Larry Pasquale (born April 21, 1941) is a former

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and

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, and

sports broadcaster In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio w ...

. His 39-year football coaching career included jobs with multiple teams in the

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(NFL),

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

(CFL), and several college and high school football teams. During his career, he was regarded as one of the most respected special teams coaches in the NFL, earning Special Teams Coach of the Year Honors. After retiring from coaching, Pasquale enjoyed an eight-year career as a television and radio sports broadcaster.

Early life

Larry Joseph Pasquale was born on April 21, 1941, in Brooklyn, New York's Methodist Hospital. As a child, he grew up in Brooklyn with his parents, Mary Teresa and Joseph Pasquale. Mary immigrated to Brooklyn as a child from

Sicily, Italy (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

. As a youth in Brooklyn, Pasquale attended PS 97, Seth Low Junior High School, and Lafayette High School. He played football in

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and

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, where he earned First-Team All-City High School Quarterback honors. After graduating from Lafayette in 1958, he attended

Georgia Military College Georgia Military College (GMC) is a public military junior college in Milledgeville, Georgia. It is divided into the junior college, a military junior college program, high school, middle school, and elementary school. It was originally known as M ...

Prep School, and then attended the

University of Bridgeport The University of Bridgeport (UB) is a private university in Bridgeport, Connecticut. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. In 2021, the university was purchased by Goodwin University; it retain its own n ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

. Pasquale majored in Physical Education. At Bridgeport, he earned both Bachelor and Master of Science Degrees. He also completed graduate courses at Columbia University and Fairfield University.

Career

Early coaching career

Pasquale began his coaching career at age 22 as a multi-sport high school coach in Chappaqua, NY, Greenwich, CT and Danbury, CT. He then advanced to a college football coaching career, with positions at

Slippery Rock University Slippery Rock University, formally Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania (The Rock or SRU), is a public university in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. SRU is a member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). The university ...

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

, the U.S. Naval Academy,

University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

and

Idaho State University , mottoeng = "The truth will set you free" , established = , former_names = Academy of Idaho(1901–1915)Idaho Technical Institute(1915–1927)University of Idaho—Southern Branch(1927–1947)Idaho State ...

Professional football

Pasquale's first professional coaching job was for the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...

under head coach Marv Levy; the Alouettes won the CFL's top prize, the

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

, in 1977. In 1979, he then began a 22-year NFL coaching career, with jobs for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

, and the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

Career highlights

Pasquale was named NFL Special Teams Coach of the Year in 1990 and was nominated for the award again in 1995 and 1997. He coached in the AFC Championship Game in 1983, 1997, and 2000. In five seasons with the Jaguars, his special teams unit scored ten

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s while only giving up only one in the regular season, and his special teams blocked 11 punts in his five years. While Pasquale coached the St. Louis Rams' special teams in 2000, Rams kicker

Jeff Wilkins Jeffrey Allen Wilkins (born April 19, 1972), nicknamed "Money", is a former American football placekicker for the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles and St. Louis Rams of the National Football League (NFL). With the Rams, he won Super Bo ...

was perfect on field goals and extra points, and the Rams led the league in kickoff touchbacks. Also that season, punt returner

Az-Zahir Hakim Az-Zahir Ali Hakim (born June 3, 1977) is an American football coach and former wide receiver who played nine seasons in the National Football League. He played college football at San Diego State. He was drafted by the St. Louis Rams in the f ...

's punt return average led the NFC. While coaching the Jets, Pasquale had the NFL's number one ranked punt-coverage teams in 1981, 1986, 1987, and 1988 and were ranked second in 1989. In 1984, the Jets also ranked #1 in kick-off return team. Pasquale led the Jets to an 80 percent success rate on fake field goals and fake punts, while never allowing an opponent to convert a faked kick. Pasquale coached

' special teams to the top of the NFL in kickoff return average and punt coverage in his first season. During that season, Pasquale turned around a 27th ranked unit to first in the top four special teams categories (kick-off, kick-off return, punt and punt return). Pasquale's special teams scored more than 40 touchdowns in his career while allowing only 4 blocked punts. Pasquale was a favorite of filmmaker

NFL Films NFL Productions, LLC, doing business as NFL Films, is the film and television production company of the National Football League. It produces commercials, television programs, feature films, and documentaries for and about the NFL, as well as ot ...

for his motivational speeches, which frequently made appearances in NFL Films' highlight videos. Pasquale was a co-founder of the NFL Coaches' Association that helped bring better pension and health benefits for NFL assistant coaches, and instituted an interim pension plan (Rule of 75) which provided coverage for coaches from ages 58–65 based on years of service to the league.http://jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/031603/jag_12014886.shtml NFL Confidential by Vito Stellino: Pasquale Retires as Coach

Broadcasting career

After retiring from coaching, Pasquale began a broadcasting career as an analyst for the

on MSG Radio (2001–2002) and then served as an analyst for ''This Week in Football'' on the

YES network The Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) is an American pay television regional sports network owned by Yankee Global Enterprises (the largest shareholder with 26%), Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios (which owns 20%), A ...

for seven seasons. Pasquale's "Coach's Class" video segment and weekly Jets and

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

game plan columns also appeared on YESNetwork.com.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pasquale, Larry 1941 births Living people Boston University Terriers football coaches Detroit Lions coaches Idaho State Bengals football coaches Jacksonville Jaguars coaches Montreal Alouettes coaches Navy Midshipmen football coaches New York Jets coaches Philadelphia Eagles coaches San Diego Chargers coaches Slippery Rock football coaches St. Louis Rams coaches UMass Minutemen football coaches High school football coaches in Connecticut High school football coaches in New York (state) Lafayette High School (New York City) alumni University of Bridgeport alumni Players of American football from Brooklyn