John Idzik
Encyclopedia
John J. Idzik is an American former football coach. He was the head coach of the University of Detroit football team until the school discontinued its program in 1964. He held assistant coaching positions at the University of Tennessee
, University of Maryland
, Tulane University
, in the National Football League
(NFL) with the Miami Dolphins
, Baltimore Colts
, Philadelphia Eagles
, New York Jets
, and in the Canadian Football League
(CFL) with the Ottawa Rough Riders
. Idzik played college football at the University of Maryland
.
, attended North Catholic High School, where the Philadelphia Daily News
described him as "one of this city's top high school football players". He enrolled at the University of Maryland
in 1947. Idzik played on the football team
as a back from 1947 to 1950. Idzik was invited to play for the South squad in the third annual Mahi Shrine North-South College All-Star Football Classic, a charity game held on Christmas
night at Orange Bowl Stadium
in Miami
. The 1951 yearbook, The Terrapin, described Idzik as a "backfield bulwark who was demon on defense—Could have starred on offense but was defensive necessity. Saved more touchdowns than most backs scored" He also played varsity baseball for the University of Maryland. He was a member of the Phi Delta Theta
fraternity. Idzik graduated from Maryland in 1951.
hired Idzik as an assistant football coach for its freshman team. Having played college football under Jim Tatum
, Idzik was the split T expert on the Tennessee staff. He resigned in February 1955 to take a job with the Ottawa Rough Riders
in the Canadian Football League
.
At Ottawa, he served as the backfield and top assistant coach under head coach Chan Caldwell. The two personalities clashed however, which resulted in Idzik's dismissal midseason in October. The disagreements, over play-calling and which players to dress, began after the first preseason game in early August and resulted in three meetings between the parties and the club management, the last of which was called at the request of the team's players. Idzik accepted payment of a year's salary of $7,000 upon his termination.
In January 1956, Idzik was hired as the line coach at his alma mater, to work under Tommy Mont
, who had been promoted to head coach after Jim Tatum's departure. He served in that capacity for three seasons.
. As head coach, Detroit failed to achieve a winning season and Idzik amassed a record of 6–21–1.
At the time of his hiring, Detroit indicated that it might discontinue its football program if its gate receipts did not improve. After the 1964 season, the university terminated its sponsorship of the sport. Idzik sued the school for $15,000 in a breach of contract suit. Half of the requested amount consisted was for "services rendered" and the other half for damages. In July 1965, Idzik and the University of Detroit came to an agreement under which he was awarded $1,400.
He was then hired as the chief offensive coach at Tulane University
. Idzik was considered a candidate for the Tulane head coach post after Tommy O'Boyle
resigned, but the job ultimately went to Jim Pittman
.
, where he joined the staff of the Miami Dolphins
as its backfield coach. He convinced the staff to select halfback Jim Kiick
in the 1969 NFL Draft
. In contrast to some of the other staff members earlier assessments, Idzik said, "He's not slow. He has got good speed and power and balance and a good head on his shoulders." In 1967, Idzik was a frontrunner for the vacant head coaching job at his alma mater, which went instead to fellow alumnus Bob Ward.
In 1970, he was hired by the Baltimore Colts
as its offensive backfield coach. He was on the staff that guided Baltimore to win Super Bowl V
after the 1970 season
. On December 20, 1972, Colts general manager Joe Thomas
, who wanted "a new approach, a new look," dismissed the entire coaching staff including Idzik and interim head coach John Sandusky
.
Idzik and Sandusky were subsequently hired as assistants by the Philadelphia Eagles
in January 1973. After the Eagles posted a 4–10 record in 1976, Idzik resigned as offensive coordinator
, as did defensive coordinator
John Mazur
.
The New York Jets
hired both Idzik and Mazur in February 1977. With the Jets, he was responsible for the development of quarterbacks Richard Todd and Matt Robinson
. As part of the New York staff, Idzik coached as the offensive coordinator in the 1978 Senior Bowl
. In 1978, Idzik expressed an interest in the vacant head coaching position with the New York Giants
, but he did not receive the job.
Idzik resigned from the Jets after the 1979 season. The Associated Press
reported that he did not get along with head coach Walt Michaels
, and that he favored embattled quarterback Richard Todd over back-up Matt Robinson. He returned to the Baltimore Colts for the 1980 season. In 1982, Frank Kush
took over as head coach and dismissed the entire staff.
After his coaching career, he and his wife lived in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. In 1990, he intended to return from retirement to become head coach of the Rome
franchise of the new International League of American Football, but the league folded before its first season.
with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
and Seattle Seahawks
.
University of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
, University of Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
, Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
, in the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
(NFL) with the Miami Dolphins
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, Baltimore Colts
History of the Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional football team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They play in the AFC South division of the National Football League. They have won 3 NFL championships and 2 Super Bowls....
, Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
, New York Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, and in the Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
(CFL) with the Ottawa Rough Riders
Ottawa Rough Riders
The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. One of the oldest and longest lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine times. Their most dominant era was the 1960s and 1970s, a...
. Idzik played college football at the University of Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
.
Early life and college
Idzik, a native of Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
, attended North Catholic High School, where the Philadelphia Daily News
Philadelphia Daily News
The Philadelphia Daily News is a tabloid newspaper that serves Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The newspaper is owned by Philadelphia Media Holdings which also owns Philadelphia's other major newspaper The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Daily News began publishing on March 31, 1925, under...
described him as "one of this city's top high school football players". He enrolled at the University of Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
in 1947. Idzik played on the football team
Maryland Terrapins football
The Maryland Terrapins football team represents the University of Maryland in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I Football Bowl Subdivision competition. The Terrapins compete within the Atlantic Division of the Atlantic Coast Conference...
as a back from 1947 to 1950. Idzik was invited to play for the South squad in the third annual Mahi Shrine North-South College All-Star Football Classic, a charity game held on Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
night at Orange Bowl Stadium
Miami Orange Bowl
The Orange Bowl, formerly Burdine Stadium, was an outdoor athletic stadium in Miami, Florida, west of downtown in Little Havana. Considered a landmark, it was the home stadium for the Miami Hurricanes college football team...
in Miami
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
. The 1951 yearbook, The Terrapin, described Idzik as a "backfield bulwark who was demon on defense—Could have starred on offense but was defensive necessity. Saved more touchdowns than most backs scored" He also played varsity baseball for the University of Maryland. He was a member of the Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta , also known as Phi Delt, is an international fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. The fraternity has about 169 active chapters and colonies in over 43 U.S...
fraternity. Idzik graduated from Maryland in 1951.
Coaching career
In 1954, the University of TennesseeUniversity of Tennessee
The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...
hired Idzik as an assistant football coach for its freshman team. Having played college football under Jim Tatum
Jim Tatum
James M. "Big Jim" Tatum was an American football and baseball player and coach. Tatum served as the head football coach at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill , the University of Oklahoma , and the University of Maryland, College Park , compiling a career college football record of...
, Idzik was the split T expert on the Tennessee staff. He resigned in February 1955 to take a job with the Ottawa Rough Riders
Ottawa Rough Riders
The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. One of the oldest and longest lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine times. Their most dominant era was the 1960s and 1970s, a...
in the Canadian Football League
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....
.
At Ottawa, he served as the backfield and top assistant coach under head coach Chan Caldwell. The two personalities clashed however, which resulted in Idzik's dismissal midseason in October. The disagreements, over play-calling and which players to dress, began after the first preseason game in early August and resulted in three meetings between the parties and the club management, the last of which was called at the request of the team's players. Idzik accepted payment of a year's salary of $7,000 upon his termination.
In January 1956, Idzik was hired as the line coach at his alma mater, to work under Tommy Mont
Tommy Mont
Thomas Allison "Tommy" Mont is an American educator, university administrator, college football coach, and NFL player. He played quarterback for the Washington Redskins as a back-up behind Sammy Baugh for three seasons. Mont served as the head football coach for three years at the University of...
, who had been promoted to head coach after Jim Tatum's departure. He served in that capacity for three seasons.
Detroit
After Maryland, Idzik moved on to take an assistant coaching position at the University of Detroit. He worked as backfield coach under Jim Miller for three seasons, until promoted to head coach in 1962. He replaced Miller who had resigned to take over at Boston CollegeBoston College Eagles football
The Boston College Eagles football team is the collegiate football program of Boston College. The team is a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference, a Division I Bowl Subdivision league governed by the NCAA. Within the ACC, the Eagles are one of six teams in the Atlantic Division...
. As head coach, Detroit failed to achieve a winning season and Idzik amassed a record of 6–21–1.
At the time of his hiring, Detroit indicated that it might discontinue its football program if its gate receipts did not improve. After the 1964 season, the university terminated its sponsorship of the sport. Idzik sued the school for $15,000 in a breach of contract suit. Half of the requested amount consisted was for "services rendered" and the other half for damages. In July 1965, Idzik and the University of Detroit came to an agreement under which he was awarded $1,400.
He was then hired as the chief offensive coach at Tulane University
Tulane University
Tulane University is a private, nonsectarian research university located in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States...
. Idzik was considered a candidate for the Tulane head coach post after Tommy O'Boyle
Tommy O'Boyle
Tommy O'Boyle was a college football coach at Southwest Missouri State and Tulane. From 1947 to 1948, he served as Southwest Missouri State's head football coach, and was very successful going 7-2-1 and 9-2 in his 2 seasons, giving him an overall record there of 16-4-1. In 1962, an opportunity...
resigned, but the job ultimately went to Jim Pittman
Jim Pittman
-References:...
.
NFL assistant coach
Idzik then moved on to the National Football LeagueNational Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
, where he joined the staff of the Miami Dolphins
Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are a Professional football team based in the Miami metropolitan area in Florida. The team is part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
as its backfield coach. He convinced the staff to select halfback Jim Kiick
Jim Kiick
James Forrest Kiick is a former professional American football running back, who is best known for playing halfback for the Miami Dolphins in the American Football League from 1968 to 1969 and in the National Football League from 1970 through 1974...
in the 1969 NFL Draft
1969 NFL Draft
The 1969 National Football League Draft was part of the Common Draft, the third and final year in which the NFL and American Football League held a joint draft of college players. The draft took place on January 28–29, 1969....
. In contrast to some of the other staff members earlier assessments, Idzik said, "He's not slow. He has got good speed and power and balance and a good head on his shoulders." In 1967, Idzik was a frontrunner for the vacant head coaching job at his alma mater, which went instead to fellow alumnus Bob Ward.
In 1970, he was hired by the Baltimore Colts
History of the Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional football team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They play in the AFC South division of the National Football League. They have won 3 NFL championships and 2 Super Bowls....
as its offensive backfield coach. He was on the staff that guided Baltimore to win Super Bowl V
Super Bowl V
Super Bowl V was an American football game played on January 17, 1971, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, to decide the National Football League champion following the 1970 regular season...
after the 1970 season
1970 Baltimore Colts season
The 1970 Baltimore Colts season was the 18th season for the team in the National Football League. The Baltimore Colts finished the National Football League's 1970 season with a record of 11 wins, 2 losses and 1 tie. They won the AFC East...
. On December 20, 1972, Colts general manager Joe Thomas
Joe Thomas
-Cleveland Browns:Thomas signed a 6-year contract worth $43 million, $23 million guaranteed, including a voidable year, with the Browns. Thomas won the starting left tackle job, with previous Browns left tackle Kevin Shaffer moving to right tackle. He made his NFL debut versus the Pittsburgh...
, who wanted "a new approach, a new look," dismissed the entire coaching staff including Idzik and interim head coach John Sandusky
John Sandusky
John Thomas Sandusky, Jr. was an American football offensive and defensive tackle in the National Football League. He played for the Cleveland Browns and the Green Bay Packers ....
.
Idzik and Sandusky were subsequently hired as assistants by the Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
in January 1973. After the Eagles posted a 4–10 record in 1976, Idzik resigned as offensive coordinator
Offensive coordinator
An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of a gridiron football team who is in charge of the offense. Generally, along with his defensive counterpart, he represents the second level of command structure after the head coach...
, as did defensive coordinator
Defensive coordinator
A defensive coordinator typically refers to a coach on a gridiron football team who is in charge of the defense. Generally, along with his offensive counterpart, he represents the second level of command structure after the head coach...
John Mazur
John Mazur
John Edward Mazur is a former football player and coach who was a quarterback for the University of Notre Dame and also served as head coach for the New England Patriots from 1970 to 1972....
.
The New York Jets
New York Jets
The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
hired both Idzik and Mazur in February 1977. With the Jets, he was responsible for the development of quarterbacks Richard Todd and Matt Robinson
Matt Robinson (American football)
Matthew Paul Robinson is a former professional American football player. He played quarterback for the University of Georgia. Robinson played in the National Football League from 1977-1982 for the New York Jets, the Denver Broncos, and the Buffalo Bills...
. As part of the New York staff, Idzik coached as the offensive coordinator in the 1978 Senior Bowl
Senior Bowl
The Senior Bowl is a post-season college football exhibition game played in Mobile, Alabama which showcases the best NFL Draft prospects of those collegiate players who have completed their eligibility. First played in 1950 in Jacksonville, Florida, the game moved to Mobile's Ladd Peebles Stadium...
. In 1978, Idzik expressed an interest in the vacant head coaching position with the New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
, but he did not receive the job.
Idzik resigned from the Jets after the 1979 season. The Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
reported that he did not get along with head coach Walt Michaels
Walt Michaels
Walt Michaels was a former professional football player and coach who is best remembered for his six-year tenure as head coach of the NFL's New York Jets from 1977-1982.-Collegiate and early NFL career:...
, and that he favored embattled quarterback Richard Todd over back-up Matt Robinson. He returned to the Baltimore Colts for the 1980 season. In 1982, Frank Kush
Frank Kush
Frank Joseph Kush is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Arizona State University from 1958 to 1979, compiling a record of 176–54–1...
took over as head coach and dismissed the entire staff.
After his coaching career, he and his wife lived in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania. In 1990, he intended to return from retirement to become head coach of the Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
franchise of the new International League of American Football, but the league folded before its first season.
Personal life
His son, John, has held front office positions in the NFLNational Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football franchise based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League – they are the only team in the division not to come from the old NFC West...
and Seattle Seahawks
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team...
.