Joseph Lawrence "Lary" Kuharich Jr. (December 20, 1945 – November 13, 2016) 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 Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

who was most recently 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

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

Columbus Destroyers The Columbus Destroyers were an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Columbus, Ohio, with home games in Nationwide Arena. The team was founded in as the Buffalo Destroyers, based in Buffalo, New York, and relocated to Columbus in . They fold ...

. He was the son of former

Notre Dame Fighting Irish The Notre Dame Fighting Irish are the athletic teams that represent the University of Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish participate in 23 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate sports and in the NCAA's Division ...

and

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 ...

head football coach

Joe Kuharich Joseph Lawrence Kuharich (April 14, 1917 – January 25, 1981) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of San Francisco from 1948 to 1951, and at the University of Notre Dame from 1959 ...

and the brother of former

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

General Manager

Bill Kuharich Bill Kuharich is an American professional football executive, specializing in player-personnel (i.e., evaluating and selecting players); he has also held the General Manager position. Kuharich is the son of Joe Kuharich, former college and NFL hea ...

. Kuharich coached at

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

Illinois State Illinois State University (ISU) is a Public university, public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is reco ...

and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

in the late 1970s early 80s before becoming offensive coordinator of the

San Antonio Gunslingers The San Antonio Gunslingers were a professional American football team based in San Antonio, Texas, that played in the United States Football League (USFL) in 1984 and 1985. Owned by oil magnate Clinton Manges, the team played its home games in ...

in 1983. He held the same position with the

Oakland Invaders The Oakland Invaders were a professional American football team that played in the United States Football League (USFL) from 1983 through 1985. Based in Oakland, California, they played at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. The team can trac ...

and

Calgary Stampeders The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-old ...

before becoming the Stampeders head coach in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

. In

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, Kuharich became the head coach of the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first season ...

. Both he and GM

Joe Kapp Joseph Robert Kapp (born March 19, 1938) is an American former football player, coach, and executive. He played college football as a quarterback at the University of California, Berkeley. Kapp played professionally in the Canadian Football Lea ...

worked to acquire big-name players, including

Doug Flutie Douglas Richard Flutie (born October 23, 1962) is an American former football quarterback whose professional career spanned 21 seasons. He played 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), eight seasons in the Canadian Football League (CF ...

, Major Harris, and

Mark Gastineau Marcus Dell Gastineau (born November 20, 1956) is an American former football player who was a defensive end for the New York Jets from 1979 to 1988. A five-time Pro Bowler, he was one of the quickest and most feared pass rushers of his generatio ...

. Although Flutie played well, Gastineau only appeared in 4 games and Harris spent most of the season on the bench. After a rough 2–7–1 start he was fired along with Joe Kapp. In

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

he was the offensive coordinator of the ArenaBowl Champion

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The f ...

. When

Fran Curci Fran Curci (born June 11, 1938) is a former American football player and coach. He was an All-American quarterback at the University of Miami in 1959. He served as head coach at the University of Tampa from 1968 to 1970, the University of Miami ...

left to coach the

Cincinnati Rockers The Cincinnati Rockers were an arena football team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They began play in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League and competed through the 1993 Arena Football League season, 1993 season before they suspended ...

, he was named the team's new head coach, vice president and general manager. In

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

he coached the Storm to a 51–31 victory over the

Detroit Drive The Massachusetts Marauders were a professional arena football team that was based in Worcester, Massachusetts. They were a member of the Arena Football League (AFL) from 1988 to 1994. The team was established in Detroit in 1988, as the Detroit D ...

ArenaBowl VII ArenaBowl '93 (or ArenaBowl VII) was the Arena Football League's seventh Arena Bowl. The game featured the number 3 Tampa Bay Storm (9–3) of the National Conference against the number 1 Detroit Drive (11–1) of the American Conference. The Storm ...

. He compiled a 35–12 record and three consecutive postseason appearances while in Tampa. He also owns the distinction of being the winning head coach of the AFL’s only All-Star Game. In 1995, he was assigned by the WLAF to be the

Scottish Claymores The Scottish Claymores were an American football team based in Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football (later renamed NFL Europe) between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, E ...

first head coach. However, just days before their first game against Rhein, Kuharich was dismissed and replaced by former Boise State head coach

Jim Criner Jim Criner (born March 30, 1940) is a former American football player and coach. He was the head coach at Boise State University from 1976 to 1982 and at Iowa State University from 1983 to 1986, compiling a career record of as a college footbal ...

. He returned to the AFL in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

as head coach of the

Connecticut Coyotes The Connecticut Coyotes were an arena football franchise based in Hartford, Connecticut. The Coyotes played in the Eastern Division of the National Conference in the Arena Football League. History On June 22, 1994, the Arena Football League aw ...

. The team finished 2–12 and folded at year's end. He was hired to coach the expansion

New York CityHawks The Toronto Phantoms were a professional arena football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The team was a member of the Eastern Division of the National Conference of the Arena Football League (AFL). The team also previously operated in New York Ci ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

. He was fired after coaching the team to a 2–12 record. In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

he was hired by Mike Ditka, to coach the

running backs A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. There ...

of the

. He was fired during after the 1999 season. Kuharich was hired by the

New Jersey Gladiators The Cleveland Gladiators were an arena football team based in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and members of the Arena Football League (AFL). The Gladiators played their home games at Quicken Loans Arena, which they shared with the Cleveland Cava ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

. The team finished with a 2–12 record in his only season in New Jersey. He coached the

af2 The AF2 (often styled as af2, and short for arenafootball2) was the Arena Football League's developmental league; it was founded in 1999 and played its first season in 2000. Like its parent AFL, the AF2 played using the same arena football ru ...

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers were a minor league arena football team that played in the AF2. The team was part of the East Division in the American conference. The Pioneers were an expansion team for the league's 2002 season, and were the ...

to a 6–10 record in the team's first season before leaving to serve as the offensive coordinator of the

New York Dragons The New York Dragons were a professional arena football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Dragons participated in the Arena Football League's (AFL) National Conference as a member of the Eastern Division. The team was founded in ...

. He held the same position with the

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

from

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

before becoming the Nashville Kats offensive coordinator in September of the 2007 Arena Football League season. Kuharich was diagnosed with Stage IV brain cancer in early 2016. He died on November 13, 2016 at the age of 70.

References

External links

Late CFL coach Lary Kuharich had a tumultuous tenure in Calgary
Allan Maki, Toronto Globe and Mail, 15 Nov. 2016 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuharich, Lary 1945 births 2016 deaths Temple Owls football coaches Illinois State Redbirds football coaches California Golden Bears football coaches United States Football League coaches Calgary Stampeders coaches BC Lions coaches Cleveland Gladiators coaches New Orleans Saints coaches Scottish Claymores coaches Toronto Phantoms coaches Tampa Bay Storm coaches Connecticut Coyotes coaches Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers coaches New York Dragons coaches Arizona Rattlers coaches