Ed Troxel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ed Troxel (b. 1925, d. January 22, 2001) was an influential high school and college football coach in Idaho and eastern Washington. His most notable coaching stops were at Borah High School in Boise, the University of Idaho, and Kennewick High School.

Ed Troxel grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado. His father died when he was eight years old, and his high school football coaches had a great influence on him.

Contents

[edit] Manzanola & Caldwell

His first coaching job was in 1949 in tiny Manzanola, Colorado, fifty miles east of Pueblo. In four years his football teams went 42-6 (.875) and won two state titles. He moved to Caldwell, Idaho in 1953 to coach Caldwell High School, and his teams had a 16-2-1 record (.894) in his two years there. In 1954 he moved to the College of Idaho, also in Caldwell, where he coached football, boxing, and track. He was at C of I for four years, but the 16 hour days he was spending at campus forced him to find another job in 1958.

[edit] Borah Lions

The second public high school in Boise was due to open in the fall of 1958. Troxel was hired as the football and track coach at Borah High School, where he instituted a weight-training program that was far ahead of its time. Troxel stayed for nine years, where his Lions amassed a dominating 78-6-2 record (.918) in football, winning the Southern Idaho Conference (and unofficial state title) eight times, settling for runner-up once. His track teams won 5 state titles.

[edit] Idaho Vandals

In 1967, Ed Troxel moved north to the University of Idaho as an assistant coach in both football and track. He was the head coach for the track team from 1970 until 1974, stepping down when he became the head coach of the football team, which lasted for four seasons. One of his notable hires was his first offensive coordinator, a 27 year-old Dennis Erickson, hired away from Montana, who stayed for two seasons. After a successful 7-4 season in 1976 (5-1 in the Big Sky), the Vandals fell to a disappointing 3-8 in '77, and Ed Troxel, age 52, was fired during the week of Christmas, ending his eleven seasons in Moscow.

[edit] Kennewick Lions

Troxel then moved over to eastern Washington in 1978 to coach football at Kennewick High School. In 13 seasons he led his new Lions to a 104-33 record (.759), winning four conference titles. He retired after the 1990 season at the age of 65.

Troxel was inducted into the high school halls of fame in both Idaho and Washington and was a member of the inaugural induction class of the Central Washington Sports Hall of Fame.

Ed Troxel, age 75, a mentor to thousands, died in Kennewick on Monday, January 22, 2001, after a three month battle with pancreatic and liver cancer. A month before his death he gathered enough strength to visit his 96-year-old mother in Colorado. Troxel was survived by his wife Donna (married in 1948), daughter Melissa, and three sons: Lon, Van, & Andy. Two of his sons are high school head coaches: Van Troxel of Lake City High School in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and Andy Troxel at Southridge High School in Kennewick.

His memorial service that Saturday at Kennewick High was attended by over a thousand people, including many of his athletes and coaches from his various coaching stops. Among those in attendance was Oregon State's Dennis Erickson, Troxel's first offensive coordinator at Idaho. Also in attendence were twenty former players from his championship Borah High teams of the 1960s, numerous ex-athletes from his University of Idaho football and track teams, and countless members of his Kennewick High football teams.

[edit] References & External Links

Preceded by
Don Robbins		 Idaho Head Football Coaches
1974-1977		 Succeeded by
Jerry Davitch


Idaho Vandals Head Football Coaches
Higgins • Morse • Herbold • Griffith • Middleton • Grogan • Griffith • Rademacher • Bleasmaster • Hutchinson • Kelley • Mathews • Erb • Calland • Bank • Schmidt • Brown • Howell • Curfman • Stahley • Andros • Musseau • McNease • Robbins • Troxel • Davitch • Erickson • Gilbertson • Smith • Tormey • Cable • Holt • Erickson
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../e/d/_/Ed_Troxel_91bd.html"