the three, Shaughnessy said he preferred the tackle position. In 1912, he recovered three fumbles against Iowa, and Walter Camp named him an alternate on his All-America team. As a senior, Shaughnessy was named to the All-Big Ten Conference first team. Shaughnessy played basketball as a guard and ran track in the 440- and 880-yard events. The Minnesota athletic director asked him to join the basketball team before a game against Illinois, despite the fact he had never played and did not know the rules. He joined the track and field team in similar fashion, and replaced a half-mile runner even though he did not own and had never worn track spikes. In The Big Ten: A Century of Excellence, Shaughnessy was called "one of the most versatile athletes in Minnesota's history." Shaughnessy also competed as a rower with the St. Paul Boat Club. He was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. Coaching career Tulane After graduation, he remained at his alma mater, Minnesota, for one season as an assistant coach in 1914. Tulane University selected Shaughnessy as head football coach in 1915 over potential candidates Dana X. Bible and Charley Moran, among others. Notre Dame assistant coach Knute Rockne and Ray Morrison were both unable to travel to New Orleans for an interview, and Tulane officials required a face-to-face meeting with the applicants. The school offered Shaughnessy $1,875 ($ adjusted for inflation) to be its football, basketball, and track coach, and athletic director. When he arrived, he found the football field in a state of disrepair and the equipment to be woefully inadequate. Because the athletic department was in dire financial straits, Shaughnessy paid to purchase new equipment for the team. With only one opponent scheduled in the upcoming season, he wrote letters to sixty schools to secure additional games. Shaughnessy introduced to Tulane the Minnesota shift, an innovation created by his former coach Henry L. Williams. By 1919, Shaughnessy had transformed Tulane into a competitor amongst Southern collegiate teams. That season, he guided them to a then school record of seven consecutive wins. In 1920, Germany Schulz was hired to take over duties as athletic director, and he also aided Shaughnessy as the line coach from 1923 to 1925. In 1923, Shaughnessy hired his former teammate Bernie Bierman as an assistant coach. Bierman remained on the staff for three seasons before he left to become head coach