Dan Reeves

Daniel Edward Reeves (born January 19, 1944) is a former American football running back and head coach in the National Football League. He participated in nine Super Bowls as player and coach, and has nine conference championships (6 NFC, 3 AFC), which is more than anyone else. He played in two Super Bowls (V, VI), was an assistant coach in three more (X, XII, XIII), and was head coach in four: XXI, XXII, and XXIV with the Denver Broncos, and XXXIII with the Atlanta Falcons. Despite his playoff success, however, he also holds the NFL record for most regular-season losses as a head coach, with 165.

Early years

Born in Rome, Georgia, Reeves grew up in Americus, Georgia. He attended Americus High School, where he practiced football, baseball and basketball.

After he missed four games with a broken collarbone during his senior season, only the University of South Carolina was interested enough to offer him a football scholarship. The interest from other schools came later, when he won the MVP trophy at the Georgia High School football All-star game, but he decided to stay with his first choice. He also was selected to the All-state basketball team in 1961.

College career

Reeves played college football at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, where he was a three-year starter at quarterback from 1962 through 1964. He became the starting quarterback during his sophomore year in 1962 and was named second-team All-conference after his junior and senior years.

Reeves was more comfortable running than throwing, but was effective enough to set 10 school records and in 1964 against a strong Nebraska team, champion of the Big Eight, he passed for 348 yards in a 28–6 loss in Lincoln.

Even though he only compiled an 8–21–4 (.303) record, he ended his college career as the leading passer in Gamecock history, accumulating 2,561 yards passing, to go along with 16 touchdowns and 3 games with 100-yards rushing.

Reeves also became a very good baseball prospect as a right fielder for the Gamecocks team.

In 1977, he was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame.^[1] In 2006, he was inducted into the State of South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Although he went undrafted after graduation, he received professional sports offers from the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL, the San Diego Chargers in the AFL and the Pittsburgh Pirates in Major League Baseball.

Reeves signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 1965 to play the safety position, but was later moved to halfback, after a series of injuries depleted the team's depth during training camp. His rookie year was spent mostly on the kickoff and punt units.

In 1966, Tom Landry looking for more speed at running back, shifted All-Pro safety Mel Renfro to offense. Renfro was hurt in the opening game against the New York Giants, and Reeves took advantage of his opportunity by having a break out season leading the team in rushing with 757 yards and in scoring with 96 points, while finishing second in receiving with 557 yards. His performance helped the Cowboys take some of the running load from fullback Don Perkins and reach its first championship game. He set a franchise record with 16 touchdowns (8 rushing and 8 receiving), had over 1,300 all-purpose yards, was sixth in the NFL in rushing, first in touchdowns and sixth in scoring. He was also voted to The Sporting News All-Pro team at the end of the year.

In 1967, he posted back-to-back seasons with more than 600 rushing yards, ranking second on the team in rushing with 603 yards and third in receiving with 490 yards. In the week 8 game against the Atlanta Falcons, he set a franchise record after scoring 4 touchdowns. In the week 13 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, he scored touchdowns running, receiving, and passing in the same game.

During the first half of his NFL career, he became a multi-talented running back and displayed the ability to consistently make big plays. He remained a starter until the week 4 of the 1968 season, when he tore ligaments in his right knee and was lost for the season.

The injury ended up hampering him for the remainder of his career and limiting his abilities. Head coach Tom Landry started playing him in spots and asked him to become a player-coach, while being passed on the depth chart by Calvin Hill and Duane Thomas. He remained in that role for 3 years, until the end of the 1972 season when he retired to become a full-time assistant coach.

Reeves played eight seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, collected 1,990 rushing yards, 1,693 receiving yards and 42 touchdowns.^[2] The Cowboys made the playoffs every year, reaching the Super Bowl twice and culminating in a 24-3 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI following the 1971 season. In Super Bowl V with the Cowboys and Colts tied at 13 in the last 2 minutes, he let a pass go through his hands that was intercepted, setting up the Colts in Dallas territory. The Colts won the game on a 32-yard field goal from Jim O'Brien with five seconds left. He threw a touchdown pass in the Cowboys' losing effort in the legendary subzero Ice Bowl against the Green Bay Packers for the 1967 NFL title.^[3]

In 2010, he was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

Coaching career

Reeves, a protégé of Tom Landry, became the youngest head coach in the NFL when he joined the Denver Broncos in 1981 as vice president and head coach. After acquiring quarterback John Elway in a trade, Reeves guided the Broncos to six post-season appearances, five divisional titles, three AFC championships and three Super Bowl appearances (Super Bowl XXI, Super Bowl XXII and Super Bowl XXIV) during his 12-year tenure. He was the only AFC coach in the decade of the 1980s to lead his team to consecutive Super Bowl berths and his Broncos appeared in the Super Bowl three times during a span of four years. Reeves was fired after the 1992 season and replaced by his protégé and friend Wade Phillips, who was previously the Broncos' defensive coordinator.

Reeves served as New York Giants head coach from 1993–1996. In his first season he led the Giants to an 11–5 record and a berth in the playoffs. Reeves' 1993 season record is the best ever for a first-year Giants coach, and he was named the 1993 Associated Press Coach of the Year after helping the Giants improve from a 6–10 record in 1992. Reeves was fired again after the Giants went 5–11 in 1995 and 6–10 in 1996.

In 1997 Reeves was named the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. Under his command the team, which had finished the 1996 campaign with a 3–13 record, steadily improved. After going 7–9 his first season, Reeves took Atlanta to the greatest season in franchise history.

The Falcons went 14–2 in 1998, going on to capture their first NFC championship. Reeves coached the Falcons to a 12–2 record before being hospitalized for the final two regular season games to undergo quadruple-bypass heart surgery in December. Reeves managed to return to the sidelines just three weeks later to lead the Falcons to victory in their first NFC Championship. During Super Bowl XXXIII, Reeves' Falcons were pitched against his former team, the defending champions Denver Broncos whose quarterback Elway was in his final season; the Falcons lost 34-19. In the process, Reeves earned the NFL's top coaching awards as he was named the 1998 NFL Coach of the Year.

In 2003, after winning just 3 of the first 13 games, Reeves asked to be released and the Falcons replaced him with Wade Phillips as interim coach for 3 games, making it the second time for Reeves to be succeeded by Phillips as an NFL head coach.

In January 2009, Reeves interviewed with the San Francisco 49ers for their offensive coordinator job.

After negotiations with the Dallas Cowboys (which, coincidentally, had Phillips as their head coach), Reeves became a consultant for the team in February 2009. This role was short-lived, however, as it only lasted two days before Reeves turned in the keys to his office and left. Reeves and the Cowboys could apparently not reach conclusions as to Reeves' role with the team. In the days following, it was revealed that the dispute came down to a contract clause specifying a number of hours per week to be worked, which Reeves deemed insulting.

Reeves was reportedly interested in returning to coaching for the 2010 season as a part of Chan Gailey's staff with the Buffalo Bills.^[4]

In 2007, Reeves had an active role in the starting of the Georgia State University's football program.

Head coaching record

Broadcast career

Reeves previously covered NFL games as a color analyst (teamed with play-by-play man Bill Rosinski) for the second Sunday afternoon game on Westwood One radio network. Dan Reeves also keeps in touch with his fans through his website and is available for hire for corporate and football events around the country.

Personal life

Reeves is married to Pam Reeves. Reeves has three children and six grandchildren.^[6] He is a Christian.^[7]

Further reading

• Reeves: An Autobiography, by Dan Reeves and Dick Connor (1998) ISBN 978-0-933893-64-1.

References

External links

• Official website
• Career statistics and player information from NFL.com • Pro-Football-Reference • Databasefootball.com
• Sports Reference – collegiate statistics – Dan Reeves
• Pro-Football-Reference coach page