Career
He served as the head football coach at the University of Cincinnati (1898), the College of the Holy Cross (1903–1905), Dartmouth College (1911–1916), Boston College (1919–1926), and Fordham University (1927–1932), compiling a career college football record of 145–48–17. Cavanaugh was born in Worcester, Massachusetts and played football as an end at Dartmouth from 1896 to 1897. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1954.
At the time of his death, Cavanaugh was broke and blind.
He warned fellow coach and former player Joe McKenney "Get out of coaching while you can. The end of every coaching career is disaster."
He was played by Pat O"Brien in the 1943 Radio-Keith-Orpheum film The Iron Major.
