On Don Coryell’s 100th birthday, revisit his 1951 thesis on football scouting and coaching
I love the comments section on this website. We hear from relatives of the Boys in the Boat, classmates of Nobel Prize winners and alumni who fondly remember the U District of years past. My favorite comment so far, however, came from a former UW sport studies teacher named Steve Hardy, who noticed something back in his teaching days on campus.
“I taught at the UW from 1979-1982, in Hutchinson Hall, which for years housed the programs related to Physical Education. In the beautiful Gothic tower, we had a Sport Studies Center, which housed hard copies of all Master’s theses written under department advisers. I was well-versed in football history, so I had a double take when I saw a bound thesis, with the name of Don Coryell. It must be available in the University archives. I hope someone gets it scanned online!”
Don Coryell
In 1951, Donald David Coryell, ’50, ’51, was finishing his Master of Science in Physical Education at the UW. Before enrolling at the UW, he served in the Army, rising to the rank of first lieutenant. In his undergraduate years at the UW, he was a defensive back for the Huskies, but perhaps more surprisingly, Coryell was better known as a proficient boxer, winning a light heavyweight crown in 1947.
After that, he bounced around schools as a football coach. He coached in Hawaii, British Columbia and Washington before settling in San Diego for an impressive early career with the San Diego State Aztecs. From there, he began coaching for the NFL. I will leave it to Jon Marmor to fill you in on any significant details of Coryell’s life and coaching style.
I excitedly dug up the thesis Steve Hardy mentioned, which is about football scouting. Though I never thought I’d spend so long thinking about coaching football, there was something thrilling about holding and reading this book so thoughtfully created by one of the greatest football coaches of all time. Did his scouting research lead to his legendary tree of assistant coaches who’d go on to become professional NFL head coaches? Did his time at the UW inspire “Air Coryell”? Read for yourself, and wish Coryell a happy 100th birthday while you’re at it.