Jeff Scurran
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Jeffrey Alan Scurran (born July 14, 1947 in Cleveland, Ohio) is a former American football coach and motivational speaker, best known for his highly successful career as head football coach at Sabino High School and Pima Community College, both in Tucson, Arizona.
Scurran is now semi-retired and currently lives in Tucson with his wife Joan. Together they have two grown children: Shelley Robinson (b. 1972), his daughter, is an artist who lives with her husband Jamie and son Julian in Tucson. Joshua Scurran (b. 1975), his son, is a graduate student at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon.
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[edit] Football coach
[edit] Early career
In college, Scurran briefly played football with the University of Florida, though his relatively small stature prevented him from playing at that level of competition. After completing his master's degree in Counseling at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona, Scurran turned his focus towards coaching, and after wedding Joan in 1970, he worked as an assistant football coach in Truckee, California and also coached tennis and downhill skiing.
Scurran landed his first high school head football coaching job in 1981 at Wahtonka High School in The Dalles, Oregon. After one season where he took a winless team the two previous seasons to the state semi's, Scurran was hired to coach at the much larger West Linn High School in West Linn, Oregon. Then, in 1984, Scurran and his family moved to Tucson so he could take over the football program at Canyon Del Oro High School in nearby Oro Valley.
[edit] Sabino Sabercats
Scurran is arguably most famous in his hometown of Tucson (and throughout much of Arizona) for his career as the highly successful head football coach of the Sabino Sabercats at Sabino High School from 1988 through 1999. Scurran turned what was once a failing program into one of national stature. He won three state titles in 12 years at Sabino, dominating Arizona's 4A football division for almost a decade. In his last year at Sabino, the school's burgenoning population forced the team to be reclassified into the largest-of-all 5A division; despite competing directly against much larger schools with their own legendary football programs, the Sabercats went undefeated all the way to the final title game of the 5A playoffs.
[edit] Controversy
As Scurran's reputation in Tucson grew, accusations of steroid abuse against his players began to surface, fueled mostly by the independent alternative newspaper Tucson Weekly. Scurran and his supporters dismiss the allegations as baseless, and no evidence of the use or promotion of steroids in any of Scurran's programs has ever surfaced.
[edit] Pima Storm
After leaving Sabino, he was invited to found the first ever football program at Pima Community College. Scurran spearheaded the planning and private funding drive for an entirely artificially-turfed practice field at Pima College's east campus, and constructed the new football program from scratch, recruiting apsiring players from around Tucson and Arizona, and even from out of state. After a rocky start, the junior college team quickly became well-known for its winning program. He led the Storm their first ever bowl game in 2004, defeating Kilgore College (ranked number two nationally) in the Pilgrim's Pride Bowl. However, this season was to be Scurran's last at Pima, as the college decided to shift focus and resources away from its sports programs.
[edit] Educational film
In 2004, Scurran starred in an educational video for youth football programs entitled Fundamentals of Youth Football: Basic Skills and Practice Drills. Despite the modest means of the publishing studio Sport Videos, the film has become quite popular and successful in youth football circles.
[edit] Motivational speaker
Scurran has also achieved a modicum of fame for his role as an effective motivational speaker, flying all around the country giving speeches on effective training and motivational practices to athletic teams and businesses alike. Scurran is one of a number of successful former coaches who work through athletic company Bigger Faster Stronger.
