Rick Venturi (born February 23, 1946) 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 current broadcaster. He served as the head coach at

Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Chart ...

and as longtime

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 major ...

assistant coach known for his

defense Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

. As the head coach at Northwestern from 1978 to 1980, Venturi compiled a record of 1-31-1. During his tenure as coach of the

Northwestern Wildcats The Northwestern Wildcats are the athletic teams that represent Northwestern University, located in Evanston, Illinois. Northwestern is a founding member of the Big Ten Conference and the only private university in the conference. Northwestern ...

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athleti ...

began a record 34-game losing streak. After leaving Northwestern, Venturi spent 12 years as an assistant with the Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts, eventually rising to

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 coa ...

. He also served as defensive coordinator of the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

. Venturi also served as interim head coach of the Colts 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 Ph ...

and the Saints 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 ...

. His career record stands at 2–17. He now serves as the analyst on the Colts Radio Network. Venturi played

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 Ameri ...

at Rockford Auburn High School in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockfo ...

as a sophomore and junior, and then at Pekin High School for his senior year before enrolling at Northwestern. While at Northwestern he joined the

Delta Upsilon Delta Upsilon (), commonly known as DU, is a collegiate men's fraternity founded on November 4, 1834 at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It is the sixth-oldest, all-male, college Greek-letter organization founded in North America ...

fraternity. His father, Joe Venturi, was a member of the Illinois High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame. Joe coached at Pekin High School in Illinois. His brother, John is also a member of the Illinois High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame. John coached at Washington High School where he won the 1985 Class 4A State Championship. John's 1983 Washington team was the 4A Runner-Up.

Head coaching record

College

NFL

* ''Interim head coach.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Venturi, Rick 1946 births Living people American football quarterbacks Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches Indianapolis Colts coaches Indianapolis Colts head coaches Cleveland Browns coaches Hamilton Tiger-Cats coaches National Football League defensive coordinators New Orleans Saints coaches New Orleans Saints head coaches Northwestern Wildcats football coaches Northwestern Wildcats football players Purdue Boilermakers football coaches St. Louis Rams coaches