Dick Jauron, the former coach of the Chicago Bears and Buffalo Bills who spent 28 years coaching in the NFL, died early Saturday morning. He was 74 years old, and had recently been diagnosed with cancer.
Jauron is best known for his time with the Bears, going 35–45 across five seasons as head coach of the franchise (1999 to 2003), including a breakout 13–3 campaign in 2001 for which he beat out Bill Belichick to win the NFL Coach of the Year award. Jauron also led the Bills from 2006 to '09, going 24–33. He went 1–4 as the interim coach of the Detroit Lions in '05, and had stints on the Green Bay Packers, Jacksonville Jaguars, Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Browns coaching staffs. He last served as the Browns defensive coordinator from 2011 to '12.
Jauron was born in Peoria, Ill., but grew up in Massachusetts, and was a standout running back at Yale. He rushed for 2,947 yards across three seasons for the Bulldogs, earning All-Ivy League honors each year and first-team All-American honors as a senior. He was the 1972 recipient of the Asa S. Bushnell Award for the Ivy League's top player and is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame. He also played baseball during college and would later be drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals, but would opt to play football professionally.
He was selected in the fourth round of the 1973 NFL draft by the Detroit Lions, and would make the move to safety, while earning Pro Bowl honors as a punt returner in 1974. Jauron intercepted 25 passes across eight seasons with the Lions and Cincinnati Bengals. He retired from the sport after the 1980 season, and began his coaching career five years later.
“He was so stabilizing and he didn’t get enough credit for what he did with our team,” legendary Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher told the Chicago Tribune Saturday. “He was amazing and a lot like Lovie Smith in the aspect of he was kind of like your dad and you didn’t want to let him down. Him and Greg Blache and Dale Lindsey on that staff were so influential on me early in my career. They were older coaches, if you look at the coaches in the league now, but the way Dick made us practice, he instilled that work ethic.
“He was such a wonderful man. Always classy with us, the media and I just had a ton of respect for him. It’s so sad Virginia McCaskey [died] a couple days ago and now Coach Jauron.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Dick Jauron, Former Pro Bowler and Bears, Bills Coach, Dies at 74.
