Chuck Fairbanks dies of cancer at 79

Former New England Patriots coach Chuck Fairbanks died of brain cancer on Tuesday, according to the team. He was 79.
Fairbanks coached the Patriots from 1973-78, leading the franchise to some of its greatest success by the end of his tenure, including two playoff berths. The Patriots were 3-11 prior to his arrival and went 11-3, 9-5 and 11-5 over his final three seasons.


Fairbanks' Patriots legacy has been widely discussed, in part because of how his time with the franchise ended, with Fairbanks ultimately becoming head coach at Colorado in 1978. But most agree the foundation created by Fairbanks was instrumental, as a big part of his success came in drafting top-notch players, including offensive lineman John Hannah, linebacker Steve Nelson, tight end Russ Francis and cornerback Mike Haynes, among others.


Patriots coach Bill Belichick acknowledged Fairbanks' across-the-board influence last September.


"Chuck has been a good friend for a long time and he's meant a lot to this organization. At the time he came here, he did a great job turning the Patriots around and making them into one of the top teams in the AFC," Belichick said.
Belichick also touched on some of the football-specific areas in which Fairbanks had a big influence in the 1970s.
"They were things that stood the test of time and have been a big principle of this league for many, many years, [with] the disciples and people with him -- 3-4 defense, the way he organized the draft, personnel meetings," he said.


Fairbanks also coached the Oklahoma Sooners from 1967-72, and famously gave offensive coordinator Barry Switzer the nod in 1970 to implement the wishbone offense, which turned Oklahoma into an offensive powerhouse for the next two decades.


Fairbanks came to Oklahoma as part of Jim Mackenzie's staff in 1966, and became head coach after Mackenzie died suddenly from a heart attack a year later.


The Sooners went 10-1 and beat Tennessee in the Orange Bowl in Fairbanks' first year. But the program sputtered in the late '60s, as "Chuck Chuck" bumper stickers began to pop up all over the state. After another slow start in 1970, Switzer convinced Fairbanks to turn to the wishbone, which Texas had invented and been running to great success. The Longhorns annihilated Oklahoma's new offense the following week. But the wishbone gradually took shape, and it would be seven years before the Sooners would lose to Texas again.


In six seasons as Oklahoma's head coach, Fairbanks won three Big Eight titles and 52 games, but a loss was the most famous college game he coached. In the 1971 "Game of the Century," Fairbanks' second-ranked Sooners held a fourth-quarter lead over Nebraska. But the top-ranked Huskers rallied with a game-winning touchdown drive and went on to capture the national championship.


SoonerNation's Jake Trotter contributed to this report.

RIP Chuck.still the greatest game i ever watched......devaney coached huskers led by one of the top 5 coll football players ever in johnny rodgers

steak tartar said:

RIP Chuck.still the greatest game i ever watched......devaney coached huskers led by one of the top 5 coll football players ever in johnny rodgers

Click to expand...

Hear, hear!

It's a sad day here in Soonerland. It seems like too many of the past OU greats have left us lately. RIP Chuck...Here is a few more facts people may not know about him.

---

Chuck was the head coach for 3 1/2 of my four years in
Norman. He had an aloofness as a coach, not because it was who he was, I don't
think, but rather because he considered it necessary to do his job.

He
was incredibly innovative in many ways.

Chuck had that look of elegance
on the sidelines, in a time when that wasn't the typical sideline demeanor of
most coaches. Some coaches, maybe most coaches wore a tie and maybe a dress coat
on the sidelines. Some looked like an oline coach, out holding dummies during a
muddy practice.

Chuck made the dapper look the way to be on the
sidelines. He dressed in upscale casual. And it sold the program. He was
softspoken naturally, but would occasionally fuss at his best players from the
coaching tower to make a point to the whole team. I remember one day, his
yelling at Ken Mendenhall to be a leader. Mendenhall was naturally more
softspoken than Chuck and was a two time All American. This might not be an
exact quote, but something very close to -- loudly -- "Be a leader Kenny
Mendenhall. . . Be a leader." It was loud, but had the essence of encouragement
at it's core.

Chuck took the Oklahoma defense to the NFL. When he got the
Patriot job in the winter of 1973, every NFL team ran a 4-3, that had been
installed by Tom Landry. Occasionally, somebody would slide a tackle down to
head up on the center, but it was rare. NFL defense looked like cookie cutters.
Two defensive tackles on the outside shoulder of the guard. Two defensive ends
on the outside shoulder of the offensive tackles. A middle line backer. Some
teams had their outside linebackers go strong and weak. Most though had a left
linebacker and a right linebacker.

Two teams played a good bit of zone.
Most everybody else played a corner on each of the two wides you saw from most
offenses, a strong safety who had the tight end, and a free safety who played
centerfield pass defense.

Chuck mixed up the coverages and played a true
nose guard with two inside linebackers. No NFL team did that before 1973.


Chuck didn't take long to realize that maybe the best nose tackle, as
they called it on the pro side, was a huge guy, though Raymond, "Sugar Bear"
Hamilton, who actually played five technique tackle at OU his senior year, and
never played nose guard in Norman, was one of th early Patriot nose tackles. But
he alternated with a big immovable guy, which later became an NFL 3-4
staple.

Chuck was also very insightful about the I-formation, though it
didn't get really polished until USC did something with Chuck's idea and
embellished it to make it really work.

Chuck realized that it was a
better blocking angle for the fullback on sweeps and most isolation plays to
offset the fullback in the I. USC made the I formation popular, because they had
such great tailbacks. Four USC tailbacks won the Heisman in a 20 year period
beginning in 1962.

But when OU installed the Diamond Tee in 1969, it was
the first time that anyone had offset the fullback. OU that year, typically used
two upbacks. But with the full house, it limited the use of the tailback and
lessened the advantage. USC took the idea, played still with two wides and a
tight end, and used the offset fullback by moving him across the formation in
motion, so they could run the isolation play both ways. But the use of the
offset full back, so common now, was Chuck's idea.

OU was also the first
team, college or pro, to use four chin strap snaps on helmets, during Chuck's
time.OU wore white shoes, when black was standard for just about every football
player at every level, except Joe Namath. OU was an early school to use
artificial turf outside, and absolutely one of the first to use tartan turf. It
made OUr quick wishbone even quicker.

I have no idea if he was the
primary decision maker on any of those innovations, but I know none of them
would have come about without his signing off on them.

The present day
helmet look came under Chuck more than Jim McKenzie. McKenzie brought the
crimson helmet, in a bit of an Arkansas look, but the interlocked OU was a
smallish sticker about the size of most small number decals.

Chuck's
interlocking OU was bigger and bolder. The helmets, made by McGregor originally,
were actually a clear plastic shell with all the paint on the
inside.

It's a sad day for him to go, in a time when we've already lost
too many players from that era.

I know that Bill Parcells considered him
a valued mentor, and had Chuck show up at training camp to critique ideas and
technique. I'm pretty sure that Chuck was the first pro coach to hire Parcells
as an NFL assistant.