James Ray Hess (December 1, 1936 – October 2, 2021) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at

Angelo State University Angelo State University is a public university in San Angelo, Texas. It was founded in 1928 as San Angelo College. It gained university status and awarded its first baccalaureate degrees in 1967 and graduate degrees in 1969, the same year it too ...

San Angelo, Texas San Angelo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tom Green County, Texas, United States. Its location is in the Concho Valley, a region of West Texas between the Permian Basin to the northwest, Chihuahuan Desert to the southwest, Osage Plai ...

from 1974 to 1981, Stephen F. Austin State University in

Nacogdoches, Texas Nacogdoches ( ) is a small city in East Texas and the county seat of Nacogdoches County, Texas, United States. The 2020 U.S. census recorded the city's population at 32,147. Nacogdoches is a sister city of the smaller, similarly named Natchito ...

from 1982 to 1988, and

New Mexico State University New Mexico State University (NMSU or NM State) is a public land-grant research university based primarily in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest public institution of higher education in New Mexico and one of the state's tw ...

Las Cruces, New Mexico Las Cruces (; "the crosses") is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the seat of Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 census the population was 111,385. Las Cruces is the largest city in both Doña Ana County and southern New ...

from 1990 to 1996, compiling career

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

coaching record of 134–108–5. Hess led his 1978 Angelo State team to a

NAIA Division I Football National Championship The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Football National Championship is decided by a post-season playoff system featuring the best NAIA college football teams in the United States. Under sponsorship of the National Associa ...

. Hess began his coaching career at the high school level in the state of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. He was also a scout for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL).

Early years

Hess was a native of Farmersville, Texas. He attended

Farmersville High School Farmersville High School may refer to: *Farmersville High School (California), in Farmersville, California * Farmersville High School (Texas), in Farmersville, Texas Farmersville is a city in Collin County, Texas, United States. The population wa ...

. He later enrolled at

Paris Junior College Paris Junior College (PJC) is a public community college with three campuses in Texas: Paris, Greenville, and Sulphur Springs. The college was founded in 1924 as a campus of Paris Independent School District. Nearly 5,000 students are enrolled ...

. He transferred to

Southeastern Oklahoma State University Southeastern Oklahoma State University (Southeastern, SE, or SOSU) is a public university in Durant, Oklahoma. It had an undergraduate enrollment of 4,824 in 2019. History On March 6, 1909, the Second Oklahoma State Legislature approved an a ...

after his sophomore season. He received his master's degree from the

University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School," ...

in 1966.

Professional career

Hess began his football coaching career at

in 1959, winning one district title. He then was hired as an assistant at

McKinney High School McKinney High School (MHS) is located at 1400 Wilson Creek Parkway in McKinney, Texas, and is within the McKinney Independent School District. MHS is the oldest high school in McKinney and the current building opened in 1986, after moving from what ...

from 1961 to 1962. He coached at

Rockwall High School Rockwall High School is a high school that is part of the Rockwall Independent School District located in Rockwall, Texas. The average class size is around 600 and the school achieves an average graduation rate of 98%. Athletics The high schoo ...

from 1963 to 1964, where his team captured the 1963 Class AA state championship. He was hired at

Kilgore High School Kilgore High School is a public high school located in the city of Kilgore, Texas, in Gregg County, United States and classified as a 4A school by the UIL. It is a part of the Kilgore Independent School District located in southwest Gregg Count ...

from 1965 to 1966. In 1967, he became an assistant coach at Rice University. In 1971, he returned to the high school ranks as the head coach at Sterling High School. In 1972, he was hired at

as the defensive coordinator. He was the head football coach from 1974 to 1981. In 1977, he was named the conference Coach of the Year. In 1978, the team went undefeated (14-0) and won the

, while he received NAIA Coach of the Year honors. He led the Rams to six Top 20 rankings and a 65-23 (.731) mark, at the time the highest winning percentage in school history. He was also one of the few coaches to win more than 100 games at the I-AA level. He coached at Stephen F. Austin State University from 1982 to 1988, where he compiled a 47–30–2 record, including a 10–3 mark in his final season. He led the school to five winning seasons, its first-ever conference title in 1985 and earned conference Coach of the Year honors. He resigned at the end of the 1988 season with a 47-30-2 (.608) record, the highest winning percentage in school history at the time. In 1989, he was named the athletic director. During his time with the school, he was instrumental in moving the program from the NAIA to NCAA Division II and into Division I-AA, while helping to renovate the athletic facilities. Hess was named the head coach at

in 1990, where he inherited a 17-game losing streak. Although his Aggie team was called the “worst team in America” in 1992 by

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

, he led the program to its first winning season in 14 years with a 6-5 mark, while being named the Big West Coach of the Year. He was fired in 1996 after his second 1–10 season at the school. He was the fourth winningest coach in school history with a 22-55-0 record. He finished with a career college coaching record of 134–108–5.

Personal life

Hess was hired by the

as an area scout for the Midwest in 1997, where he remained until 2006.

Sean Payton Sean, also spelled Seán or Séan in Irish English, is a male given name of Irish origin. It comes from the Irish versions of the Biblical Hebrew name ''Yohanan'' (), Seán (anglicized as ''Shaun/ Shawn/ Shon'') and Séan (Ulster variant; anglici ...

and him are credited with "finding"

Tony Romo Antonio Ramiro Romo (born April 21, 1980) is an American sportscaster and former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at Eastern Illino ...

in 2006, then an unknown, undrafted free-agent from Division I-AA

Eastern Illinois Eastern Illinois University is a public university in Charleston, Illinois. Established in 1895 as the Eastern Illinois State Normal School, a teacher's college offering a two-year degree, Eastern Illinois University gradually expanded into a co ...

. Hess later worked for

Daktronics Daktronics is an American company based in Brookings, South Dakota that designs, manufactures, sells, and services video displays, scoreboards, digital billboards, dynamic message signs, sound systems, and related products. Founded in 1968 by ...

and as color commentator for football games at

. Hess died at the age of 84 on October 2, 2021.

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hess, Jim 1936 births 2021 deaths American football cornerbacks American football fullbacks Angelo State Rams football coaches Dallas Cowboys scouts New Mexico State Aggies football coaches Rice Owls football coaches Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm baseball players Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm football players Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks and Ladyjacks athletic directors Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football coaches High school football coaches in Texas Junior college football players in the United States University of North Texas alumni People from Farmersville, Texas Players of American football from Collin County, Texas Baseball players from Collin County, Texas