E. L. Alexander

{{Short description|American football coach}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox college coach

| name = E. L. Alexander

| image =

| birth_date =

| birth_place =

| death_date =

| player_years1 = 1909–1910

| player_team1 = Lafayette

| player_years2 = 1911–1912

| player_team2 = Washington & Jefferson

| player_positions =

| coach_years1 = 1923

| coach_team1 = Trinity (NC)

| overall_record = 5–4

| awards =

| championships =

}}

S. M.{{cite news |title=Alexander is Popular As Coach At The University |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/199688124/?terms=Alexander%3B%2BTrinity%2BCollege%2Bfootball |accessdate=January 23, 2020|work=Asheville Citizen-Times |date=June 24, 1923 |location=Asheville, North Carolina |page=31 |url-access=subscription}} or E. L. Alexander was an American football coach. He succeeded Herman G. Steiner as the head football coach Trinity College—now known as Duke University—in midseason in 1923, where the team had a record of 5–4.{{cite news |title=New Coach Elected at Trinity College - Hermann Steiner Has Been Supplanted by Capt. Alexander As Head Coach. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/230900497/?terms=Alexander%3B%2BTrinity%2BCollege%2Bfootball |accessdate=January 23, 2020 |work= Daily Press Wednesday |date=November 7, 1923 |location=Newport News, Virginia |page=5 |url-access=subscription}}{{cite journal |title=Trinity Alumni Register |url=https://archive.org/details/trinityalumnireg09trin/page/n211/mode/2up |volume=IX |issue=1|location=Durham, North Carolina |publisher=Trinity College Alumni Association |date=April 1923 |page=198 |via=Internet Archive |access-date=March 9, 2023 }}

Alexander attended The Kiski School in Saltsburg, Pennsylvania from 1906 to 1909 and spent two years at Lafayette College under coach Bob Folwell. In 1911, he followed Folwell to Washington & Jefferson College, where he played another two years. In 1916, he coached an Army team in El Paso, Texas, and the following year, after the U.S. entered World War I, he coached an Army team in Augusta, Georgia. In 1922, he was in charge of the freshman athletics at Trinity College.