 Gillman as coach of the Rams in 1959 | |
| Profile | |
|---|---|
| Position | End |
| Personal information | |
| Born | (1911-10-26)October 26, 1911 Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | January 3, 2003(2003-01-03) (aged 91) Carlsbad, California, U.S. |
| Career information | |
| High school | Minneapolis North(Minneapolis, Minnesota) |
| College | Ohio State |
| Career history | |
Playing | |
| |
Coaching | |
| |
| Awards and highlights | |
| |
| Head coaching record | |
| Regular season | AFL/NFL: 122–99–7 (.550) |
| Postseason | AFL/NFL: 1–5 (.167) |
| Career | AFL/NFL: 123–104–7 (.541) NCAA: 81–19–2 (.804) |
| Coaching profile atPro Football Reference | |
| Executive profile atPro Football Reference | |
Sidney Gillman (October 26, 1911 – January 3, 2003) was an Americanfootball player, coach and executive. Gillman's insistence on stretching the football field by throwing deepdownfield passes, instead of short passes torunning backs orwide receivers at the sides of theline of scrimmage, was instrumental in making football into the modern game that it is today. He was inducted as a coach into thePro Football Hall of Fame in 1983, and theCollege Football Hall of Fame in 1989.
Gillman played football as anend atOhio State University from 1931 to 1933. He played professionally for one season in 1936 with theCleveland Rams of thesecond American Football League. After serving as an assistant coach at Ohio State from 1938 to 1940, Gillman was the head football coach atMiami University from 1944 to 1947 and at theUniversity of Cincinnati from 1949 to 1954, compiling a careercollege football record of 81–19–2. He then moved to the ranks of professional football, where he headed the NFL'sLos Angeles Rams (1955–1959), theAmerican Football League's Los Angeles andSan Diego Chargers (1960–1969), and the NFL'sHouston Oilers (1973–1974), amassing a career record of 123–104–7 in theNational Football League and theAmerican Football League. Gillman's1963 San Diego Chargers won the AFL Championship.
Sidney Gillman was born on October 26, 1911, inMinneapolis,Minnesota, to a Jewish family.[1][2] His father was an Austrian immigrant who was in the movie theater business.[3] He attendedNorth High School, and was elected captain of his high school football team in his senior year, and played on a state All-Star team.[4][3][5]
He playedcollege football atOhio State University under coachSam Willaman, forming the basis of his offense.[6] Gillman was not impressed by Willaman's coaching ability.[3] Gillman was an All-American atend in 1932 and 1933.[2] He was a team co-captain on the 1933 team,[7] andAll-Big Ten Conference end in 1933.[7] Gillman played in the firstChicago All-Star Game (1934) with the college All-Stars playing against the NFL championChicago Bears, where he was flattened by Bears legendBronko Nagurski.[4]
While attending Ohio State, Gillman was a brother of the Nu chapter of theZeta Beta Tau fraternity, living in the fraternity house for three years at college. He played piano in small bands during his college years to make extra money (including one called the Red Hot Peppers). He was a political science major.[3]
Gillman's innovations in passing offense are often praised as the foundation of modern football, but "Perhaps his most lasting legacy was his use of film to study players and formations...."[8] Always deeply interested in the game, while working as one of his family's movie theater ushers, he removed football segments fromnewsreels the theater would show, so that he could take them home and study them on a projector he had bought.[8] This dedication to filmed football plays made Gillman the first coach to study game footage, something that all coaches do today.[9]
Gillman debated between pursuing a pro football career and entering coaching upon leaving college, with theBoston Redskins offering him a contract while Willaman wished to hire him as end coach atWestern Reserve University.[10] His participation in the inaugural Chicago College All-Star Game caused him to arrive late for Redskins training camp, and he would fail to make the team.[11][12] He played one year in theAmerican Football League (1936) for theCleveland Rams.[8]
Gillman was a college football assistant coach for eight years before becoming a head coach.[8] Gilman became an assistant coach at Ohio State underCollege Football Hall of Fame head coachFrancis Schmidt (1934, 1938-40);Denison University underTom Rogers (1935-37, 1941); andMiami University (Ohio) underStu Holcomb.[1][13]
At his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction, Gillman stated that Schmidt made a "definite contribution to [Gillman's] life".[4] Gillman considered Schmidt an offensive football genius, ahead of his time, and the greatest coach ever.[4][14] Schmidt's number of plays and formations far exceeded his contemporaries, and he instituted a wide-open high scoring offense, extremely unusual for the 1930s (outside of theSouthwest Conference), which also was a boon to the school growing its attendance during theGreat Depression. However, Schmidt's pursuit of high scoring, even in lop-sided games, resulted in his nickname being, Francis "Shut the Gates of Mercy" or "Close the Gates of Mercy" Schmidt.[14][15] Gilman's own offensive system as a coach was born under Schmidt's influence.[15]
In 1948, after having started his head coaching career, he once more became an assistant coach, serving as the line coach under hall of fame head coachEarl Blaik ofArmy. He learned "situational substitution" (theplatoon system) from Blaik, while teaching an innovative option blocking system to his players.[1][13][15] While at Army he befriended future hall of fame coaching greatVince Lombardi, who was an assistant coach atFordham, with whom he discussed football strategy for hours at a time. Upon leaving Army, Gillman successfully recommended Lombardi as his replacement. Lombardi would use Gillman's blocking scheme to great effect as coach of theGreen Bay Packers' championship teams. Lombardi also implemented Gillman's method of film study and player grades with those teams.[15][16]
In 1944, Gillman became head coach at Miami University, succeeding Holcomb, and coached there through 1947, where his record was 31–6–1.[13][15] Among his players wasAra Parseghian, a future College Football Hall of Fame coach at Miami,Northwestern andNotre Dame.[17] After a year at Army under Blaik, Gillman became head coach at theUniversity of Cincinnati from 1949 to 1954, with a record of 50–13–1, threeMid-American Conference championships, and two bowl games; while making full use of situational substitution.[13][15][18] He used film study and player grades at Cincinnati, and was once admonished by theNCAA for having the players review film during halftime of a game.[19]
At the time he left Cincinnati, it was written that Gillman had a forceful, confident and determined personality; was impatient with mistakes, the hardest working coach, a perfectionist, aimed to succeed at the highest level; and could run up the score like Schmidt. There was a division between those who admired him and those who criticized him.[5] Altogether, he spent 21 years as a college assistant coach or head coach, and his teams' total record as a head coach for these years was 81-19-2.[13] As a college head coach, his teams outscored their opponents 2,571–1,017.[5]
He became a professional head coach for the first time with theLos Angeles Rams in 1955, after the team had declined in wins the previous two seasons (8–3–1 in 1953 and 6–5–1 in 1954).[20][21] The Rams were a team bolstered and hindered by its emphasis on explosive offense as quarterbacked byNorm Van Brocklin. A trade forJim Cason with theSan Francisco 49ers also proved helpful in the rookie season that saw Gillman's coaching described as "red-meat, un-finessed brand of football" on the way to a record of 8–3–1 that narrowly beat theChicago Bears for the right to play for the1955 NFL Championship Game (their fourth appearance in the past five seasons) against the defending league championCleveland Browns, appearing in their sixth straight NFL Championship Game. Playing at home in theLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum due to the rotation of the time, the Browns never trailed while forcing six Van Brocklin interceptions on their way to a 38–14 victory.[22]
His second season with the Rams, which saw them trade away futureHall of Fame defensive starAndy Robustelli[23] in the offseason after a falling out with Gillman, was a disaster, as the team lost eight of their first ten games and ended with a 4–8 overall record,[24] their first losing mark since 1944 when the team was still in Cleveland.[21] The 1957 season was the last for both Van Brocklin (traded to Philadelphia after the season, where he would win a championship in 1960 over Lombardi's Packers[25]) and receiverElroy Hirsch, each future members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Van Brocklin and Gillman had clashed over tactics in 1957, and Van Brocklin would at times override Gillman. After that season, Van Brocklin demanded a trade or he would stay home and run his business, rather than join the team for the 1958 season.[26] Hirsch retired after the 1957 season.[27]
A multi-player deal with the Cardinals forOllie Matson did not help matters. The season ended on a middling note as the Rams won their last two games of the year to finish at .500. The 1958 season was the closest the Rams got to the top of the division, finishing one game behind theBaltimore Colts. The 1959 season saw the Rams close the year with eight straight losses that led to Gillman‘s dismissal.[28][29][21]
Gillman then moved to theAmerican Football League (AFL, 1960–1969), where he coached theLos Angeles andSan Diego Chargers to five Western Division titles and one league championship in the first six years of the AFL's existence.[30][20]Lamar Hunt andBud Adams (Gillman's future boss and nemesis) created the AFL after they were excluded from owning NFL teams, and 1960 was the AFL's first year of existence. Gilman would coach the Chargers for the AFL's entire independent duration, before it merged into the NFL in 1970.Steve Sabol ofNFL Films said "'Lamar Hunt is the George Washington of the AFL. Sid Gillman is the Thomas Jefferson.'"[16]
His greatest coaching success came after he was persuaded byBarron Hilton, then the Chargers' majority owner, to become the head coach of the AFL franchise he planned to operate in Los Angeles. When the team'sgeneral manager,Frank Leahy, became ill during the Chargers' founding season, its one season in Los Angeles before moving to San Diego, Gillman took on additional responsibilities as general manager.[31][32][33] As the first coach of the Chargers, Gillman gave the team a mercurial personality that matched his own.[citation needed]
It was with the Chargers that Gillman developed the innovative aggressive downfield passing attack for which he would become known, and which would change football.[34][19] Gillman used the length and width of the field, and would stretch the field with the potential long pass, which opened up the middle of the field to runs and shorter passes.[29] As described by one of Gillman's first Chargers' offensive coaches, and future owner of theOakland Raiders, Hall of FamerAl Davis,[35] "Sid Gillman was the father of modern-day passing.... It had been thought of as vertical, the length of the field, but Sid also thought of it as horizontal. Sid used the width of the field."[20] Hall of Fame coachBill Walsh, who is usually identified with developing theWest Coast Offense, stated much of what he did derived from Gillman.[15] Walsh observed that Gilman had a level of understanding about football that only a few could fully comprehend.[8]
Gillman had much to do with the AFL being able to establish itself as a genuine competitor to the NFL, and a viable football league. Gillman was a thorough professional, and in order to compete with him, his peers had to learn pro ways and how to respond to his innovative offensive concepts and their implementation. Opposing AFL coachJoe Collier said "'Everybody had to work like hell to keep up with him..."[36] They learned, and the AFL became the genesis of modern professional football.[29]
"Sid Gillman brought class to the AFL," Oakland Raiders managing general partner Al Davis once said of the man he served under on that first Chargers team.[19] "Just being part of Sid's organization was like going to a laboratory for the highly developed science of professional football."[19] Others however, painted Gillman as someone who kept the team under pressure at all times regardless of how it felt for the players, withDickie Post, a running back who played for Gillman from 1967-69, calling him a "dictator".[37][38] On the other hand, Chargers receiver and tight endDave Kocourek (1960-65) found Gillman a people person who was not given proper credit for his interpersonal skills.[39][40] Future Hall of Fame receiverLance Alworth said of Gillman, "Sid Gillman is a fantastic person, with a brilliant mind, and he has taught John [Hadl] a lot."[41]
Described as "impulsive" by quarterbackJohn Hadl, in 1965, Gillman had arguments with defensive starsErnie Ladd andEarl Faison over salaries and bonuses, in light of rookie bonuses being paid in sums that far exceeded the salaries of these two star players. Ladd and Faison took the position they would play out their contracts and become free agents. They were both traded by Gillman to Houston before the 1966 season. The league's owners were all concerned about paying bonuses to veteran players, and the effect on the league's viability. Commissioner Joe Ross voided the trade after Gilman alleged tampering against Oilers’ owner Adams. Faison and Ladd ultimately became free agents, with Ladd joining the Oilers and Faison returning to the Chargers for three games before Gilman waived him with an injury notation; the expansion Dolphins ultimately claiming the injured Faison. He started only one game in Miami and saw his career end in 1966. Gillman called Faison, the former four-time All-AFL defensive end, one who "has a long way to go to become average, much less outstanding."[42][43][44][45][46][47][48]
Hadl stated that these removals were part of the beginning of the decline of the Chargers in the late 1960s.[49] When once asked about the money made by players, Gillman responded by saying “With some of them, football is a vocation. With some, it's an avocation. You know what football is to me? It's blood.”[15]
Through Gillman's tenure as head coach, the Chargers went 87–57–6 and won five AFL Western Division titles. The 1960 and 1961 teams were led by future Hall of Fame playerJack Kemp (1960-61) at quarterback to go withPaul Lowe (1960-61) andKeith Lincoln (1961) as running backs.[50][51][52] They narrowly lost each time in the AFL Championship Game to the Houston Oilers.[53][54]
In 1962, with injuries to Kemp and rookie future Hall of Fame receiver Lance Alworth, the Chargers had their only losing season in their AFL tenure (4–10).[55][21] Even worse for Gillman, he put Kemp on waivers on a Saturday before a game to open up a roster spot, with the common custom being that no other team would claim a player when so waived.Lou Saban and theBuffalo Bills ignored custom and bought Kemp's rights for $100. They made Kemp their starting quarterback at the end of the 1962 season until his retirement in 1969, where he won two AFL titles. Gillman was enraged beyond words, but could not undo the transaction.[56][57]
John Hadl had been drafted in 1962 as quarterback, but the 1963 season would have 35-year oldTobin Rote as the primary starter at quarterback.[58][59] That year, under an MVP season from Rote (with Alworth second in the balloting),[60] they captured the only league championship the franchise ever won by outscoring theBoston Patriots, 51–10, in the American Football League championship game inBalboa Stadium.[61] Gillman crafted a game plan, "Feast or Famine", that usedmotion, then seldom seen, to negate the Patriots' blitzes.[62][19] His plan freed running backKeith Lincoln to rush for 206 yards, and have another 123 yards receiving.[61]
In addition to Lincoln, Alworth, Kemp, Lowe, Ladd, Faison and Hadl on Gillman's teams through the '60s, Gillman also coached such notable players as future Hall of Fame offensive tackleRon Mix,[63]Speedy Duncan,[64]Kenny Graham,[65]Dick Westmoreland,[66] andFrank Buncom.[67] Mix grew up in Los Angeles in a sometimes hard-pressed Jewish family, living in a neighborhood where they were the only Jews, and had taken great pride as a young teenager in 1955 when he learned the Rams new head coach, Gillman, was also Jewish. As a player, he found Gillman hard but fair, treating everyone equally.[68] Gillman and Al Davis (also Jewish), emphasized recruiting from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), and Gillman instituted a training camp policy that players would room together based on position so that black and white players would room together, a rarity in the early 1960s.[29]
Gillman was one of only two head coaches to hold that position for the entire 10-year existence of theAmerican Football League[29] (the other being fellow Hall of Fame coachHank Stram, who coached theDallas Texans andKansas City Chiefs from 1960 through 1974[69]). Gillman approached NFL CommissionerPete Rozelle in 1963 with the idea of having the champions of the AFL and the NFL play a single final game,[1] but his idea was not implemented until theSuper Bowl (originally titled theAFL-NFL World Championship Game) was played in 1967. Gillman left the Chargers nine games into the 1969 season due to a hiatal hernia only to come back to coach the first ten games of the 1971 season.[70][15] He resigned as head coach and executive vice president in November 1971, with general managerHarland Svare finishing out the year as coach.[71]
Gillman served as a quality control coach for theDallas Cowboys in 1972.[13] In March 1973,Bud Adams hired Gillman to serve as executive vice president and general manager of theHouston Oilers (to replaceJohn W. Breen) after head coachBill Peterson won one game in his inaugural season as coach. The 1973 season turned out to be a worse disaster, as the Oilers continued their losing ways. Before the fourth game, Gillman took over the duties of offensive coordinator.[72] After a fifth straight loss to start the season, Gillman took over as coach by firing Peterson, which saw them win once the rest of the way.[73]
In 1974, Gillman hiredBum Phillips (the defensive coordinator for the 1967-71 Charger teams) to serve as defensive coordinator.[74][75] The 1974 team won on opening day before going on a five-game losing streak.[76] Midway through the season, Gillman and the Oilers acquired future Hall of Fame defensive tackleCurley Culp[77] and a first-round draft choice in 1975 from theKansas City Chiefs forJohn Matuszak (each player had threatened to jump to theWorld Football League).[78] They then won four games in a row to get to 5–5 before trading wins and losses in the last four games of the year, which included a win over theCleveland Browns to close the season at 7-7 (.500), their first non-losing season in four years.[76] He was awarded theAFC Coach of the Year byUPI after the season before electing to move back to the GM position while Phillips was promoted to head coach.[79][80][74][15]
The matter of who would address specific personnel decisions proved key in Gilman’s eventual departure. The contract that Phillips had signed with Gillman had a clause that gave him final approval of the moves that Phillips wanted to make, but Phillips asked that this clause be removed during a meeting between him and Adams when Gillman was out of town, which Adams accepted. Later, with the support of Adams, Phillips had Gillman barred from being able to attend practice or be in the locker room. Gillman appealed to Adams about the changes but resigned when Adams sided with Phillips, who was later quoted as stating "I had control of the team. I had the right to draft, waive, trade. I had the control I needed. That's what [Gillman] gave me. I told Sid that's what I wanted, and he said that was fine. We didn't have any disagreement over that. Evidently, the disagreement was with Bud. “There was a whole lot of stories running around, I guess. Believe me, I'm telling you what happened. I worked for [Gillman] for six years, and I enjoyed it for six years. If he wanted to draft somebody that I didn't want to draft, we wouldn't have drafted him. I had no problem with knowing my responsibilities."[74] With Phillips at the helm and a defensive front that would have Culp for years to come alongside that draft choice used to draft future Hall of Fame linebackerRobert Brazile,[81] the Oilers jumped to ten wins inthe following season (1975).[82][77]
In 1977, Gillman was hired as offensive coordinator for theChicago Bears.[83] The Bears, withWalter Payton leading the way in rushing yards (1,852), won 9 games and earned their first postseason appearance in 14 years, which ended in a loss in the Divisional Round. However, Gillman resigned after the year when his ideas about opening up the offense was rejected.[15] For four months of 1978, Gillman was the coach of the football team atUnited States International University; one of the coaches he hired wasTom Walsh, who would coach the team when Gillman left in early 1979.[15]
Philadelphia Eagles coachDick Vermeil hired Gillman in 1979 to take over an offense ranked 27th, 19th, and 18th the previous three seasons. In Gillman's three years under Vermeil, the Eagles scored the 3rd-most points in the NFL, won the 2nd-most games, reached the playoffs all three seasons, and reached their first Super Bowl in 1980, with Vermeil stating that the appearance in the Super Bowl would not have happened without the "encyclopedia" knowledge of Gillman.[84][15] He had retired after the 1980 season as “Physically and mentally drained" before returning in 1982 to the Eagles.[15] Eagles quarterbackRon Jaworski considered Gilman his closest mentor. At this point in his career, Gillman was the measured buffer between Jaworski and the hard-driving intense Vermeil.[85] Gillman taught Jaworski and future Hall of Fame receiverHarold Carmichael their signature "meet me at the corner" play.[86][87]
In July 1983, at age 71, Gillman came out of retirement after an offer from Bill Tatham Sr. and Bill Tatham Jr., owners of theUnited States Football League (USFL) expansion team theOklahoma Outlaws.[88] Gillman agreed to serve as director of operations and signed quarterbackDoug Williams, who later led theWashington Redskins to victory inSuper Bowl XXII.[89][90] Although Gillman signed a roster of players to play for theTulsa, Oklahoma-based franchise, he was fired by Tatham six months later in a dispute over finances.[91]
Gillman then served as a consultant for the USFL'sLos Angeles Express in 1984, where John Hadl was the coach and future Hall of FamerSteve Young was the quarterback.[92][93] He later did work for the Eagles as a quarterback coach in 1985 (Randall Cunningham's rookie year[94]) before serving as an unpaid consultant to theUniversity of Pittsburgh (Pitt) football team (as coached byMike Gottfried) in 1987, earning a game ball after Pitt upsetNotre Dame.[15][20]
Even when he was out of coaching/consulting after his year at Pitt in 1987 (or by 1991[citation needed]), Gillman was still at the helm of looking at tapes of game film, with a number of teams regularly sending him coaching tapes for him to view through multiple VCRs.[95]
Gillman's influence on the modern game can be seen by listing the current and former coaches and executives who either played with him or coached for him, or coached under such people, including among others:
Numbers in parentheses indicate Super Bowls won by Gillman's "descendants" as head coach, a total of 29.
Don Coryell, the coach atSan Diego State University when Gillman was coaching the San Diego Chargers, would bring his team to Chargers' practices to watch how Gillman ran his practices.[106] Coryell went on to coach in the NFL, and some of his assistants, influenced by the Gillman style, included coachesJoe Gibbs,Ernie Zampese,Tom Bass, andRuss A. Molzahn.[107][108] A larger and more extended version of Sid Gillman's coaching tree, which in some ways could be called a forest, can be found here.[109][96]
Gillman has received the following awards and honors, among others;
Gillman and his wife Esther had four children and were married for 67 years (until his death).[117] They resided inCarlsbad,California before moving in 2001 toCentury City inLos Angeles.[118]
On January 3, 2003, Gillman died in his sleep at age 91.[117] He was interred in theHillside Memorial Park Cemetery inCulver City, California.
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miami Redskins(Independent)(1944–1947) | |||||||||
| 1944 | Miami | 8–1 | |||||||
| 1945 | Miami | 7–2 | |||||||
| 1946 | Miami | 7–3 | |||||||
| 1947 | Miami | 9–0–1 | WSun | ||||||
| Miami: | 31–6–1 | ||||||||
| Cincinnati Bearcats(Mid-American Conference)(1949–1952) | |||||||||
| 1949 | Cincinnati | 7–4 | 4–0 | 1st | |||||
| 1950 | Cincinnati | 8–4 | 3–1 | 2nd | LSun | ||||
| 1951 | Cincinnati | 10–1 | 3–0 | 1st | |||||
| 1952 | Cincinnati | 8–1–1 | 3–0 | 1st | |||||
| Cincinnati Bearcats(Independent)(1953–1954) | |||||||||
| 1953 | Cincinnati | 9–1 | |||||||
| 1954 | Cincinnati | 8–2 | |||||||
| Cincinnati: | 50–13–1 | 13–1 | |||||||
| Total: | 81–19–2 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
| Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| LA | 1955 | 8 | 3 | 1 | .727 | 1st in NFL Western Conference | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost toCleveland Browns inNFL Championship |
| LA | 1956 | 4 | 8 | 0 | .333 | T-5th in NFL Western Conference | - | - | - | |
| LA | 1957 | 6 | 6 | 0 | .500 | 4th in NFL Western Conference | - | - | - | |
| LA | 1958 | 8 | 4 | 0 | .667 | T-2nd in NFL Western Conference | - | - | - | |
| LA | 1959 | 2 | 10 | 0 | .200 | 6th in NFL Western Conference | - | - | - | |
| LA Total | 28 | 31 | 1 | .475 | 0 | 1 | .000 | |||
| LA Chargers | 1960 | 10 | 4 | 0 | .714 | 1st in AFL West Division | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost toHouston Oilers inAFL championship game |
| SD | 1961 | 12 | 2 | 0 | .857 | 1st in AFL West Division | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost toHouston Oilers inAFL championship game |
| SD | 1962 | 4 | 10 | 0 | .286 | 4th in AFL West Division | - | - | - | |
| SD | 1963 | 11 | 3 | 0 | .786 | 1st in AFL West Division | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | BeatBoston Patriots inAFL championship game |
| SD | 1964 | 8 | 5 | 1 | .615 | 1st in AFL West Division | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost toBuffalo Bills inAFL championship game |
| SD | 1965 | 9 | 2 | 3 | .818 | 1st in AFL West Division | 0 | 1 | .000 | Lost toBuffalo Bills inAFL championship game |
| SD | 1966 | 7 | 6 | 1 | .538 | 3rd in AFL West Division | - | - | - | |
| SD | 1967 | 8 | 5 | 1 | .615 | 3rd in AFL West Division | - | - | - | |
| SD | 1968 | 9 | 5 | 0 | .643 | 3rd in AFL West Division | - | - | - | |
| SD | 1969 | 4 | 5 | 0 | .444 | 3rd in AFL West Division | - | - | - | |
| SD | 1971 | 4 | 6 | 0 | .440 | 3rd in AFL West Division | - | - | - | |
| LA/SD Total | 86 | 53 | 6 | .619 | 1 | 4 | .200 | |||
| HOU | 1973 | 1 | 8 | 0 | .111 | 4th in AFC Central | - | - | - | |
| HOU | 1974 | 7 | 7 | 0 | .500 | 2nd in AFC Central | - | - | - | |
| HOU Total | 8 | 15 | 0 | .348 | - | - | - | |||
| Professional Total | 122 | 99 | 7 | .552 | 1 | 5 | .167 | |||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
