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Chuck Fairbanks

Date of birth	June 10, 1933
Sport	Football
Title	Retired Head coach
Overall Record	111-93-1
Bowl Record	3-1-1
Championships   won	1967, 1968, 1972 Big Eight Championship
Coaching Stats	College Football DataWarehouse
Coaching positions
1967-72 1973-78 1979-81 1983	Oklahoma New England Patriots (NFL) Colorado New Jersey Generals (USFL)

Chuck Fairbanks (born June 10, 1933) was a football head coach at the high school, collegiate and professional levels, who was often plagued by ethical controversies surrounding his activities.

Fairbanks graduated from Michigan State University in 1955 following three years of football with the Spartans, and that fall, began the first of three years as head coach of Ishpeming High School in Michigan.

Contents 1 College assistant 2 Head Coach 3 NFL 4 Return to collegiate ranks 5 USFL 5.1 Record 6 External links

In 1958, he accepted an assistant coaching position at Arizona State University, spending four years there before moving on for another four-year stint at the University of Houston from 1962-1965. In 1966, he accepted an assistant coach position at the University of Oklahoma.

Following the sudden death of Sooner head coach Jim Mackenzie in April 1967, Fairbanks was promoted to head coach of the Oklahoma Sooners. Over the next six years, Fairbanks led the team to three Big Eight Conference titles, with 11-1 records during his final two seasons.

On January 26, 1973, Fairbanks was named head coach of the New England Patriots. Three months later, the University of Oklahoma was forced to forfeit nine games from the 1972 campaign after evidence of recruiting violations involving altered transcripts of student-athletes was found, but Fairbanks denied knowledge of the situation. The scandal prevented the Sooners from playing in bowl games for two years and also kept them from challenging for the national championship.

After mixed results during his first three seasons, Fairbanks' Patriots finished 11-3 in 1976 (a complete reversal of the 3-11 mark from the year before) and took on the 13-1 Oakland Raiders in the first round of the NFL playoffs. New England led 21-10 entering the fourth quarter, but Raider quarterback Ken Stabler's dive into the end zone with eight seconds remaining gave Oakland the comeback victory. The late drive had been aided by a controversial roughing the passer call on the Patriots' Ray Hamilton.

In 1977, contract squabbles with offensive linemen John Hannah and Leon Gray caused havoc with the team all season, preventing them from reaching the postseason. The following year, the team seemed poised to challenge for a Super Bowl berth, but just prior to the final regular season game, Fairbanks was suspended by team owner Billy Sullivan for accepting a contract to coach the University of Colorado beginning in 1979. Fairbanks was reinstated for the team's first playoff game, but the controversy resulted in a distracted Patriot squad losing to the Houston Oilers by a 31-14 score.

After being sued by New England for breach of contract, Fairbanks admitted recruiting for Colorado while still working for the Patriots, with a subsequent legal ruling preventing him from taking his new job. However, on April 2, 1979, Colorado bought out Fairbanks' contract, allowing him to leave the Patriots.

The struggles in obtaining Fairbanks would not be worth the effort when he compiled a 7-26 record in three seasons (3-8, 1-10, 3-8). For some unexplained reason Fairbanks discarded the Buffaloes' traditional black jerseys and replaced them with a medium blue.

Fairbanks resigned from CU on June 1, 1982 to accept the head coaching position with the New Jersey Generals of the fledgling USFL.

Even before coaching his first game in the new league, Fairbanks once again found himself immersed in controversy. Georgia junior Herschel Walker, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, signed with the Generals on February 23, 1983, violating the NCAA's then-unwritten rule to not sign players before they had completed their eligibility.

The move, like his tenure at Colorado, proved to be pointless as the Generals finished the 1983 USFL season with a 6-12 record, and resulting in Fairbanks' dismissal. He never again served as either a college or professional coach, and focused on selling real estate in California.

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl Game	Bowl Opponent	Outcome	Rank#
Oklahoma Sooners (Big Eight) (1967 — 1972)
1967	Oklahoma	10-1	7-0	1st	Orange Bowl	Tennessee	W, 26-24
1968	Oklahoma	7-4	6-1	1st	Bluebonnet Bowl	SMU	L, 28-27
1969	Oklahoma	6-4	4-3
1970	Oklahoma	7-4-1	5-2		Bluebonnet Bowl	Alabama	T, 24-24
1971	Oklahoma	11-1	6-1		Sugar Bowl	Auburn	W, 40-22
1972	Oklahoma	11-1	6-1	1st	Sugar Bowl	Penn State	W, 14-0
At Oklahoma:		52-15-1
New England Patriots (NFL AFC East) (1973 — 1978)
1973	New England	5-9		3rd
1974	New England	7-7		3rd
1975	New England	3-11		4th
1976	New England	11-3		2nd
1977	New England	9-5		3rd
1978	New England	11-5		1st
At New England:
Colorado Buffaloes (Big Eight) (1979 — 1981)
1979	Colorado	3-8	2-5	T-5th
1980	Colorado	1-10	1-6	T-7th
1981	Colorado	3-8	2-5	7th
At Colorado:		7-26	5-16
New Jersey Generals (USFL) (1983)
1983	New Jersey	6-12
At New Jersey:		6-12
Career:
National Championship          Conference Title
#Rankings from final Coaches Poll of the season.

• College Football Data Warehouse.com - Chuck Fairbanks' college coaching record

Preceded by Jim Mackenzie	University of Oklahoma Head Football Coaches 1967-1972	Succeeded by Barry Switzer
Preceded by Phil Bengtson	New England Patriots Head Coaches 1973–1978	Succeeded by Ron Erhardt
Preceded by Bill Mallory	University of Colorado Head Football Coaches 1979-1981	Succeeded by Bill McCartney
Preceded by first coach	New Jersey Generals Head Coaches 1983	Succeeded by Walt Michaels

Boston/New England Patriots Head Coaches
Saban • Holovak • Rush • Mazur • Bengtson • Fairbanks • Erhardt • Meyer • Berry • Rust • MacPherson • Parcells • Carroll • Belichick

Persondata
NAME	Fairbanks, Chuck
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Football coach
DATE OF BIRTH	June 10, 1933
PLACE OF BIRTH
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH