Kent Auburn McCloughan (born February 12, 1940) is a former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and scout. He played

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

for the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

(AFL)'s

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

from 1965 through 1969, and for 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)'s Raiders in 1970, but his career ended early because of a devastating knee injury. With Willie Brown, a member of the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

, he is considered to be the originator or one of the earliest proficient exponents of

Bump and run coverage Bump and run coverage is a strategy formerly widely used by defensive backs in American professional football in which a defender lined up directly in front of a wide receiver and tried to impede him with arms, hands, or entire body and disrupt ...

, by which a defensive back impedes progress of the wide receiver by body contact, a style that was followed by later Oakland cornerbacks, such as

Lester Hayes Lester Craig Hayes (born January 22, 1955) is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback for the Oakland / Los Angeles Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). Hayes was commonly referred to as "the Judge" and ...

. The strategy appeared so successful in the eyes of NFL rule-makers that, to help the offense, the rules were changed in 1974, 1977, and 1978, with each rule change favoring the receiver over the defender (see

Penalty (American football) In gridiron football, a penalty is a sanction assessed against a team for a violation of the rules, called a foul. Officials initially signal penalties by tossing a bright yellow colored penalty flag onto the field toward or at the spot of a fou ...

.) In 1974, the most severe rule change regarding pass receivers and defenders was enacted. This rule stipulated that a player could only make contact one time beyond 3 yards of the line of scrimmage. In 1977, the rule was amended to aid the pass receivers yet again. Starting that season, a defender could only make contact with a receiver one time overall, whether it be within 3 yards of the line of scrimmage or further downfield. In 1978, the rule was amended to aid the pass receivers yet again. Starting that season, a defender could make contact with a receiver only one time, and within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage. If the defender made contact with a receiver 6 yards or more from the line of scrimmage, it was now considered pass interference, even if the ball was not yet in the air. A native of

Broken Bow, Nebraska Broken Bow is a city in Custer County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 3,559 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Custer County. History Broken Bow was platted in 1882. Its name, likely suggested by a settler who found a b ...

, McCloughan established a Nebraska state record (21.4 sec) in the

220 yard dash The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

in 1961, which stood until

Kenzo Cotton Kenzo Cotton (born May 13, 1996) is an American sprinter. Cotton competed in the boy's 100 meters at the 2013 World Youth Championships in Athletics. Cotton is 2015 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships 4x100 m champion, a 19-t ...

broke it in 2012.

Personal

McCloughan has three sons;

Dave Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

who played defensive back in the

NFL 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 major ...

from 1991 to 1994, Mark McCloughan and

Scot The Scots ( sco, Scots Fowk; gd, Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded t ...

, who is the former general manager of the

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

References

1940 births Living people People from Scotts Bluff County, Nebraska Players of American football from Nebraska American football cornerbacks Nebraska Cornhuskers football players Oakland Raiders players American Football League All-Star players American Football League players People from Broken Bow, Nebraska {{defensiveback-1940s-stub

Personal

See also

References