George Karras
George Karras (c. 1929 – March 5, 2017) was an American football player, coach, scout and executive. He served as the head football coach at Wichita State University from 1965 to 1966, compiling a record of 4–15. Karras gave Bill Parcells his first full-time coaching job while the Wichita State head coach.[1] He left Wichita in 1966 to be the line coach at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He was previously the defensive coach there before coming to Wichita in 1964. Karras played college football as a guard at Villanova University from 1953 to 1955.[2] Karras attended high school in Etna, Pennsylvania. He later worked for the United Scouting Combine and as the chief scout in the Northeastern United States for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). In 1987, he was named the director of pro personnel for the NFL's Los Angeles Raiders.[3] Karras died on March 5, 2017.[4]
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1928 or 1929 (age 93–94) |
| Died | March 5, 2017 |
| Playing career | |
| 1953–1955 | Villanova |
| Position(s) | Guard |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1960–1962 | Villanova (line) |
| 1963 | Wichita State (DL) |
| 1964 | UMass (defensive assistant) |
| 1965–1966 | Wichita State |
| 1967 | UMass (line) |
| 1971–1979 | Harvard (assistant) |
| Administrative career (AD unless noted) | |
| 1983–1986 | Denver Broncos (scout) |
| 1987–1997 | Los Angeles Raiders (dir. pro pers.) |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 4–15 |
Head coaching record
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wichita State Shockers (Missouri Valley Conference) (1965–1966) | |||||||||
| 1965 | Wichita State | 2–7 | 0–4 | 6th | |||||
| 1966 | Wichita State | 2–8 | 1–3 | T–4th | |||||
| Wichita State: | 4–15 | 1–7 | |||||||
| Total: | 4–15 | ||||||||
References
- Parcells, Bill; Demasio, Nunyo (11 August 2015). Parcells: A Football Life. ISBN 9780385346375.
- "Karras Is Named Coach at Wichita". Reading Eagle. Associated Press. December 15, 1964. Retrieved September 27, 2014 – via Google News.
- Katanik, Ralph (March 25, 1987). "Etna's Karras is an executive with Raiders". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved September 27, 2014 – via Google News.
- Durkin, Jimmy (March 6, 2017). "Raiders mourn the loss of two members of their football family; Former offensive lineman and scout Mickey Marvin and former executive George Karras both died Monday". The Mercury News. San Jose, California. Retrieved August 11, 2017.