Otto Louis Kneidinger Jr. (May 17, 1933 – May 22, 2001) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at West Chester University of Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1983, compiling a record of 30–21–1. Following his collegiate career at

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

, he was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the

1955 NFL Draft The 1955 NFL season, 1955 National Football League NFL draft, draft was held January 27–28, 1955 at the Warwick New York Hotel, Warwick Hotel in New York City. This was the ninth year that the List of first overall National Football League Dra ...

Coaching career

Kneidinger began his coaching career in 1956 as an assistant at Tyrone Area High School in Tyrone, Pennsylvania. Two years later, he became the head football coach at York Suburban Senior High School in Spring Garden Township, Pennsylvania, where he led his teams to a record of 32–6–1 in five seasons, from 1958 to 1962. His 1961 and 1962 teams both went undefeated and won Laurel Conference titles. Kneidinger was the head football coach at

Meadville Area Senior High School Meadville Area Senior High School (MASH) is a public school located within the city of Meadville, Pennsylvania, United States. Situated at 930 North Street Ext., the high school serves the city of Meadville, West Mead Township, Vernon Townshi ...

Meadville, Pennsylvania Meadville is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Pennsylvania. The city is within of Erie and within of Pittsburgh. It was the first permanent settlement in Northwestern Pennsylvania. The population was 13,388 at the 2010 censu ...

, for one season, in 1963, tallying a mark of 3–6. In 1964, Kneidinger was hired as freshman football coach at Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. He remained an assistant at Lafayette until moving to the University of Pennsylvania in 1971 when Harry Gamble was hired as head coach for the Penn Quakers. Kneidinger served as Penn's

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

for eight seasons under Gamble before he was hired as the head football coach at West Chester University of Pennsylvania in 1979. Kneidinger left West Chester in 1984 to become the defensive coordinator and outside linebackers coach at Rutgers University.

Death

Kneidinger died from cancer-related causes, on May 22, 2001, in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kneidinger, Otto 1933 births 2001 deaths American football tackles Delaware Fightin' Blue Hens football coaches Lafayette Leopards football coaches Penn Quakers football coaches Penn State Nittany Lions football players Rutgers Scarlet Knights football coaches West Chester Golden Rams football coaches People from Altoona, Pennsylvania High school football coaches in Pennsylvania Coaches of American football from Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania Deaths from cancer in Pennsylvania