- Glanville previously coached Warren Moon and Deion Sanders in the NFL
- More recently, the ex-stock car driver worked in the USFL, XFL and CFL
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Jerry Glanville, the fiery former head coach of the Atlanta Falcons and Houston Oilers, is returning to the sidelines at age 82 – and he’s doing it as an assistant at a Division II school.
Northwestern Oklahoma State University announced Wednesday that Glanville has been hired as the team’s defensive coordinator.
At a time when Colorado’s Deion Sanders is one of the hottest names in college football, the Rangers are adding the former Prime Time college coach to the fold.
“When I accepted this job at Northwestern, I committed to doing everything in my power to bring back the winning tradition of the Ranger Football program,” NWOSU head coach Ronnie Jones said in a news release.
“The hiring of coach Jerry Glanville is a big step in that direction. He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to our program. He is considered one of the best defensive coaches to ever coach the game and I can’t wait to see how he turns our defense into a dominant unit.”
Glanville was pictured in 2018 as the defensive coordinator of the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Jerry Glanville of the Houston Oilers watches from the sidelines against the Patriots
Glanville climbs into his car during the ARCA Drivers in Concord, North Carolina in 2000
Just how much experience does Glanville have?
During his 57 years as a coach, Glanville has worked everywhere from the CFL, USFL and XFL to top college programs. He last coached in 2022 with the Alabama Airborne of Major League Football.
Glanville, one of the NFL’s most colorful figures, left cards for Elvis Presley upon request, even after the singer’s death. He also preferred to wear all black so that he could be more easily recognized by his players on the sidelines.
He is perhaps best known for his years with the Oilers, with whom he went 33-32 while winning one postseason game in 1987 and 1988. Ultimately, Glanville’s team of quarterback Warren Moon and receiver Ernest Givins was seen as an underachiever, and the coach was fired after a 9-7 season in 1989.
Elvis enthusiast Jerry Glanville shows off the personalized license plate on his Corvette
Glanville (right) attended Perrysburg High School in Ohio with future MLB skipper Jim Leyland
Glanville (center) is pictured in a shootout with country-western singer Travis Tritt (left)
Glanville then accepted the position with the Falcons and went 27-37 over four seasons, while winning one playoff game in 1991 with Sanders and another MLB-NFL star, Brian Jordan.
One of his former players and assistants, June Jones, also brought in Glanville to coach at the University of Hawaii and with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL.
And if anyone at NWOSU wants to talk about cars, Glanville has that too.
The Ohio native, who grew up with MLB manager Jim Leyland, also raced stock cars in the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series in the early 1990s, as well as in several Craftsman Truck Series races.