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Fazio, 71, dies of leukemia

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH -- Foge Fazio, who succeeded Jackie Sherrill as the football coach at alma mater Pittsburgh and later was a defensive coordinator for the NFL's Vikings and Browns, died Wednesday night following a lengthy battle with leukemia. He was 71.

Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson confirmed Fazio's death while attending the Pitt-Duquesne basketball game on Wednesday night.

Fazio, who grew up in Coraopolis, Pa., in suburban Pittsburgh, was a former Pitt linebacker and center and was chosen as the team MVP in 1959. He was drafted by the AFL's Boston Patriots in 1960 but soon after moved into coaching. He spent nine seasons as a Pitt assistant, the final three as defensive coordinator, before being promoted to head coach in 1982, following three successive 11-1 seasons under Sherrill.

Fazio's first Pitt team, quarterbacked by Dan Marino, began the season ranked No. 1 and started 7-0, but lost three of its final five as the Panthers' offense struggled. His 1983 team went 8-3-1, but he was fired with two years left on his contract following a 31-0 loss to Penn State in 1985.

Fazio was 25-18-3 at Pitt, including a 3-7-1 record in 1984.

"I don't know that anyone embodied the Pitt spirit better than Foge Fazio," Pederson said. "It was obvious from the first time that I met him how passionate he was about this university and its football program. Foge had the unique ability to make everyone he came in contact with feel special. In so many ways he represented all the great things associated with the University of Pittsburgh."

After leaving Pitt, Fazio was hired as coach Lou Holtz's defensive coordinator at Notre Dame. He also was an assistant coach with the Falcons, Jets and Redskins and was the defensive coordinator of the Vikings (1996-98) and Browns (2001-02). He retired with Cleveland in 2003 but returned two years later as a Vikings defensive consultant under coach Mike Tice.

Fazio spent the last two seasons as a radio analyst on Pitt football broadcasts, but hadn't worked this season since the South Florida game on Oct. 24. He recently told broadcast partner Bill Hillgrove he hoped to return for the No. 14 Panthers game Saturday against No. 5 Cincinnati.

"Foge was a true 'Pitt Man,' " Pitt coach Dave Wannstedt said. "He loved this university and everyone at Pitt loved Foge. He was an outstanding football coach and an even better person. From the time I came back to Pittsburgh five years ago, no one has been a better friend or supporter of what we are doing at Pitt. He will be greatly missed."

Pitt basketball coach Jamie Dixon also knew Fazio and called the Panthers' 67-58, double-overtime win over Duquesne as "bittersweet" because it came on the night Fazio died.

Even after being diagnosed, Fazio was helping Our Lady of Sacred Heart High School in Coraopolis start a football program that will begin play in 2010.

Fazio was born Serafino Dante Fazio, but was called Foge because of the way he pronounced the word "fudge" as a youngster.


Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press

RIP Foge,, always thought you got a bit of a raw deal here.....

Just a bit???

IIRC, Foge wanted to keep attacking Tommy Maddox in the playoff game in 2002, and Botch elected to go prevent.
We saw how that turned out.
Then Botch fired him the next day.

Anyway, RIP Foge Fazio... you are a highly-respected football coach.

RIP Coach Fazio...

What is amazing to me is the (relative) success the defense had with marginal players. Looking at the stats from Pro Football Reference , we were 10th in scoring defense. But look at the players we had leading the team!

Earl Holmes, Robert Griffith, Anthony Henry, Dwayne Rudd, and Earl Little were the top five tacklers.

Mark Word led the team in sacks.

I think it speaks to Foge's coaching ability that he was able to get this defense to play relatively well with no real big stars.

RIP Coach Fazio

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Just a bit???

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Yeah, I understated it Lamp.. he got hosed by davis. No question about it.

I knew you knew...

I was thinking about Botch today and remembered RJ Bowers. So here's something I found on the Internet from just after the '03 season:

Two interesting tidbits from Beacon Joural beat writer Patrick McManamon show just how tough this pro football bidness is these days:

--The players made a point to award Bruce Arians a game ball in the locker room following the win at Cincy:

[Guard Shaun] O'Hara named Arians, said he was a good person and he had put together a winning game plan for the Bengals game. As Arians stepped forward, the team cheered. Davis, aware he was going to fire Arians the next day, quietly walked away.

--Fullback R.J. Bowers was cut on Christmas Eve. If you cut an injured player, you have to pay him, so they got Bowers to run the 40-yard dash with one game left in the season. "One insider said the move left Bowers in tears in the locker room on Christmas Eve."

RIP

I think Fazio has been my favorite coach on the Browns since the return.

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Former Browns defensive coordinator Foge Fazio.

THE KICKOFF
Foge Fazio, who died of leukemia this week at the age of 71, grew up in Pittsburgh as a Browns fan.
“My older brother, Tony, was born in Italy,” Fazio once told me. “He got me started. I was playing junior high school football in the mid-50s and Tony would take me to the old stadium for Browns games. He was a big Browns fan.
“I had all the guys memorized. I knew Bill Willis, Horace Gillom, Marion Motley, Preston Carpenter, my man Dante Lavelli, Otto Graham. Even today I can name them all. When I went to college at Pitt, I became a Steelers fan. They were playing in our stadium.”
That story should tell you the emotions of Fazio when he coached the Browns’ defense in a playoff game against the Steelers in the 2002 season. Little did he know what a kick in the gut that game would be.
The Browns blew a 33-21 lead in the fourth quarter and lost, 36-33. The Browns’ “prevent” defense gave up the winning TD drive to Tommy Maddox in the final 2 1/2 minutes.
The next day, it came to light that coach Butch Davis took over play-calls from Fazio in the last quarter when the Steelers scored 22 points. Several players confirmed it.
But when Davis was asked about who made the calls at the end, Davis said, “That’s what the coordinator does.”
Davis fired Fazio the next day.
R.I.P, Serafino (Foge) Fazio — one of the best guys ever to come through the Browns organization.
— Tony Grossi

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