American football coach (1932?2024)
American football player
Joel Dale Collier
(June 7, 1932 ? May 6, 2024) was an American professional
football
coach who was the head coach of the
Buffalo Bills
of the
American Football League
(AFL) from
1966
through part of
1968
, compiling a 13?16?1 record. He later coached in the
National Football League
(NFL). He played
college football
for the
Northwestern Wildcats
, earning first-team
All-American
honors in 1952 and 1953.
College career
[
edit
]
Collier attended
Northwestern University
, where he played on the
Northwestern Wildcats football
team. In
1952
, his junior season, he broke
Big Ten Conference
records by catching seven
touchdown
passes and accumulating 650 receiving yards.
[1]
He was named to the
1952 College Football All-America Team
.
[2]
Following the
1953 college football season
, in which he captained the Wildcats and again earned
All-American honors
, Collier was selected by the
New York Giants
in the 22nd round of the
1954 NFL Draft
.
[3]
[4]
[5]
However, Collier decided not to play professional football, instead becoming an
assistant coach
at
Western Illinois University
after a three-year stint in the
U.S. Army
.
[1]
Collier spent three seasons as a Western Illinois assistant, from 1957 to 1959.
[6]
Buffalo Bills (1962?1968)
[
edit
]
After spending two seasons as an assistant coach with the
Boston Patriots
of the brand new
AFL
,
[7]
Collier joined the Buffalo Bills in 1962 as a defensive coach. The team won the
1965 AFL Championship Game
over the
San Diego Chargers
with help from defensive alignments that Collier designed. One idea he came up with was similar to the modern
zone blitz
; Collier's defense featured defensive line players moving back to cover pass attempts.
[2]
Collier was promoted to head coach in 1966,
[3]
after previous coach
Lou Saban
resigned.
[2]
The Bills' best season under Collier came in his first year, when they won the Eastern Division with a 9?4?1 record, eventually losing to the
Kansas City Chiefs
in the
AFL Championship Game
.
[8]
After coming within one game of an AFL championship, the team slumped to 4?10 in
1967
.
[9]
After a poor performance by the Bills in a 1968 pre-season game, Collier set up a scrimmage for his team. During the practice session,
quarterback
Jack Kemp
broke his right leg, an injury that forced him to undergo season-ending surgery.
[10]
The Bills fired Collier after a 48?6 loss to the
Oakland Raiders
in the second week of the regular season.
[11]
Sports Illustrated
opined that "Collier's fate undoubtedly was decided..." by Kemp's injury.
[12]
Denver Broncos (1969?1988)
[
edit
]
Following his time as head coach of the Bills, Collier became a
Denver Broncos
coach in
1969
and spent 20 years with the team, which reached three
Super Bowls
with him as
defensive coordinator
. Collier was the architect of the Broncos'
3?4 defense
in the late 1970s, a scheme that was known as the
Orange Crush Defense
.
[13]
Although he preferred to set up the Broncos' defense with four linemen, Collier occasionally organized a 3?4 defense experimentally. After an injury to
Lyle Alzado
early in the 1976 season, Collier used the system more regularly and improved upon it: author Terry Frei called him "the scientist in the laboratory, coming up with ways to make the defense even better."
[14]
After being hired by Saban, he remained the defensive coordinator for four subsequent Broncos head coaches.
[15]
Dan Reeves
fired Collier after the
1988 NFL season
.
[13]
New England Patriots (1991?1992)
[
edit
]
From
1991
to
1992
, he was defensive coordinator for the New England Patriots.
[7]
Collier took over a Patriots defense that had given up the second-most points in the league during
a 1?15 season in 1990
.
[16]
[17]
However, Collier's first year saw the Patriots defense improve from second-worst in the league (out of 28 teams) to the middle of the pack (15th). Helping the Patriots' improved rankings was the fact that their run defense, which was last in the league in 1990, improved to 9th in the league in 1991.
[17]
[18]
The Patriots failed to build on their 1991 defensive performance,
[19]
as the unit finished 23rd overall during the
1992 season
.
[20]
New England ended up 2?14, winning four fewer games than they had in 1991.
[21]
After his stint with the Patriots ended, Collier retired from the NFL.
[2]
Personal life
[
edit
]
Joel Dale Collier was born in
Rock Island, Illinois
, on June 7, 1932.
[22]
He was married to Shirley Ann Ketelaar from 1957 until her death in 2006. They had three children:
Joel
, Julie, and Lisa.
[23]
[24]
Joel was hired in February 2009 by Kansas City Chiefs general manager
Scott Pioli
, a former executive for the Patriots, as a defensive backs coach for Chiefs head coach
Todd Haley
.
[25]
By 2010, he was the team's assistant
general manager
.
[23]
Prior to 2009, Collier was the secondary coach of the New England Patriots. Before his stint with the Patriots, he spent 11 years as an assistant for the
Miami Dolphins
.
[7]
Collier lived with longtime partner Sue Henry. He died in
Littleton, Colorado
, on May 6, 2024, at the age of 91.
[26]
[27]
[28]
Head coaching record
[
edit
]
Team
|
Year
|
Regular Season
|
Post Season
|
Won
|
Lost
|
Ties
|
Win %
|
Finish
|
Won
|
Lost
|
Win %
|
Result
|
BUF
|
1966
|
9
|
4
|
1
|
.692
|
1st in AFL East
|
0
|
1
|
.000
|
Lost to
Kansas City Chiefs
in
AFL Championship
.
|
BUF
|
1967
|
4
|
10
|
0
|
.286
|
3rd in AFL East
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
BUF
|
1968
|
0
|
2
|
0
|
.000
|
5th in AFL East
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
?
|
BUF Total
|
13
|
16
|
1
|
.448
|
|
0
|
1
|
.000
|
?
|
AFL Total
[29]
|
13
|
16
|
1
|
.448
|
|
0
|
1
|
.000
|
?
|
Total
|
13
|
16
|
1
|
.448
|
|
0
|
1
|
.000
|
?
|
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Joe Collier Profile"
.
Northwestern University
. Retrieved
August 20,
2008
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Maxymuk, John (2012).
NFL Head Coaches: A Biographical Dictionary, 1920?2011
. McFarland & Company. pp. 48?49.
ISBN
9780786492954
.
- ^
a
b
"Bills Name Joel Collier Head Coach"
.
St. Petersburg Times
.
Associated Press
. January 7, 1966
. Retrieved
August 13,
2011
.
- ^
ESPN College Football Encyclopedia
. ESPN Books. 2005. p. 1232.
ISBN
978-1-4013-3703-2
.
- ^
"1954 NFL Player Draft"
. Database Football. Archived from
the original
on December 31, 2008
. Retrieved
June 10,
2017
.
- ^
Frei, Terry (2009).
77: Denver, The Broncos, and a Coming of Age
. Taylor Trade Publishing. p. 320.
ISBN
9781589794511
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Joel Collier ? Secondary"
.
New England Patriots
. Archived from
the original
on July 22, 2012
. Retrieved
February 4,
2020
.
- ^
"1966 Buffalo Bills"
.
Pro Football Reference
. Retrieved
August 20,
2008
.
- ^
"1967 Buffalo Bills"
. Pro Football Reference
. Retrieved
August 20,
2008
.
- ^
Maule, Tex
; Shrake, Edwin (September 16, 1968).
"Eastern Division"
.
Sports Illustrated
. Retrieved
August 20,
2008
.
- ^
"Owner Regrets The Firing Of Collier"
.
The Miami News
. Associated Press. September 16, 1968
. Retrieved
August 13,
2011
.
- ^
"A Roundup Of The Sports Information Of The Week"
.
Sports Illustrated
. September 23, 1968
. Retrieved
August 20,
2008
.
- ^
a
b
"Broncos Dismiss Collier"
.
The New York Times
.
Associated Press
. December 19, 1988
. Retrieved
August 20,
2008
.
- ^
Frei, p. 21.
- ^
Gustkey, Earl (November 1, 1986).
"He Puts the D in Denver: Joe Collier Has Been Bronco Defensive Coordinator for 18 Seasons, 5 Head Coaches"
.
Los Angeles Times
. Retrieved
August 13,
2011
.
- ^
Borges, Ron (July 12, 1991). "After being out of football for two years, Patriots defensive coordinator Joe Collier is ... Restarting at the bottom".
The Boston Globe
.
ProQuest
294607643
.
- ^
a
b
"1990 NFL Opposition & Defensive Statistics"
. Pro Football Reference
. Retrieved
November 12,
2017
.
- ^
"1991 NFL Opposition & Defensive Statistics"
. Pro Football Reference
. Retrieved
November 12,
2017
.
- ^
Cerasuolo, Dick (October 18, 1992). "Opponents have Patriots on run".
Telegram & Gazette
. p. D6.
- ^
"1992 NFL Opposition & Defensive Statistics"
. Pro Football Reference
. Retrieved
November 12,
2017
.
- ^
"Boston/New England Patriots Franchise Encyclopedia"
. Pro Football Reference
. Retrieved
November 12,
2017
.
- ^
Miller, Jeffrey J. (2007).
Rockin' the Rockpile: The Buffalo Bills of the American Football League
. ECW Press. p. 535.
ISBN
978-1-55022-797-0
.
- ^
a
b
Frei, Terry (November 11, 2010).
"Architect of "Orange Crush" defense proud of son's accomplishments"
.
The Denver Post
. Retrieved
November 18,
2012
.
- ^
"Shirley A. Collier: 1935 ? 2006"
.
Quad-City Times
.
Legacy.com
. October 1, 2006
. Retrieved
February 8,
2022
.
- ^
"Chiefs retain offensive coordinator Chan Gailey as Haley fills staff"
.
USA Today
. Associated Press. February 17, 2009
. Retrieved
May 2,
2009
.
- ^
DiLalla, Aric (May 7, 2024).
"Broncos mourn passing of legendary DC Joe Collier"
.
www.denverbroncos.com
. Retrieved
May 10,
2024
.
- ^
Tomasson, Chris (May 7, 2024).
"Broncos legendary defensive coordinator Joe Collier dies at age 91"
.
The Colorado Springs Gazette
. Retrieved
May 10,
2024
.
- ^
DeArdo, Bryan (May 7, 2024).
"Joe Collier, former Broncos defensive coordinator and leader of famed 'Orange Crush' unit, dies at age 91"
.
CBS Sports
. Retrieved
May 10,
2024
.
- ^
"Joe Collier"
. Pro Football Reference
. Retrieved
August 11,
2016
.
External links
[
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]
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# denotes interim head coach
|