Jim Sochor (February 11, 1938 – November 23, 2015) 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 ...

player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

from 1970 to 1988 during which time compiling a record of 156–41–5 and won 18 consecutive conference championships, then a

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 ...

record. Sochor also served as the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

at UC Davis from 1989 to 1991. He was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

as a coach in 1999.

Early years and playing career

Sochor was born February 11, 1938, in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

. He grew up in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. Sochor played football as a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

at George Washington High School in San Francisco. He also played on the basketball team. He went on to play quarterback at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

from 1957 to 1959, leading the

San Francisco State Gators The San Francisco State Gators are the athletic teams that compete at San Francisco State University in San Francisco, California. The nickname applies to the college's intercollegiate NCAA Division II teams. The nickname was published in the stud ...

to three

Far Western Conference The Northern California Athletic Conference (NCAC) was an NCAA Division II college athletic association that sponsored American football that was founded in 1925. It disbanded in 1998 after the majority of its member schools were forced to drop fo ...

(FWC) championships.

Early coaching career

Sochor started his coaching career as an assistant at San Francisco State from 1960 to 1965. He then served as an assistant at the

from 1967 to 1969.

Head coach

Sochor became the head coach at UC Davis in 1970. Following his first year there, he had a streak of 18 consecutive conference championships, from 1971 to 1988 (15 outright, three shared). The only other college football program in NCAA history on any division level for this remarkable streak has been Mount Union College. His overall record between 1970 and 1988 was 156–41–5, a winning percentage of .785. In conference games under Sochor, the Aggies were 92–5. He had winning streaks of 41 and 38 in conference games. His Aggies were the final poll leaders at the end of the regular season in 1983 and 1985. He was named national coach of the year in NCAA Division II in 1983. He was the coach of future NFL quarterbacks

Mike Moroski Michael Henry Moroski (born September 4, 1957) is an American football coach and former player. He is the football head coach at College of Idaho. Moroski played eight seasons in the National Football League (NFL) with the Atlanta Falcons, the ...

and

Ken O'Brien Kenneth John O'Brien Jr. (born November 27, 1960) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League for the New York Jets and Philadelphia Eagles. When he retired he was the only Jets quarterback to have ever ...

and kicker

Rolf Benirschke Rolf Joachim Benirschke (born February 7, 1955) is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the San Diego Chargers from 1977 until 1986. He is probably most known ...

. He was also a mentor to several future head coaches including

Dan Hawkins Danny Clarence Hawkins (born November 10, 1960) is an American football coach at UC Davis. A former player and sportscaster, he served as the head football coach at Willamette University (1993–1997), Boise State University (2001–2005), and ...

, Paul Hackett,

Mike Bellotti Robert Michael Bellotti (born December 21, 1950) is an American college football analyst for ESPN and ABC Sports, ABC. He was with the Oregon Ducks football, University of Oregon's football program for over 20 years serving as offensive coordin ...

Chris Petersen Christopher Scott Petersen (born October 13, 1964) is a former American football coach who was most recently the head coach at the University of Washington. Previously the head coach for eight seasons at Boise State University, Petersen guided ...

Gary Patterson Gary Allen Patterson (born February 13, 1960) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the special assistant to the head coach at the University of Texas. He is the former head football coach at Texas Christian University ...

, and

Bob Biggs George Robert Biggs (born February 20, 1951) is a former American football player and coach. He played college football for UC Davis and was selected by the Associated Press as the first-team quarterback on the 1972 Little All-America college foo ...

1982 Palm Bowl

Sochor led the 1982 Aggies to the

Palm Bowl Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae **List of Arecaceae genera * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music * Palm (ba ...

McAllen, Texas McAllen is the largest city in Hidalgo County, Texas, United States, and the 22nd-most populous city in Texas. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexico–United States border. The city limits extend ...

for the

NCAA Division II national football championship The NCAA Division II Football Championship is an American college football tournament played annually to determine a champion at the NCAA Division II level. It was first held in 1973, as a single-elimination tournament with eight teams. The tourna ...

against the

Jim Wacker James Herbert Wacker (April 28, 1937 – August 26, 2003) was an American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Texas Lutheran University (1971–1975), North Dakota State University (1976–1 ...

-led Southwest Texas State, but lost 34–9. Aggie Quarterback

had suffered leg and ankle injuries in the semifinal game two weeks before, and as a result reserve Scott Barry had to lead the offense.

Later life and career

Sochor served as the UC Davis director of athletics from 1989 to 1991. He served as the coach of the golf team for five years starting in 1992. Sochor later served as the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

of the Scottish Claymores of

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally f ...

for three years. They won

World Bowl '96 World Bowl '96 (also referred to as World Bowl IV) was the fourth championship game of the World League of American Football (WLAF). It took place at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland on Sunday, June 23, 1996. The 7–3 Scottish Claymor ...

, 32–27, over the Frankfurt Galaxy during his time there. In 1984 and 1988 he served as the assistant coach in the East–West Shrine Game. Sochor died of cancer on November 23, 2015.http://www.sacbee.com/sports/college/article46599595.html

Honors

* He was inducted into the Cal Aggie Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995 * He was inducted into the

in 1999. * He was awarded the Ronald L. Jensen Award for Lifetime Achievement by the

Positive Coaching Alliance Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) is an American non-profit organization which strives to create a positive youth sports environment. Since its founding in 1998, PCA has established 18 chapters nationwide and has delivered more than 20,000 live g ...

in 2008. * The field at Aggie Stadium is named Jim Sochor Field.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sochor, Jim 1938 births 2015 deaths American football quarterbacks San Francisco State Gators football coaches San Francisco State Gators football players Scottish Claymores coaches UC Davis Aggies athletic directors UC Davis Aggies football coaches College golf coaches in the United States College Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Oklahoma City Coaches of American football from California Players of American football from San Francisco