About: John Roning

John Olaf Roning (December 2, 1910 – October 3, 2001) was an American college football player, coach, and athletics administrator. After he played end at the University of Minnesota from 1932 to 1934, Roning entered the coaching ranks. After a few years coaching in the high school ranks, Roning became the head football coach at Gustavus Adolphus College in 1939. He left in 1942 to return to Minnesota as an assistant and then was at North Carolina Pre-Flight. In 1951, Roning became the head football coach at Utah Agricultural College—now known as Utah State University—in Logan for four seasons and then at the University of Denver. He was the athletic director at the University of South Dakota from 1961 to 1971 and the second commissioner of the Big Sky Conference (1971–1977).