Cole was born on October 7, 1881 in Washington County, Ohio. He attended high school at Charlottesville, Virginia before enrolling at Marietta College in Ohio. He played three years of college football for Marietta before graduating in 1902. In the fall of 1902, Cole enrolled in the law school at the University of Michigan. While attending law school, Cole played football for Fielding H. Yost's "Point-a-Minute" football team in 1902. He was one of the stars of the 1902 Michigan Wolverines football team that finished the season 11–0, outscored opponents 644 to 12, and was recognized as a national champion. Cole started three games at left tackle and four games at right end for the 1902 Wolverines. In addition, Cole played as a center fielder on the Michigan baseball team in 1903.
Coaching career
Cole received his law degree in 1905. With the performance of Yost's "Point-a-Minute" teams, his players were in great demand as coaches by universities hoping to reproduce Yost's success. Dan McGugin went to Vanderbilt, Willie Heston to Drake, Albert E. Herrnstein to Purdue and Ohio State, Paul J. Jones to Western Reserve, Bruce Shorts to Nevada and Oregon, Curtis Redden to Kentucky, Frank Longman to Arkansas and Notre Dame, Joseph Maddock to Oregon and Utah and Fred Norcross to Oregon State. Accordingly, Cole agreed to serve as the football coach at Marietta College in 1903—even before completing his legal degree at Michigan. In 1904, he returned to Ann Arbor to complete his legal education and served as an assistant coach under Yost. As Yost's assistant, Cole helped lead the Wolverines to another undefeated season and national championship in 1904.
Virginia
In January 1905, Cole agreed to be the head football coach at the University of Virginia after graduating in the spring. He was hired at a salary of $1,800. Cole coached the Virginia team to a 5–4 record in 1905. After the season ended, Cole decided to leave coaching and begin his career as an attorney. After leaving Virginia at the end of the 1905 football season, Cole practiced law in Toledo, Ohio. In late August 1906, Cole was persuaded to return to Virginia to serve as football coach for another season. In 1906, his Virginia football team improved its record to 7–2.
In January 1907, Cole was hired by the University of Nebraska to take over as head coach of its football program. From 1907 to 1910, he coached at Nebraska and compiled a 25–8–3 record. Cole developed many strong players at Nebraska, and his Cornhuskers teams twice won the Missouri Valley Conference championship. In 1911, the Missouri Valley Conference adopted a new rule prohibiting "special coaching" and requiring that coaches must be full-time faculty members. Cole had purchased a ranch in Missoula, Montana that required his personal attention in the off-season. Unable to commit to a year-round position, Cole resigned as coach at Nebraska after the 1910 season in which he led Nebraska to a 7–1 record. Cole's last game as Nebraska's head football coach was a 119–0 win over the Haskell Indians, a point total that still ranks as the highest ever by a Cornhuskers team. Cole's career record as the head coach at Marietta, Virginia, and Nebraska was 44–17–5. In his seven years of head coaching, he never had a losing record.
Later life
After retiring from coaching, Cole worked on his ranch of several hundred acres in the fruit-growing belt of the Northwest. Cole died at in Charlottesville in 1968. Cole's grandson William C. Cole III and three great-grandchildren William C. Cole IV, Lester C. Cole and Charles T. Cole Jr. all graduated from The University of Virginia. King’s great granddaughter, Molly Carter Lapekas, graduated University of Virginia, May 2010. In addition, Cole's grandson Charles T. Cole followed in Cole's footsteps playing college football at VMI before serving in Vietnam. In 2019 Cole's great-great-grandson Dylan Conor Cole enrolled at The University of Virginia as well. Cole and his wife, Lily Brooke Booker, had four children: William Cutler Cole Jr., Norborne Page Cole, Charles Carter Cole, and Lucy Page Cole Finnegan. Cole and his wife had the following grandchildren: Cary Carter Finnegan Lapekas, Sarah Frances Finnegan Long, William Cutler Finnegan, Cary Cole Happe, William Cutler Cole III, Charles Taylor Cole, Katharine Lee Cole Ingram, Anne Brooke Cole Montague, Kathryn Patricia Cole Hannan, Virginia Elizabeth Cole Wardell, Norbonne Page Cole, Jr., David deSales Cole, and Richard Cutler Cole.
