HONOLULU - Former National Football League (NFL) Head Coach Jerry Glanville has been hired as defensive coordinator at the University of Hawai'i, head coach June Jones announced today.
"I'm glad that Jerry is a part of us now," Jones said. "It excites me because he actually helped me get my first coaching job here at UH. He called Dick Tomey and put in the good word for me, and then he hired me in the NFL when nobody would. So I'm glad to be reunited with him. This is great not only for both of us, but for our team and the university as well."
Glanville, 63, is best known for developing the "Gritz Blitz" defense and turning the Astrodome into "The House of Pain" as defensive coordinator with the Atlanta Falcons and Houston Oilers, respectively. He later became the head coach for both teams, leading his teams to a combined four playoffs appearances.
Although the defensive guru has officially been out of coaching since 1994, he said it's something that never leaves you.
"Once a coach, always a coach," Glanville said. "I don't think it ever leaves you. Coaches coach and preachers preach. When I was a television analyst, I would study both teams and prepare a game plan, just as I did when I was coaching. I'm thrilled to be here. If June wasn't here, then I wouldn't be here. I had a few other offers that I would've taken and most likely ended up somewhere else. We're going to demand a hundred miles an hour out of our defense, spill our guts on the field, play as hard as we can play, and live with the results."
A former television analyst for Fox, CBS, HBO and The Football Network, Glanville began his coaching career more than 40 years ago with the majority of his career spent in the NFL. Glanville began in the league as a special teams coach and defensive assistant with the Detroit Lions from 1974 to 1976. He also served as a secondary coach for the Buffalo Bills in 1983.
Glanville's greatest success came with the Falcons and Oilers. He joined Atlanta in 1977 as a defensive back coach and then served as defense coordinator (1979-82), for a Falcons' defense that once set an NFL single-season record for fewest points allowed (129). Glanville then traveled to Houston in 1984, and as the team's defensive coordinator the next two seasons, turned the league's worst rushing defense into the top-ranked unit in the NFL.
Glanville became the Oilers' head coach in 1986 and for the next four years continued to guide one of the NFL's top-rated defenses, while leading Houston to three consecutive playoff appearances.
His success led him back to Atlanta in 1990 as head coach. Glanville again led a reclamation program, turning the Falcons rush defense, ranked last in the NFL, into the best stop-unit in the league in a one-year span. Following a first-year record of 5-11, Glanville turned in a career-best record of 11-5 in 1991 and a spot in the playoffs. Jones served as Glanville's assistant (1991-93) in Atlanta, before succeeding him as head coach in 1994.
His last collegiate coaching stint came from 1968 to '73 when he was the defensive ends and outside linebackers coach at Georgia Tech and helped lead the Yellow Jackets to three bowl game appearances. Prior to that, Glanville served as the defensive coordinator for one season at Western Kentucky where he built a defense ranked in the top five nationally.
An avid motor-sports fan and participant, his No. 81 Glanville Motor Sports Inc., team has spent the last 10 years racing in various NASCAR series, while drag racing in the NHRA and Fun Ford.
Born in Detroit, and raised in Perrysburg, Ohio, Glanville and his wife Brenda and his son, Justin, have lived in Dawsonville, Ga., in recent years.
Glanville's Resume
1967: Western Kentucky (Defensive Coordinator)
1968-73: Georgia Tech (Defensive Ends/Outside Linebackers)
1974-76: Atlanta Falcons (Special Teams/Linebackers)
1977-78: Atlanta Falcons (Secondary)
1979-82: Atlanta Falcons (Defensive Coordinator)
1983: Buffalo Bills (Secondary)
1984-85: Houston Oilers (Defensive Coordinator)
1986-89: Houston Oilers (Head Coach)
1990-93: Atlanta Falcons (Head Coach)
Awards & Accomplishments
1991: Inducted into Atlanta Country Hall of Fame
1991: Received Distinguished Alumni Award from Northern Michigan University
1992: Inducted into Northern Michigan University Hall of Fame
2001: No. 73 jersey retired by Perrysburg High School (Ohio) on Jerry Glanville Day (July 17, 2001)
Playing Experience
Northern Michigan University (Linebacker)
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