Chuck Fairbanks
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Date of birth | June 10, 1933 | |
|---|---|---|
| Sport | Football | |
| Title | Retired Head coach | |
| Overall Record | 111-93-1 | |
| Bowl Record | 3-1-1 | |
| Championships won |
1967, 1968, 1972 Big Eight Championship | |
| Coaching Stats | College Football DataWarehouse | |
| Coaching positions | ||
| 1967-72 1973-78 1979-81 1983 |
Oklahoma New England Patriots (NFL) Colorado New Jersey Generals (USFL) |
|
Chuck Fairbanks (born June 10, 1933) was a football head coach at the high school, collegiate and professional levels, who was often plagued by ethical controversies surrounding his activities.
Fairbanks graduated from Michigan State University in 1955 following three years of football with the Spartans, and that fall, began the first of three years as head coach of Ishpeming High School in Michigan.
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[edit] College assistant
In 1958, he accepted an assistant coaching position at Arizona State University, spending four years there before moving on for another four-year stint at the University of Houston from 1962-1965. In 1966, he accepted an assistant coach position at the University of Oklahoma.
[edit] Head Coach
Following the sudden death of Sooner head coach Jim Mackenzie in April 1967, Fairbanks was promoted to head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners. Over the next six years, Fairbanks led the team to three Big Eight Conference titles, with 11-1 records during his final two seasons.
[edit] NFL
On January 26, 1973, Fairbanks was named head coach of the New England Patriots. Three months later, the University of Oklahoma was forced to forfeit nine games from the 1972 campaign after evidence of recruiting violations involving altered transcripts of student-athletes was found, but Fairbanks denied knowledge of the situation. The scandal prevented the Sooners from playing in bowl games for two years and also kept them from challenging for the national championship.
After mixed results during his first three seasons, Fairbanks' Patriots finished 11-3 in 1976 (a complete reversal of the 3-11 mark from the year before) and took on the 13-1 Oakland Raiders in the first round of the NFL playoffs. New England led 21-10 entering the fourth quarter, but Raider quarterback Ken Stabler's dive into the end zone with eight seconds remaining gave Oakland the comeback victory. The late drive had been aided by a controversial roughing the passer call on the Patriots' Ray Hamilton.
In 1977, contract squabbles with offensive linemen John Hannah and Leon Gray caused havoc with the team all season, preventing them from reaching the postseason. The following year, the team seemed poised to challenge for a Super Bowl berth, but just prior to the final regular season game, Fairbanks was suspended by team owner Billy Sullivan for accepting a contract to coach the University of Colorado beginning in 1979. Fairbanks was reinstated for the team's first playoff game, but the controversy resulted in a distracted Patriot squad losing to the Houston Oilers by a 31-14 score.
[edit] Return to collegiate ranks
After being sued by New England for breach of contract, Fairbanks admitted recruiting for Colorado while still working for the Patriots, with a subsequent legal ruling preventing him from taking his new job. However, on April 2, 1979, Colorado bought out Fairbanks' contract, allowing him to leave the Patriots.
The struggles in obtaining Fairbanks would not be worth the effort when he compiled a 7-26 record in three seasons (3-8, 1-10, 3-8). For some unexplained reason Fairbanks discarded the Buffaloes' traditional black jerseys and replaced them with a medium blue.
[edit] USFL
Fairbanks resigned from CU on June 1, 1982 to accept the head coaching position with the New Jersey Generals of the fledgling USFL.
Even before coaching his first game in the new league, Fairbanks once again found himself immersed in controversy. Georgia junior Herschel Walker, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, signed with the Generals on February 23, 1983, violating the NCAA's then-unwritten rule to not sign players before they had completed their eligibility.
The move, like his tenure at Colorado, proved to be pointless as the Generals finished the 1983 USFL season with a 6-12 record, and resulting in Fairbanks' dismissal. He never again served as either a college or professional coach, and focused on selling real estate in California.
[edit] Record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl Game | Bowl Opponent | Outcome | Rank# |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oklahoma Sooners (Big Eight) (1967 — 1972) | ||||||||
| 1967 | Oklahoma | 10-1 | 7-0 | 1st | Orange Bowl | Tennessee | W, 26-24 | |
| 1968 | Oklahoma | 7-4 | 6-1 | 1st | Bluebonnet Bowl | SMU | L, 28-27 | |
| 1969 | Oklahoma | 6-4 | 4-3 | |||||
| 1970 | Oklahoma | 7-4-1 | 5-2 | Bluebonnet Bowl | Alabama | T, 24-24 | ||
| 1971 | Oklahoma | 11-1 | 6-1 | Sugar Bowl | Auburn | W, 40-22 | ||
| 1972 | Oklahoma | 11-1 | 6-1 | 1st | Sugar Bowl | Penn State | W, 14-0 | |
| At Oklahoma: | 52-15-1 | |||||||
| New England Patriots (NFL AFC East) (1973 — 1978) | ||||||||
| 1973 | New England | 5-9 | 3rd | |||||
| 1974 | New England | 7-7 | 3rd | |||||
| 1975 | New England | 3-11 | 4th | |||||
| 1976 | New England | 11-3 | 2nd | |||||
| 1977 | New England | 9-5 | 3rd | |||||
| 1978 | New England | 11-5 | 1st | |||||
| At New England: | ||||||||
| Colorado Buffaloes (Big Eight) (1979 — 1981) | ||||||||
| 1979 | Colorado | 3-8 | 2-5 | T-5th | ||||
| 1980 | Colorado | 1-10 | 1-6 | T-7th | ||||
| 1981 | Colorado | 3-8 | 2-5 | 7th | ||||
| At Colorado: | 7-26 | 5-16 | ||||||
| New Jersey Generals (USFL) (1983) | ||||||||
| 1983 | New Jersey | 6-12 | ||||||
| At New Jersey: | 6-12 | |||||||
| Career: | ||||||||
| National Championship Conference Title | ||||||||
| #Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season. | ||||||||
[edit] External links
- College Football Data Warehouse.com - Chuck Fairbanks' college coaching record
| Preceded by Jim Mackenzie |
University of Oklahoma Head Football Coaches 1967-1972 |
Succeeded by Barry Switzer |
| Preceded by Phil Bengtson |
New England Patriots Head Coaches 1973–1978 |
Succeeded by Ron Erhardt |
| Preceded by Bill Mallory |
University of Colorado Head Football Coaches 1979-1981 |
Succeeded by Bill McCartney |
| Preceded by first coach |
New Jersey Generals Head Coaches 1983 |
Succeeded by Walt Michaels |
| Boston/New England Patriots Head Coaches |
|---|
| Saban • Holovak • Rush • Mazur • Bengtson • Fairbanks • Erhardt • Meyer • Berry • Rust • MacPherson • Parcells • Carroll • Belichick |
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Fairbanks, Chuck |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Football coach |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 10, 1933 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
