Coaching great Don "Air" Coryell dies at 85 (1 Viewer)

[Raiderfan32904]

Reports: Don Coryell dies at 85

Posted by Mike Florio on July 1, 2010 8:53 PM ET

Multiple reports are emerging from San Diego that former Chargers coach Don Coryell has died at the age of 85.

Coryell coached the Chargers from 1978 through half of the 1986 season, compiling a record if 72-60. He resigned after eight games in his final year on the job.

A finalist for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame earlier this year, the coach took full advantage of rules changes aimed at opening up the passing game to create Air Coryell, an attack that turned quarterback Dan Fouts and tight end Kellen Winslow into Hall of Famers -- and the Chargers into perennial contenders.

Coryell had been ill for months. Eventually, he passed due to complications from pneumonia.

He also served as head coach of the Cardinals from 1973 through 1977. Before that, Coryell coached at San Diego State for more than a decade.

 

[identikit]

RIP Don 'Air 'Coryell

A big-time contributor to the high octane passing offenses we see today...

 

[Warhogs]

I was a huge Charger fan in the early 80s even though I lived in Wisconsin. RIP Air Coryell.

 

[slayer666]

RIP

 

[greenroom]

RIP Don 'Air 'Coryell

 

[cstu]

I'm going to throw a football over them mountains in his memory. RIP.

 

[Ted Lange as your Bartender]

A huge pioneer of the game we all enjoy today - RIP

 

[Polar Dude]

In addition to having a profound impact on NFL offenses, the man turned around two profoundly troubled franchises and made them into winners, even if just for a few brief years.

 

[JetMaxx]

A huge pioneer of the game we all enjoy today - RIP

For those that don't go that far back, think Martz circa 1999-2000 STL Rams. When it comes to the passing game he was a true innovator because he found the best way to utilize a plethora of extremely talented weapons. Loved the mean scowl as he walked the sideline.

 

[Raiderfan32904]

Don Coryell, NFL Coaching Legend, Dies at Age 85

7/01/2010 9:30 PM ET By Nancy Gay

Nancy Gay

Senior NFL Writer

Don Coryell, the legendary St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Chargers head coach and architect of one of the greatest passing games in NFL history, died Thursday afternoon following a lengthy illness. He was 85.

Coryell’s family told the Chargers organization that he died at 3:15 p.m. PDT at Sharp Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, Calif., in East San Diego County. He had been suffering from pneumonia and complications from that illness since last fall.

“He was an atypical coach,” Fouts told FanHouse Thursday evening.. “A lot of football coaches believe it’s my way or get on the highway-thing. But Don gave us as players a feeling of ownership of the offense, the plays. He took our ideas and tried them. He wasn’t afraid to try things.”

In Coryell’s offense, Fouts rarely threw out of the shotgun and played a modified, timed version of the hugely successful Bill Walsh “West Coast offense” high percentage passing attack. The late Walsh – another Hall of Famer who pushed hard for Coryell’s place in Canton – had planted the seeds of the West Coast offense in San Diego in 1976, where he had served as offensive coordinator under Tommy Protho.

“When Don came to San Diego in midseason (1978), he didn’t change hardly anything that offense was about at the time,” Fouts said. “He added a few things. Then when he took over full time the next year, he kept the best things from what we were doing, and those were the Bill Walsh things.

Dean Spanos said Thursday, “We are terribly saddened by the passing of Coach Coryell. He revolutionized the game of football, not only in San Diego , but throughout the entire NFL. Don Coryell was a legend not only with the Chargers but throughout San Diego . Though unfortunately he did not live long enough to see it, hopefully one day his bust will find its proper place in Pro Football’s Hall of Fame. He will be missed.”

Coryell coached 12 seasons at San Diego State, compiling a record of 103-19-2 before moving on to the NFL, where he won two division titles with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1974-75. He coached 14 seasons in the NFL, with a career record of 111-83-1.

 

[Raiderfan32904]

I remember the feared Don Coryell Charger teams. They had Fouts and JJ Jefferson, Kellen Winslow Sr. That was the time of the San Diego super..chargers...San Diego supercharger POWER!, theme song...

fun times. always respected and admired those teams. The 41-38 playoff game against the Dolphins was epic, still remember Winslow being helped off the field on the shoulders of 2 teammates, dragging his legs across the sideline.

Air Coryell was a great coach, he never got his fair due. I hope that they finally elect him into the HOF one day.

RIP.

 

[Mister CIA]

I'm not a stat freak, but I'm pretty sure that Don Coryell is responsible for 1,000 fantasy football points per season, above what we'd otherwise have.

Weird, he looked like a defensive coordinator.

RIP.

 

[massraider]

Honestly, it's a joke he's not in the Hall. Complete joke.

 

[Arch Stanton]

Honestly, it's a joke he's not in the Hall. Complete joke.

Very upsetting that he died before he got in. Ironically, his passing (pun intended) will more than likely stamp his ticket in the next vote. As a Charger fan (2nd fave at least) and an SDSU grad, RIP Air Coryel. You left the game better than it was when you found it.

 

[Polar Dude]

Honestly, it's a joke he's not in the Hall. Complete joke.

This is like saying "Beetlejuice" three times fast, except you are going to summon Chase instead. The only thing that might hold him back is that this is a death thread.

 

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

RIP Air.

Too bad they didnt vote him in the HOF when he was alive.

 

[nittanylion]

Condolences from the Redskins Nation...

...without Don Coryell, there's no Joe Gibbs, and without Joe Gibbs, there's no Decade of Dominance.

R.I.P. "Air". IMO, your impact on Fantasy Football might be just as huge as your impact on The Game itself...

 

[JaxBill]

I had no idea that he also invented the "I" formation.

Don Coryell, NFL's architect of innovative Air Coryell' offense, dies at 85

By NICK PERRY

The Seattle Times

Don Coryell, the legendary NFL coach and former Washington Husky whose innovative offense was known as "Air Coryell," has died at the age of 85.

Mindy Lewis, the coach's daughter, said Coryell had suffered for several years from a degenerative muscle disease. He'd been staying at a San Diego-area hospital since Christmas Day and died about 3:15 p.m. PDT Thursday of complications from pneumonia.

"He was a warrior to the very end. He actually came home for one day over the Father's Day weekend, and we hoped he'd be home longer," said Lewis, of San Diego. "He was an incredible father and an incredible man."

Coryell was the first coach to win 100 games in both college and professional football. He developed a wide-open passing attack during his 11 years at San Diego State then used it in the pro game - first with the St. Louis Cardinals (1973-77) and then the San Diego Chargers (1978-86).

His Chargers offense, led by quarterback Dan Fouts, set records and led the NFL in passing seven of his first eight seasons with San Diego. Despite going to the playoffs six times and the AFC Championship Game in 1980 and 1981, Coryell never made it to the Super Bowl. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and this year was a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Coryell played for the Huskies in 1951 and '52 and was also a member of the 1948-1950 men's crew, according to his induction notice into the Husky Hall of Fame.

More recently, he and his late wife owned a home on San Juan Island, and would spend summers there and winters in Hawaii.

"He was always crabbing and fishing and planting trees," said Lewis. "There was an eagle's nest in lot next to theirs. He loved just being with nature, and looking at the sailboats go by."

Lewis said her father's biggest legacy is the positive impact he had on dozens of young men. Many of those men - who are not so young any more - have been in touch over recent months offering to help out. Coryell's intensity on the field belied a compassionate man, Lewis said.

"Just last week, Conrad Dobler, of the St. Louis Cardinals, said he (Coryell) was the first coach that ever made football fun," Lewis said. "For a huge network of boys, and they were boys when he had them, he's remained a father figure."

Coryell's daughter-in-law Debbie Coryell, of the Bay Area, said Coryell never spoke much about football while around family, at least when he was still coaching.

"That he kept it all at the field or the office was always a surprise to me," said Debbie Coryell. "He was always just learning and curious about things. He never sat around. He was always boating or gardening or fishing."

As well as his aerial offense, Coryell is also credited with inventing the "I" formation when he was a running backs coach at Wenatchee Junior College.

From 1961-72 at San Diego State, his record was 104-19-2. In 14 NFL seasons ending in 1986, his record was 111-83-1.

"He was a warm, gentle, kind man," said Debbie Coryell. "So different from what you saw out on the field."

Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/07/02/20582...l#ixzz0sWxB4F1H

 

[Black]

I was a huge Charger fan in the early 80s even though I lived in Wisconsin. RIP Air Coryell.

Became a huge Charger fan in the early 80s b/c of Coryell. RIP.

 

[KCC]

I can't think of anyone who did more to add to the excitement of football. RIP.

 

[Jim Dandy]

A huge pioneer of the game we all enjoy today - RIP

For those that don't go that far back, think Martz circa 1999-2000 STL Rams. When it comes to the passing game he was a true innovator because he found the best way to utilize a plethora of extremely talented weapons. Loved the mean scowl as he walked the sideline.

Martz's offensive scheme (like Saunders, Zampese, Gibbs, Turner, to name a few more) were in fact literally evolutions of Coryell's and use the same terminology. Some have referred to Coryell's as "the real West Coast Offense" because it actually originated there; Walsh's originated in Cincinnati when he was with Paul Brown.-James

 

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

:( A huge pioneer of the game we all enjoy today - RIP

For those that don't go that far back, think Martz circa 1999-2000 STL Rams. When it comes to the passing game he was a true innovator because he found the best way to utilize a plethora of extremely talented weapons. Loved the mean scowl as he walked the sideline.

Martz's offensive scheme (like Saunders, Zampese, Gibbs, Turner, to name a few more) were in fact literally evolutions of Coryell's and use the same terminology. Some have referred to Coryell's as "the real West Coast Offense" because it actually originated there; Walsh's originated in Cincinnati when he was with Paul Brown.-James

Kellen WInslow is on records as saying he could of walked into the Greatest Show on Turfs huddle an execute the passing routes. Same basic O

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

I was 6 when he started coaching at San Diego. One of my first football memories is watching the chargers beat Pittsburgh rather easily in a late 70s early 80 game. I knew pitt was good and then started rooting for the bolts and their high flying offense ever since, even through the down years (along with the eagles of course). That offense hooked me on football.

RIP Don

 

[Air Coryell]

RIP

 

[Lake Titicaca]

:( A huge pioneer of the game we all enjoy today - RIP

For those that don't go that far back, think Martz circa 1999-2000 STL Rams. When it comes to the passing game he was a true innovator because he found the best way to utilize a plethora of extremely talented weapons. Loved the mean scowl as he walked the sideline.

Martz's offensive scheme (like Saunders, Zampese, Gibbs, Turner, to name a few more) were in fact literally evolutions of Coryell's and use the same terminology. Some have referred to Coryell's as "the real West Coast Offense" because it actually originated there; Walsh's originated in Cincinnati when he was with Paul Brown.-James

Kellen WInslow is on records as saying he could of walked into the Greatest Show on Turfs huddle an execute the passing routes. Same basic O

The routes and formations have evolved, but the terminology is identical.

 

[Neil Beaufort Zod]

I had no idea he WASN'T in the HOF. That's a shame. This posthumous stuff doesn't cut it. He should have been able to enjoy it himself.

I remember being very young and watching Fouts/Winslow/Jefferson/Joiner. I also remember playing pickup football with my friends and always wanting to be Dan Fouts when I was quarterback (we felt the need to "announce" who we were for some reason). Even though I played more like JaMarcus Russell, I was Dan Fouts.

When I was a receiver, I was Kellen Winslow. I played like Big Mike Williams, but I was Kellen Winslow.

RIP Don Coryell. Air Coryell lives on in the NFL.

 

[BobbyLayne]

Everyone remembering the Air Coryell Chargers, but those cardiatic Cardinal teams were pretty fun as well. Jim Hart, Terry Metcalf, Mel Gray, Jackie Smith...nobody scored more from outside the 40 more often.

Did I hear this correctly on the radio today...first coach to get 100 wins in college and 100 wins in the NFL?

Just looked this up...the St. Louis Cardinals were 31-11 1974-76. In the three years prior they were 12-27-3, and 30-48-0 in the five season after. In fact, the 2 playoff appearances under Coryell were the only post seasons games in a 34 year stretch.

 

[Bri]

If there's a maurile or jwb article on him please let me know. Thanks

 

[identikit]

Everyone remembering the Air Coryell Chargers, but those cardiatic Cardinal teams were pretty fun as well. Jim Hart, Terry Metcalf, Mel Gray, Jackie Smith...nobody scored more from outside the 40 more often.Did I hear this correctly on the radio today...first coach to get 100 wins in college and 100 wins in the NFL?Just looked this up...the St. Louis Cardinals were 31-11 1974-76. In the three years prior they were 12-27-3, and 30-48-0 in the five season after. In fact, the 2 playoff appearances under Coryell were the only post seasons games in a 34 year stretch.

Those Cardinal teams were great to watch. They fired Coryell afer a 7-7 season. Dumb move.

 

[Polar Dude]

They fired Coryell afer a 7-7 season.

When you have a franchise as proud as the football Cardinals, you have to set the bar pretty high.