Mark Driscoll (born July 28, 1953) is a former

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 ...

quarterback and

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 ...

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

Early years

Driscoll was born at

La Junta, Colorado La Junta is a home rule municipality in , the county seat of, and the most populous municipality of Otero County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,322 at the 2020 United States Census. La Junta is located on the Arkansas Ri ...

, where he became a starter at

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 ...

as a senior. He accepted a football scholarship from

. As a sophomore in 1972, he was coming off the bench behind

Pat Juliana as a pass specialist, to spark the team in some games before suffering a shoulder sprain. In 1973, he was forced to

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

to recover from the right shoulder surgery he had the previous year. As a junior in 1974, he came off the bench in the third quarter of the fourth game against

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day ...

who were winning 26-6, proceeding to replace starter Jack Graham. He made 18 out 31 completions for 265 yards and a school record 4

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, in rallying the Rams to a 33-33 tie. He was named the starter for the next game against

Utah State University Utah State University (USU or Utah State) is a public land-grant research university in Logan, Utah. It is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. With nearly 20,000 students living on or near campus, USU is Utah's ...

, passing over Jan Stubbe who was the nation's No. 9 passer the previous season. He ended up helping his team lead the nation in passing and break multiple school records by making 122 completions for 2,016 yards, 19

s and 12 interceptions. He also had the school's first 300-yard passing game. As a senior in 1975, he posted 227 completions for 1,246 yards, 4

s and 11 interceptions. He was named to the WAC All-academic team and received an NCAA post-graduate scholarship award. He left as the school's All-time passing and total offense leader, along with 14 passing records, after registering 283 completions for 3,923 yards, 25

s and 34 interceptions. He also finished seventh All-time in WAC career passing yards (3,923) and total offense (3,780).

Professional career

Driscoll was selected by 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 ...

in the thirteenth round (374th overall) of the

1976 NFL Draft The 1976 National Football League draft was an annual player selection meeting held April 8–9, 1976, at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City, New York. The draft lasted 17 rounds, with the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks m ...

. He was waived before the start of the season on July 15. On July 19, he was signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

, but was released on August 3.

Personal life

In 1976, he joined the

coaching staff as a graduate assistant. In 1977, he was promoted to wide receivers coach. In 1980, he left to work in the banking business. Driscoll was the school's athletic director from 2003 to 2006, before resigning to be the Colorado market president for

First National Bank of Omaha First National Bank Omaha is a bank headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. The namesake and leading subsidiary of First National of Nebraska, it is the third largest privately held bank subsidiary in the United States with $17 billion in assets and 43 ...

. He also served as a color analyst on radio broadcasts of Colorado State football games.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Driscoll, Mark 1953 births Living people People from La Junta, Colorado Players of American football from Colorado American football quarterbacks Colorado State Rams football players Colorado State Rams football coaches Colorado State Rams athletic directors