Coryell’s deserved Hall of Fame election may be near
Fans of the late San Diego Chargers deserve some cheerful news and may get it tonight when the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023 is announced from candidates who include Don Coryell.
The former Chargers and St. Louis Cardinals head coach advanced in August as the non-player candidate from a group of 12 coaches and contributors, among them Super Bowl-winning coaches Mike Shanahan and Mike Holmgren.
Coryell, whose innovations made the NFL game more entertaining, will be inducted into the Canton, Ohio, shrine if he is supported by at least 80 percent of the full Hall panel.
He wasn’t elected in six other years as a finalist, but his chances are much better this time because he’s not competing against modernera players.
The echoes of roaring crowds and the disco song “San Diego Super Chargers” would resonate in Mission Valley and throughout San Diego County if the late coach, who died in 2010 at age 85, is inducted.
A bronze bust of Coryell belongs in a pantheon whose members include the coach’s former coaching assistants Joe Gibbs and John Madden, the latter with San Diego State. Among the players in the Hall are four ex-Chargers who played for Coryell: Dan Fouts, Fred Dean, Charlie Joiner and Kellen Winslow.
In their first four full seasons under Coryell, beginning in 1979, the Chargers won three AFC West titles and a wild-card berth. In those years, they finished second, fourth, first and first in NFL scoring.
The thrilling “Air Coryell” offenses drew large crowds to Mission Valley. A precise, varied passing game that also featured receivers John Jefferson and Wes Chandler produced giddy afternoons and evenings for San Diegans, thousands of them wearing gold Chargers T-shirts.
After touchdowns, the team’s catchy fight song blared. The sing-alongs left many fans hoarse, given how often Fouts and Co. reached the end zone.
“I hate that song,” said a former New York Giants defensive assistant named Bill Belichick, who in an October 1980 visit saw Jefferson, Winslow and Joiner all exceed 100 receiving yards in San Diego’s 44-7 victory. “They didn’t get through playing that song before they had scored again and they started playing it again. It was ‘San Diego Super Chargers,’ that’s still ringing in my head.”
Coryell finished his 14-year NFL coaching career with a 11183-1 record and .572 win rate.
He directed six teams to the playoffs, going 3-6.
Though he never reached the Super Bowl, several of his former Chargers coaches and players would win at least one Super Bowl.
Coryell’s numerical system for offensive plays and calls is still used by some NFL teams, as are some of his play designs.
This week, the Coryell tree will extend into another Super Bowl when Philadelphia Eagles offensive coordinator Shane Steichen coaches against the the Kansas City Chiefs. As a San Diego Chargers assistant, Steichen worked under Norv Turner, whose mentors included longtime Coryell assistant and play-caller Ernie Zampese.
The Hall’s 2023 class will be announced on the annual NFL Honors show that airs tonight on NBC, beginning at 6 p.m.