Mike Friedman

Michael Albert Friedman graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire in 1962. He began his coaching career at Greenwood, Wisconsin, where as the new head coach he met Mary Anne Staut, the school's valedictorian, marching band director and cheerleader. They married in her hometown of Willard, Wisconsin, on 13 June 1964.

In 1966 Friedman became head coach at Watertown High School in Wisconsin, where his teams went 34-16-1 with five winning seasons. In 1968 he joined the staff at St. Norbert College in De Pere, near Green Bay, and then moved to the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater as chief football assistant under Forrest Perkins. In the summers he ran football camps in Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

On 2 March 1974, aged 33, he replaced Joe Prater as head coach at Southern Colorado State College in Pueblo, soon renamed the University of Southern Colorado and now Colorado State University Pueblo. He brought a high energy, statewide recruiting focus to a young program. In 1980 the Indians went 9-1 overall and 7-1 in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference to win the school's first RMAC football title. In 1982 they went 9-2 and earned the program's first NAIA national playoff berth, reaching the Division I quarterfinals. Over ten seasons he went 60-38-2 overall and 39-26-1 in the RMAC.

His players included All-Americans Bill Gower, John Trahan and Jeff England, as well as John Wristen, later CSU Pueblo's longtime head coach, Mick McCall, Scott Gallas, Mark DeRose and Dan DeRose, the program's all-time leading tackler. Running back Herman Heard was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in the third round in 1984.

In the autumn of 1983, before a game against Mesa College that ended in a 14-14 tie, Mesa coach Bob Cortese discovered that the exchanged game film from Southern Colorado had been doctored. Sports Illustrated reported that Friedman and assistant John Boswell had reshot the film with string, pieces of carpet and strips of celluloid placed in front of the camera. Friedman admitted doing it to harass Cortese, and at the request of school officials both men resigned effective at the end of the season.

Friedman and his wife Mary Anne had four children: Janette, Steven, Julie and Jodi. The family moved around Wisconsin with his coaching career before settling in Pueblo in 1974, and Mary Anne later worked part time in real estate.

Mary Anne Friedman died on 22 February 2015 after a seven month battle with cancer. Their son Steven died in 2024.

Colorado State University Pueblo announced Mike Friedman's death on 9 November 2026, in a tribute written by athletics historian Tim Simmons. The exact date and place of his death and his cause of death were not made public. Funeral arrangements and memorial details were pending at the time of the announcement.

Friedman is credited with putting Southern Colorado football on the national map, delivering the school's first conference title and first national playoff appearance. He was inducted into the CSU Pueblo Athletics Hall of Fame in 2023.

"Coach Friedman was a special man in my life. He gave me a great opportunity. I can never ever repay him for that opportunity," said John Wristen. CSU Pueblo head coach Philip Vigil, who met him at the 2023 induction, said Friedman helped establish a standard of excellence and that the program stands on the shoulders of men like him.