Quick Facts
Biography
Jay L. "Biffy" Lee (September 27, 1887 – April 10, 1970) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Penn College—now known as William Penn University—in Oskaloosa, Iowa in 1915 and again from 1917 to 1920 and at the University of Buffalo—now known as University at Buffalo—from 1929 to 1930, compiling a career college football record of 17–20–4.
Playing career
In 1910, Lee attended Albion College, where he played football and baseball. In 1911, he was the quarterback at the University of Notre Dame. He was the college roommate of Knute Rockne.
Coaching career
In 1916, Lee was an assistant football coach at Notre Dame. He served as the head football coach at the University of Buffalo from 1929 to 1930, compiling a record of 8–7. He was also on the faculty of the University of Buffalo, lecturing in the School of Marketing.
In 1931, he unexpectedly resigned as the head coach of the Buffalo football program to attend to business duties.
Late life and death
Lee work as an executive for the Phoenix Mutual Life Insurance Company for 27 years until his retirement in 1952. He died on April 10, 1970 in Traverse City, Michigan.
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penn Statesmen (Independent) (1915) | |||||||||
| 1915 | Penn | 4–3 | |||||||
| Penn Statesmen (Independent) (1917–1920) | |||||||||
| 1917 | Penn | 4–1–1 | |||||||
| 1918 | No team—World War I | ||||||||
| 1919 | Penn | 0–3–3 | |||||||
| 1920 | Penn | 1–6 | |||||||
| Penn: | 9–14–3 | ||||||||
| Buffalo Bisons (New York State Conference) (1929–1930) | |||||||||
| 1929 | Buffalo | 5–2 | |||||||
| 1930 | Buffalo | 3–5 | |||||||
| Buffalo: | 8–7 | ||||||||
| Total: | 17–20–4 | ||||||||