.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
Former NT Football Coach Rod Rust Dies
10/25/2018 2:38:00 PM | Football
Rod Rust, who coached North Texas football to a Missouri Valley Conference championship and the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl, died Tuesday at his home in Ocean City, New Jersey. He was 90 years old.
After working as an assistant coach at New Mexico and Stanford, Rust took over as UNT's head football coach in 1967 after the retirement of Odus Mitchell. With a team led by 18 future NFL draftees - including three first-round selections and seven players who would be inducted into the North Texas Athletics Hall of Fame and be selected to UNT's All-Century Team, North Texas went 22-6-1 in Rust's first three seasons and captured the 1967 Missouri Valley title.
Rust's rosters included defensive linemen "Mean" Joe Greene and Cedrick Hardman, record-setting quarterback Steve Ramsey, wide receiver Ron Shanklin, offensive linemen Glen Holloway and Willie Parker, and defensive back Leonard Dunlap.
In 1973, Rust moved to the Canadian Football League in Montreal, then got his first NFL job as linebackers coach for Philadelphia. He was a defensive coordinator at Kansas City, New England (where he reached the Super Bowl in 1985), Pittsburgh, the New York Giants and Atlanta, then was head coach with the Patriots in 1990.
Rust, originally from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, played college football at Iowa State and spent two years in the U.S. Army before beginning his coaching career.
