Ron Meyer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ron Meyer | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Sport | Football | |
| Born | February 17, 1941 | |
| Career highlights | ||
| Overall | 61–40–1 | |
| Coaching stats | ||
| College Football DataWarehouse | ||
| Championships | ||
| 1981 SWC championship | ||
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | ||
| 1973-1975 1976-1981 1982-1984 1986-1991 |
UNLV SMU New England Patriots Indianapolis Colts |
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Ron Meyer (born February 17, 1941) is a former college and professional football coach. He is best known for being the head coach of the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts.
Meyer's head coaching career began at UNLV, where he coached from 1971 to 1975. In 1974, he had an undefeated season at UNLV at 11-0. In 1976, Meyer was the head coach of Southern Methodist University where he coached until 1981. This tenure included winning the Southwest Conference championship in 1981 with running backs Eric Dickerson and Craig James. While at SMU, Meyer was the losing coach in the famous "Miracle Bowl" in the 1980 Holiday Bowl, where SMU held a 45-25 lead against BYU with less than four minutes to play in the fourth quarter, only to lose 46-45 thanks to three touchdown passes from Jim McMahon.
Meyer moved to the pros in 1982, where he would coach the New England Patriots for 3 seasons. He was named the AFC Coach of the Year in his first season where he led the New England Patriots to the playoffs in the strike-shortened 1982 NFL season after the team had finished with the league's worst record the prior season. He is perhaps best remembered by New England fans for coaching during the infamous Snowplow Game against the Miami Dolphins on December 12, 1982. Under heavy snow at Foxboro Stadium with 4:45 remaining in the game, the Patriots lined up for a go-ahead field goal. Meyer called for a stadium worker named Mark Henderson (who was on a prison work release) to drive his snowplow on the field in order to clear an area for holder Matt Cavanaugh to spot the ball and to give kicker John Smith better footing. The Patriots went on to win the game, 3-0, on their way to their first playoff appearance since the 1979 season.
In 1984, Meyer was fired in midseason despite having a 5-3 record and was replaced by Raymond Berry. The move was prompted by team-wide alienation of players on Meyer's part, to where Patriots GM Patrick Sullivan was forced to hold player-only meetings. Meyer responded by firing assistant coach Rod Rust, though he did not have authority to do so. He was fired soon after. [1]
Meyer spent over a year out of coaching after being dismissed by the Patriots. Late in the 1986 season, he was hired to coach the Indianapolis Colts, who were 0-13 at the time. Meyer promptly lead the Colts to 3 straight victories to finish 3-13. A year later, he won the AFC East Division title with the Colts where he once again won the AFC Coach of the Year. In 1991, when the Colts started off 0-5, he was let go.
The year after his dismissal from Indianapolis, Meyer became an analyst for CNN's Pro Football show. He would remain in that role for 2 seasons.
In 1994, Meyer returned to coaching again. This time Meyer became the head coach of the Canadian Football League's Las Vegas Posse franchise. The Posse finished the season 5-13. In addition to the poor record, the team suffered from poor attendance and eventually folded. Meyer would return to his role at CNN the following season.
In 2000, Meyer would return to coaching yet again, this time as part of the XFL's Chicago Enforcers franchise. The team would finish 5-5 and would lose to the eventual champion, the Los Angeles Xtreme. After the season, the XFL folded.
He is currently an NFL analyst for the show "The Score on the NFL" on the Canadian sports channel The Score.
[edit] Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNLV Rebels (Independent) (1973 – 1975) | |||||||||
| 1973 | UNLV | 8–3 | — | — | |||||
| 1974 | UNLV | 12–1 | L Grantland Rice | — | — | ||||
| 1975 | UNLV | 7–4 | — | — | |||||
| UNLV: | 27–8 | ||||||||
| SMU Mustangs (SWC) (1976 – 1981) | |||||||||
| 1976 | SMU | 3–8 | — | — | |||||
| 1977 | SMU | 4–7 | — | — | |||||
| 1978 | SMU | 4–6–1 | — | — | |||||
| 1979 | SMU | 5–6 | — | — | |||||
| 1980 | SMU | 8–4 | L Holiday | 20 | 20 | ||||
| 1981 | SMU | 10–1 | — | 5 | |||||
| SMU: | 34–32–1 | ||||||||
| Total: | 61–40–1 | ||||||||
| National Championship Conference Title Conference Division Title | |||||||||
| #Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season. | |||||||||
[edit] References
- ^ see Tales From The Patriots Sidelines (Illinois: Sports Publishing LLP), by Michael Felger
| Preceded by Dave Smith |
Southern Methodist University Head Football Coach 1976–1981 |
Succeeded by Bobby Collins |
| Preceded by Ron Erhardt |
New England Patriots Head Coaches 1982–1984 |
Succeeded by Raymond Berry |
| Preceded by Rod Dowhower |
Indianapolis Colts Head Coaches 1986–1991 |
Succeeded by Rick Venturi |
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