Don Coryell might finally be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2023. Here’s why that honor is long, long overdue.
“I don’t think there’s ever been a coach who was more courageous about creating offense.” Dan Fouts on Don Coryell
Don Coryell was many things in his 85 years on this Earth. He was an Army paratrooper during World War II, a defensive back for the Washington Huskies, a longtime high school and college coach, the head coach of the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Chargers, and finally, a retiree living a gentle life in the Pacific Northwest. Most prominently, of course, was his work in the NFL from 1973 through 1986, when he took the Sid Gillman vertical passing game, added his own rushing formation concepts, and spun the NFL’s passing offense forward a generation. Coryell can be considered the functional link between the deep passing games of the 1960s and 1970s, and the West Coast Offense that followed into the 1980s and 1990s. As much as any coach in the history of football, Coryell preached the gospel of the nuanced, aggressive passing game wherever he went — and wherever he went, he got results.
On Wednesday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced that Coryell, who died on July 1, 2010, was named as the finalist for the Coach/Contributor class of 2023. From the HOF:
A four-hour meeting of the Hall of Fame’s Coach/Contributor Committee concluded Tuesday afternoon with Coryell emerging from the group of 12 Coach/Contributor candidates remaining under consideration as the Finalist for next year’s class of enshrinees. The Hall of Fame’s full 49-person Selection Committee will consider Coryell for election – along with 15 Modern-Era Players and three Seniors – when it meets to choose the entire Class of 2023 in January.
Coryell would be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame if he receives at least 80% approval in the up-or-down balloting next year.
Last week, the Hall’s Seniors Committee chose Chuck Howley, Joe Klecko and Ken Riley as Finalists for the Class of 2023. Each of them also would be elected if he receives 80% approval at the January selection meeting.
Coryell had reached the Finalist stage in the selection process six other times: 2010, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020. In 14 seasons as a head coach in the NFL after a lengthy career in the college ranks, he posted an overall record (including playoffs) of 114-89-1.
In St. Louis, Coryell was named Associated Press Coach of the Year in 1974, his second season with the Cardinals. He led the team to a 10-4 record and their first playoff appearance since the 1948 NFL Championship Game. They followed that breakthrough year with an 11-win regular season in 1975 that equaled the then-franchise record for victories in a season (1948, 1925).
After five seasons in St. Louis, Coryell became head coach of the San Diego Chargers, and with future Hall of Famers Dan Fouts, Kellen Winslow, and Charlie Joiner built the “Air Coryell” offense that ranked atop the NFL in numerous statistics. In his nine years with the Chargers (1978-1986), the team led the league in total offense five times, passing yards seven times (and was second another year) and scoring three times.
His 1980 and 1981 teams reached the AFC title games, falling one win short of the Super Bowl. Prior to Coryell’s arrival, the Chargers had not posted a winning record for eight seasons and had not qualified for the playoffs since appearing in the AFL title game in 1965.
Several Hall of Fame coaches voiced support for Coryell as a Hall of Fame-worthy candidate over the years, including Joe Gibbs, John Madden, Dick Vermeil, and Bill Walsh.
We’ve said for as long as we can remember that Coryell already should have been in the Hall of Fame, as a coach and as a schematic innovator. Let’s get into the details of why.
(Article adapted from The Genius of Desperation by Doug Farrar and Louis Riddick. Copyright 2018 Doug Farrar/Triumph Books LLC. Play diagrams by Doug Farrar and Lindsey Schauer. Used by permission).
