Iraq trip spurs Glanville to return to coaching as assistant
Former NFL coach Jerry Glanville was hired as associate coach and defensive coordinator for Hawaii.
The 63-year-old Glanville, who hasn’t coached since the Atlanta Falcons fired him following the 1993 season, said his visit with U.S. troops in Iraq last year renewed his interest in returning to the field. The hiring was made official late Wednesday night.
“Every 19-year-old kid in the Calvary asked me to come back and coach. I knew that if I got home, I was going to coach, not pro football, but college football,” he said. “I was going to coach the 19- and 20-year-olds. This is the greatest generation of kids who ever lived.”
The Hawaii defense ranked 117 out of 118 Division I schools last season, and was last in the nation against the run.
Glanville first joined Atlanta in 1977 as a defensive backs coach and then served as defensive coordinator, leading a unit that held an NFL single-season record for fewest points allowed. Glanville then went to the Houston Oilers in 1984, and as the defensive coordinator the next two seasons, turned the league’s worst rushing defense into the top-ranked unit in the NFL.
Glanville became the Oilers’ head coach in 1986 and for the next four years continued to guide one of the NFL’s top-rated defenses. He took over as Atlanta’s head coach in 1990 and turned the Falcons’ rush defense, ranked last in the NFL, into one of the best run-stopping units in the league.
Glanville will be reunited with Warriors coach June Jones, who succeeded Glanville in Atlanta.
“If June wasn’t here, then I wouldn’t be here,” Glanville said.
Jones also worked under Glanville at Houston.
Glanville’s last collegiate coaching stint came from 1968-73 when he was the defensive ends and outside linebackers coach at Georgia Tech and helped lead the Yellow Jackets to three bowl game appearances.
Wyoming extends Glenn’s contract
Wyoming coach Joe Glenn, who led the Cowboys to their first bowl victory in 38 years, has received a one-year contract extension through 2009, athletic director Gary Barta announced Thursday.
Lawsuit against Colorado dismissed
A federal judge in Denver dismissed a lawsuit against the University of Colorado filed by two women whose allegations of sexual abuse sparked a scandal last year over its football team’s recruiting practices.
The plaintiffs say they were raped by football players or recruits, but U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn said the plaintiffs failed to meet two key criteria in claiming the school violated federal Title IX law by fostering an atmosphere that led to their alleged assaults.
The judge said Lisa Simpson — who has agreed to be identified in media reports — and the other woman failed to prove the university had actual knowledge of sexual harassment. He also said they didn’t show the school was deliberately indifferent to any known sexual harassment.
The women had filed separate lawsuits that were later combined.