University of Connecticut Athletics
Former UConn football coach Rick Forzano dies at age 90
1/11/2019 11:42:00 AM | Football
Article Courtesy the Hartford Courant
Rick Forzano, who was the head coach at UConn from 1964-65, has died. He was 90.
During his stint at UConn, Forzano coached the Huskies to a combined 7-10-1 record. His most notable win at Connecticut was a 13-6 season-opening win over Yale at the Yale Bowl in 1965.
Forzano coached the Detroit Lions for the 1974 and 1975 seasons, plus the first four games in 1976. He went 15-17.
"Rick was a wonderful man and we are truly saddened by the news of his passing," Lions owner Martha Firestone Ford said in a statement. "On behalf of me, my family and the Lions organization, I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to the entire Forzano family."
UConn coach Randy Edsall tweeted Friday morning "Very saddened to hear of the passing of former UConn football coach Rick Forzano. A great coach and person. He will be missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family. #RIP"
Forzano's staffs in Detroit included future NFL head coaches Bill Belichick Raymond Berry, Joe Bugel and Jerry Glanville.Â
"He's coaching guys that, he's younger than they are," Forzano said in 2017 for an NFL Films video about him and Belichick. "But they just accepted him."
Born in Akron, Ohio, Forzano graduated from Kent State in 1951. He coached high school for five years before a college coaching career that included stops as an assistant at Wooster (1956), Kent State (1957-58) and Navy (1959-63).
In between his head coaching jobs at UConn and Navy, he was an NFL assistant with St. Louis and Cincinnati. He joined the Lions as an assistant in 1973 before becoming their head coach.
