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Thursday 25 augusT 2022
Innovative coach Don Coryell picked as HOF finalist

By JOSH DUBOW He led a franchise that with the Chargers making
AP Pro Football Writer won at least 10 games only the playoffs in Coryell’s first
Innovative offensive coach twice in 53 seasons before four full seasons with back-
Don Coryell, who helped he arrived to three straight to-back trips to the AFC
usher in the modern pass- double-digit win seasons title game in 1980 and ‘81.
ing game to the NFL, was and the team’s only two A poor defense prevented
picked as a finalist for the division titles in St. Louis with San Diego from reaching
Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Jim Hart as his quarterback. the Super Bowl and the
class of 2023. Coryell won Coach of the team then failed to post a
The former Chargers and Year in 1974. winning record in his final
Cardinals coach was an- But his greatest success four seasons.
nounced Wednesday came when he took over But during his tenure, the
as the candidate from a the Chargers early in the Chargers led the NFL by
group of 12 coaches and 1978 season and teamed scoring 26.2 points per
contributors. Coryell will get with Hall of Fame quarter- game, averaging 390.8
into the Hall if he is support- Former San Diego Chargers coach Don Coryell is shown before back Dan Fouts to form yards per game with 279.5
ed by at least 80% of the full an NFL football game Sunday Nov. 15, 2009, in San Diego. one of the NFL’s most dy- yards passing per game.
Hall of Fame panel of vot- Associated Press namic passing games. The gap in yards passing
ers next January. ell” offense in San Diego After a successful colle- With an offense that fea- between the Chargers and
Coryell had a 111-83-1 re- was transcendent as he giate stint at San Diego tured pre-snap motion, second-place San Fran-
cord in 14 NFL seasons, won took advantage of rule State where he helped only one running back and cisco (223 per game) was
three playoff games and changes that opened up groom future Hall of Fame thrived on throwing the ball bigger than the gap be-
never reached a Super the passing game in the coaches John Madden downfield, the Chargers tween the 49ers and the
Bowl. late 1970s and put together and Joe Gibbs, Coryell changed how offenses third-worst passing team of
But his impact on the game an offense that still influenc- took over the St. Louis Car- played the game. that era, the Rams (170.5
with his famous “Air Cory- es the game today. dinals in 1973. The success was immediate yards per game).q

ESPN+ reaches

2-year deal
with

women’s pro

hockey

league

Women’s pro hockey in
the United States will con-
tinue having a broadcast
home on ESPN+ after the
Premier Hockey Federation
announced a two-year
contract extension with
the streaming service on
Wednesday.
ESPN+ will provide live
coverage of PHF regular-
season games, special
events, and the Isobel Cup
playoffs. The deal comes
a season after the two first
formed a partnership in
which the PHF’s champi-
onship game aired live on
ESPN2.
Entering its eighth sea-
son as North America’s
only women’s professional
hockey league, the PHF is
expanding to seven teams
by adding a franchise in
Montreal. The league also
has teams based in Boston,
Newark, New Jersey, Mil-
ford, Connecticut, Buffalo,
New York, Richfield, Minne-
sota and Toronto.
In Canada, the PHF has a
broadcasting agreement
with TSN.q