Steve Sloan, the young coach who led the Texas Tech football program to a 10-win season in 1976 and then returned to their roots in the Southeastern Conference a year later to shake up the Red Raiders, arrived Sunday in his retired Florida home. He died in Orlando, state. .
Sloan had been receiving memory therapy for the past three months and died at Orlando Health Phillips Hospital, according to an obituary written by former Alabama sports information director Wayne Acheson. He was 79 years old.
Sloan's 1976 Tech team won its first eight games and was ranked fifth until losing to Houston. The Red Raiders lost to Nebraska 27-24 in the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl and finished 13th in the final Associated Press poll with a record of 10-2.
Sloan, who went 23-12 in three seasons at Tech, is one of five Red Raiders coaches with at least 10 wins in a season.
“Coach Sloan and I were so close that we even named our son Sloan, so you can see how I felt about him,” said 1976 quarterback Rodney Allison. Ta. “He was like a father figure to me almost all my life. Coach Sloan was a great coach to me, but perhaps an even better human being. I say this to people a lot. He was probably the greatest human being I've ever met in my life, but I still believe that. ”
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Sloan, who has roots as an All-American quarterback and assistant coach at the University of Alabama, was considered a potential successor to Bear Bryant, but left Tech for another SEC school.
On December 1, 1977, while the Red Raiders were still in a bowl game against Florida State, Ole Miss hired Sloan as head coach for the third time in five years. At a local press conference organized by Teck, Sloan's voice choked up as his publicist, Ralph Carpenter, read a prepared statement from Sloan.
Originally from Austin, Sloan grew up in Tennessee. He was the starting quarterback on Alabama's 1965 national championship team and won Orange Bowl MVP.
He was the youngest head coach in major college football when he was hired at Vanderbilt University at age 28, and was nicknamed “Coach Kidd” when he was hired at Tech University at age 30.
Sloan's initial technical staff included Bill Parcells, Romeo Crennel and Mike Pope, two future NFL head coaches and longtime NFL assistants.
The Red Raiders, under coach Jim Karlen, defeated Tennessee 11-1 in the 1973 Gator Bowl, and three years later Sloan coached a team that had nearly the same success.
“Everyone will say he did the same things as Karlen's players, and that's probably true,” Allison said, “but he still coached a team and an offense that was very unique at the time. Combining the offense with a change of direction The dropback pass was not well known at the time, but the change of direction could be combined with play-action.
“His genius was to put great talent on offense and around him, and he did that at Tech. He brought all the legendary coaches to Tech. It was a huge success.”
On the 1976 team, offensive linemen Dan Irons and Mike Sears, running back Larry Isaac, defensive end Harold Buell, and linebacker Thomas Howard were consensus All-Southwest Conference honorees. Yes, Howard received national recognition. Allison was named first team All-SWC by the Associated Press and named SWC Most Valuable Player by the Dallas Morning News.
“We were lucky that year and had a lot of good players,” Sloan told AJ in 2010. “We had tremendous speed. Speed makes a big difference in college football because you can make more big plays.” Rodney not only threw the ball, he was also really fast with his feet. . ”
Sloan led Vanderbilt to a 7-3-2 season in 1974, the Commodores' first winning record in six years. Vanderbilt and Texas Tech tied 6-6 in the Peach Bowl, after which Sloan changed teams.
Despite Sloan's credentials as a player, his character, and his impressive rise as a coach, he never led the Red Raiders to victory again after leaving the Red Raiders at age 33. From 1978-82 at Ole Miss, his teams went 20-34. 1, and at Duke from 1983 to 1986, his teams went 13-31.
He was director of athletics at Alabama (1987-89), North Texas (1990-92), Central Florida (1993-2002) and Chattanooga (2002-2006).
After he retired, he and his wife, Brenda, moved back to Orlando, where UCF is located.
“Steve was a talented athlete,” Acheson wrote. “He loved mentoring young people, was a great administrator, a devoted Christian, and was always the perfect gentleman. And most people think he was the greatest man they ever knew.” I would say he was one of those people who had a contagious smile and loved people, never critical, always complimentary. ”
