Richard Eugene Forzano (November 20, 1928 – January 10, 2019)[1] was an American football coach at the high school, collegiate and professional levels, most prominently as head coach of the National Football League (NFL)'s Detroit Lions from 1974 to 1976.[2]
Early life and career
Forzano was born November 20, 1928, in Akron, Ohio. He played football at Kenmore High School until he suffered a detached retina as a sophomore, which ended his playing days. He enlisted in the Marine Corps but was medically discharged as a result of the injury that left him with 20/400 vision in one eye.[3]
He enrolled at Kent State University and began coaching at Akron area high schools. A 1951 stint at Kenmore High School was followed one year later by a season at Hower High School. In 1953, he was promoted to head coach at Hower, where he stayed three seasons and compiled a 10–14–1 record. He completed his bachelor's degree in 1951 and his master's degree in 1955.[4]
Success at Navy led to his first college head coaching position at the University of Connecticut in 1964. Over two years, he compiled a 7-10-1 record for the Huskies, but was named as the Yankee Conference coach of the year in his first season.[7][8]
In 1966, he moved up to become an NFL coach with the first of two seasons as the St. Louis Cardinals' offensive backfield coach.[9][10] Returning to Ohio in 1968, he served one year in that same role as a Cincinnati Bengals assistant under Paul Brown.[6][11] On January 15, 1969, he then took the head coaching position at the U.S. Naval Academy.[6]
After putting together a 10–33 record with three defeats against rival Army, Forzano resigned on February 1, 1973, to become an assistant coach with the Detroit Lions under Don McCafferty,[12] who had worked with him at Kent State in the late 1950s.[5]
Forzano became the interim head coach after McCafferty's death from a heart attack on July 28, 1974, just before the start of exhibition play and was named as the coach for the remainder of the season a few days later.[13] After the 1974 season in which the team finished 7-7, the Lions signed him to a three-year contract to coach the team.[14] Forzano gave Bill Belichick his first full time coaching job with the Detroit Lions.[15] Forzano and Belichick had known each other for many years, as Forzano coached with his father Steve Belichick at Navy and had briefly lived with the Belichick family in 1959.[15]
Forzano was known as a strict disciplinarian.[16][17] However, Forzano was unable to lead the team to a winning record and was forced to resign on October 4, 1976, after the team lost three of its first four games. Forzano finished his Lions' tenure with a 15–17 record[16] and never returned to coaching, focusing on his own company, Rick Forzano Associates. The company, based in Detroit, serves as a manufacturer's sales representative.[18] Forzano also served as a commentator for Big Ten Conference football games.[citation needed]
^ abShook, Richard L. (October 5, 1976). "Rick Forzano out as Lions' coach". Beaver County Times. United Press International. Retrieved April 15, 2011.
