Richard John Hoak (born December 8, 1939 in Jeannette, Pennsylvania) is a former running backs coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers — the longest tenured coach in the team's history. He was also a running back with the Steelers (1961-1970) and a noted collegiate player at Penn State.
Coaching career
After a highly successful playing career, Hoak was hired by then-coach Chuck Noll as an offensive backfield coach in 1972, where he would serve for 20 seasons. He passed on the head coaching job with the USFL's Pittsburgh Maulers' when offered it in 1983. Following Noll's retirement in 1992, his successor, Bill Cowher, immediately named Hoak running backs coach. During his tenure the Steelers have rushed for over 30,000 yards (the only team to do so in this time period) and have led the league in rushing yards three times. On January 1, 2007, Hoak announced his retirement after 45 seasons with the team; 10 as a player, 35 as a coach.
Hoak has the distinction of being the only coach to work for both Chuck Noll and Bill Cowher. At the time of his retirement, he had been a Steeler for 742 of the franchise’s 1,057 games and had been involved in every title game and playoff victory during its 74 seasons. [1]
Professional playing career
Chosen by the Steelers in the seventh round of the 1961 NFL Draft, Hoak had an impressive career, amassing 3,965 rushing yards in 1132 attempts (3.5 avg) with 25 touchdowns. He also caught 146 passes for 1,452 yards (9.9 avg) and 8 touchdowns. He was named to one Pro Bowl and led the team in rushing three times. He retired after the 1970 season as Pittsburghs number 2 all-time rusher, and is currently fifth all time in rushing yards out of all Steelers.
College career
Hoak played running back at Penn State University from 1958-1961, and was the Nittany Lions' MVP in 1960. He graduated in 1961 with a bachelor's degree in Social Studies.
Personal
Hoak lives in Greensburg, Pennsylvania with his wife Lynn and their three children. He roomed with Jim Ragano his freshman year at Penn St.
References
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
