Don Coryell, the innovative coach whose San Diego Chargers teams featured some of the most dynamic passing attacks in league history, has died. He was 85.The Chargers confirmed Coryell died Thursday at Grossmont Hospital in La Mesa, just outside of San Diego. The team did not release the cause of death, but Coryell had been in poor health for some time.
Coryell is one of the founding fathers of the modern passing game. He coached at San Diego State and in the NFL with the St. Louis Cardinals and Chargers.
From 1978-86 with the Chargers, his “Air Coryell” offense — led by quarterback Dan Fouts — set numerous NFL records.
Prior to coaching the Chargers, Coryell was also responsible for some of the few bright spots in the St. Louis (now Arizona) Cardinals’ modern history in the mid-1970s, during an otherwise a seemingly endless drought before the arrival of Kurt Warner and the Cards’ recent Cinderella Super Bowl run.
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