perfect 14-0 season. He was named NAIA Division II Coach of the Year twice, in 1979 and 1995, and NAIA Coach of the Year in 1997. Along the way his Oilers piled up eight Hoosier-Buckeye Conference crowns and three straight Midwest League titles from 1995 to 1997.
His first season was humble, a 2-8 campaign in 1975. What followed was a steady, relentless climb that transformed the program. By the late 1970s Findlay was playing for national titles, and Strahm would keep the Oilers in the championship hunt for the better part of two decades, a stretch of sustained excellence rare at any level of the sport.
In 2004, Strahm was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, a fitting recognition of all he had accomplished. His story was preserved in his biography, Just Call Me Coach, written by John Grindrod of Lima, Ohio, and released in December 2008. In 2023, the University of Findlay announced plans to build an athletic facility in his honor, ensuring his name would remain part of the campus he served for so long.
More than the trophies and the record, Strahm leaves behind generations of players he coached and a community that came to regard him as one of its own. In announcing his death, the University of Findlay mourned the passing of a coach whose impact stretched far beyond the scoreboard.