Former Chargers coach Don Coryell dies at 85
Don Coryell, the innovative coach whose San Diego Chargers teams featured some of the most dynamic passing attacks in league history, has died. He was 85.
Don Coryell
, the innovative coach whose San Diego Chargers teams featured some of the most dynamic passing attacks in league history, has died. He was 85.
The Chargers confirmed Coryell died yesterday at Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, just outside of San Diego. The team did not release the cause of death, but Coryell had been in poor health for some time.
Coryell is one of the founding fathers of the modern passing game. He coached at San Diego State and in the NFL with the St. Louis Cardinals and Chargers.
From 1978 to '86 with the Chargers, his "Air Coryell" offense - led by quarterback Dan Fouts - set numerous NFL records.
He is the first coach to win 100 games in college and pro football, but he never reached the Super Bowl.
In other NFL news:
* The league announced that former Eagles defensive tackle Hollis Thomas was suspended eight games for violating the league's policy on performance-enhancing substances. Thomas, 36, is a free agent. Also, the NFL confirmed that free-agent running back LenDale White has been suspended without pay for the first four games of the season for violating the league's substance-abuse policy.
* Tennessee Titans backup quarterback Chris Simms was arrested in Manhattan on charges of driving while on drugs, police said. Simms, 29, was stopped at about 1:30 a.m. yesterday. Police say he appeared to have been smoking marijuana.
Auto Racing
* Dale Earnhardt Jr. said he probably will not drive with his father's No. 3 again after tonight's Nationwide Series race at Daytona International Speedway. Earnhardt's Chevrolet will carry the No. 3 and a blue-and-yellow retro Wrangler paint scheme to honor his father's induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. It is is a replica of car the late Dale Earnhardt drove from 1981 to '87.
* International Speedway Corp. formally petitioned NASCAR to give Kansas Speedway a second Sprint Cup race as early as 2011.
Colleges
* The contract of Southern Cal running-backs coach Todd McNair has expired, and he was not rehired. McNair, who played at Temple, was given special penalties last month for what the NCAA claimed was his role in the scandal surrounding tailback Reggie Bush.
* Georgia athletic director Damon Evans was arrested in Atlanta and charged with drunken driving.
Sport Stops
* Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra will race at Monmouth Park on July 24 in the Lady's Secret Stakes.
* Na Yeon Choi shot a 7-under 64 for a one-stroke lead in the first round of the Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic in Sylvania, Ohio.