Rudolph A. Feldman (born c. 1932) is a former

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 ...

player, coach, and executive. He served as the head football coach at the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; es, Universidad de Nuevo México) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1889, it is the state's flagship academic institution and the largest by enrollment, with over 25,400 ...

from 1968 to 1973, compiling a record of 24–37–2. Feldman played

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 ...

at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

(UCLA) from 1951 to 1953. Prior to his stint at New Mexico, he was an assistant coach at

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

, the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

, and the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...

. After leaving New Mexico, he was an assistant coach in 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) with the

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 ...

and the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals hav ...

. He finished his career in the front office for the Chargers, serving as director of pro personnel from 1987 to 1997.

Early life and playing career

Feldman grew up in

Palo Alto, California Palo Alto (; Spanish language, Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree kno ...

. He attended the

(UCLA), where he lettered for the Bruins as a

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

for three seasons, from 1951 to 1953, under head coach

Henry Russell Sanders Henry Russell "Red" Sanders (May 7, 1905 – August 14, 1958) was an American football player and coach. He was head coach at Vanderbilt University (1940–1942, 1946–1948) and the University of California at Los Angeles (1949–1957), compili ...

. Feldman was co-captain of the 1953 Bruins team, which won the

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a college athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (including a ...

title and appeared in the

1954 Rose Bowl The 1954 Rose Bowl was the 40th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Friday, January 1. The third-ranked Michigan State Spartans of the Big Ten Conference defeated the #5 UCLA Bruins of the ...

. Feldman joined

Sigma Pi Sigma Pi () is a collegiate fraternity with 233 chapters at American universities. As of 2021, the fraternity had more than 5,000 undergraduate members and over 110,000 alumni. Sigma Pi headquarters are in Nashville, Tennessee. The fraternity ...

fraternity while in college. After college, he joined the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

and played for the club team at

Fort Hood Fort Hood is a United States Army post located near Killeen, Texas. Named after Confederate General John Bell Hood, it is located halfway between Austin and Waco, about from each, within the U.S. state of Texas. The post is the headquarters ...

, Texas.

Coaching career

Feldman began his coaching career in 1957 as an assistant coach at

under head coach

Jim Myers James A. Myers (November 12, 1921 – July 17, 2014) was an American football coach. He coached for 40 years at the collegiate and professional level. He is probably most remembered for his time as line coach and (since 1971) associate head coac ...

. He moved to the

the following year and coached

ends End, END, Ending, or variation, may refer to: End *In mathematics: **End (category theory) ** End (topology) **End (graph theory) ** End (group theory) (a subcase of the previous) **End (endomorphism) *In sports and games ** End (gridiron footbal ...

for the

Sooners Sooners is the name given to settlers who entered the Unassigned Lands in what is now the state of Oklahoma before the official start of the Land Rush of 1889. The Unassigned Lands were a part of Indian Territory that, after a lobbying campaign, ...

for five seasons (1958–1962) under

Bud Wilkinson Charles Burnham "Bud" Wilkinson (April 23, 1916 – February 9, 1994) was an American football player, coach, broadcaster, and politician. He served as the head football coach at the University of Oklahoma from 1947 to 1963, compiling a record of ...

. In 1963, he moved to the

with fellow Oklahoma assistant

Eddie Crowder Eddie Crowder (August 26, 1931 – September 9, 2008) was an American football player and coach. He was an All-American quarterback (QB) and safety at the University of Oklahoma (OU) in the early 1950s and a successful head coach and athletic dir ...

, who was hired as head coach for the

Colorado Buffaloes The Colorado Buffaloes are the athletic teams that represent the University of Colorado. The university sponsors 17 varsity sports teams. Both the men's and women's teams are called the Buffaloes (Buffs for short) or, rarely, the Golden Buffalo ...

. Feldman served as Crowder's chief assistant until 1967. In December 1967 Feldman was hired the head football coach at the

, succeeding

Bill Weeks William Weeks (October 20, 1929 – May 2, 2006) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of New Mexico from 1960 to 1967, compiling a record of 40–41–1. Weeks was an All- Big Seven Conf ...

. He signed a five-year contract with an annual salary of $18,600 subject to negotiation in following years. In December 1971 Feldman was announced as the new head football coach at

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

following the firing of

Bill Beall William Erby Beall (January 24, 1922 – November 2, 2013) was an American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head coach at Baylor University from 1969 to 1971, compiling a record of 3–28. A native of Osceola ...

. However, Feldman changed his mind a day later and remained at New Mexico.

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Feldman, Rudy 1930s births Living people American football guards Colorado Buffaloes football coaches Iowa State Cyclones football coaches Oklahoma Sooners football coaches New Mexico Lobos football coaches San Diego Chargers coaches San Diego Chargers executives St. Louis Cardinals (football) coaches UCLA Bruins football players Sportspeople from Palo Alto, California Players of American football from California United States Army soldiers