After returning to the United States, Tigert taught at the Methodist-affiliated Central College—now known as
Central Methodist University—in
Fayette, Missouri, and, at the age of 27, was appointed president of
Kentucky Wesleyan College in
Owensboro, Kentucky in 1909. That same year, he married the former Edith Jackson Bristol.
University of Kentucky Tigert later received an appointment as a professor of
psychology and
philosophy at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, where he did work on psychology in advertising. While there, Tigert also served as the
athletic director from 1913 to 1917, the
Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball coach in 1913, 1916 and 1917, the
Wildcats women's basketball coach from 1911 to 1915 and again from 1916 to 1917, and the
Wildcats football coach in 1915 and 1916.
Commissioner of Education President
Warren G. Harding appointed Tigert as the
U.S. Commissioner of Education in 1921, and he served for seven years during the administrations of Harding and
Calvin Coolidge. As commissioner, he was an energetic advocate of education reform and greater educational opportunities for all classes of Americans, and he traveled widely and spoke often to virtually any group interested in education. In particular, he took an interest in rural education, and advocated innovative ways to impart public education to a wider audience, including the use of radio. During his time in Washington, D.C., he also served a term as the national president of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity.
University of Florida The
Florida Board of Control selected Tigert as the third president of the
University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida in 1928. When the
Great Depression began with the
Wall Street Crash of 1929, Florida was already suffering from the after-effects of the
1920s land boom and bust, as well the devastating aftermath of two major
hurricanes in 1926 and 1928. The University Council, composed of the president, the
registrar and the college
deans, retained final approval authority. The college was modeled on the general education college at the
University of Chicago, and administered the freshman and sophomore-year
liberal arts education of undergraduates before they were accepted to the university schools or colleges that administered their
academic majors. As a former university athlete and coach, Tigert took a particular interest in athletics-related policy issues while he was president and was an enthusiastic supporter of the
Florida Gators sports program generally, and football in particular. He was responsible for the construction of the university's first and only permanent football stadium,
Florida Field, in 1930. He borrowed $10,000 to begin construction of the stadium, and then raised $118,000 to pay the construction costs of the 22,800-seat facility. Tigert was also instrumental in the organization of the
Southeastern Conference (SEC), which the University of Florida joined as one of the thirteen founding institutions in December 1932. Like his predecessor,
Albert A. Murphree, Tigert was elected president of the
National Association of State Universities, serving from 1939 to 1940. Following the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, students began to withdraw from the university in large numbers to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces. The financial impact on the university had the potential to be devastating, but Tigert navigated the war years by making the university campus, dormitories and class rooms available for the training of U.S.
Army Air Force flight crews. Contributing to the shortage of facility space was the influx of new female students when the
Florida Legislature reinstituted
co-education in 1947. The university suddenly had more students than its available housing and classroom space could serve. , the main administration building of the
University of Florida in
Gainesville, Florida, was completed in 1950, and renamed for John J. Tigert, the third president of the university (1928–1947), in 1960. Tigert resigned as university president in 1947, worked as an educational consultant to the government of India as a member of its University Education Commission, and taught philosophy at the
University of Miami until 1959. During his term, the university awarded its first doctoral degrees in 1934, a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa was installed in 1938, and total student enrollment grew from 2,162 in 1928 to over 7,500 in 1947. As university president, he was responsible for significant and lasting academic, athletic and administrative reforms. In recognition of Tigert's long service as its president through depression and war, the University of Florida awarded him an
honorary degree, a
doctor of letters, during its 1953
centennial celebration, and renamed its main administrative building,
Tigert Hall, for him in 1960. Tigert died in Gainesville, Florida on January 21, 1965; He was survived by his wife Edith, their son and daughter, and five grandchildren. and was elected to the
College Football Hall of Fame as a player in 1970. ==Head coaching record==