Dick Jauron, a longtime NFL player and former head coach of the Buffalo Bills, passed away on Saturday at the age of 74.
In the early 1970s, Jauron excelled in two sports while attending Yale. He was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals in the Major League Baseball amateur selection and the Detroit Lions in the NFL draft. After spending five seasons as a defensive back in Detroit and three more with Cincinnati before retiring in 1980, he finally decided to make football his life’s work.
Jauron moved into coaching and five years later was employed by the Bills as a defensive backs coach. He went on to coach defensive backs in Green Bay and became friends with Reid, who was an assistant offensive line and tight ends coach.
Tom Coughlin hired Jauron as defensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1995, and he used his success there to land the head coaching position in Chicago. After winning the NFC North in 2001 and losing to the Eagles, who were then coached by Reid, in the divisional round of the playoffs, Jauron had just one winning record in his five seasons with the Bears.
After being let go in 2003, Jauron took a position as defensive coordinator in Detroit, where he was the team’s temporary coach for five games in 2005. He spent the next four seasons as the head coach in Buffalo but never had a winning record.
He finished with a 60-82 record and one playoff berth over parts of 10 seasons as a head coach.
The Bears announced the passing of Virginia Halas McCaskey, who inherited the team from her father, George Halas, and served as its principal owner for more than 40 years, just two days prior to Jauron’s passing. She was 102 years old.
