Tom Walsh (born April 16, 1949) 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 ...

coach. Walsh is best known for his two stints as offensive coordinator for the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

and

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

Early career

Walsh entered coaching in 1978 as the coach of

Rubidoux High School Rubidoux High School is a four-year public high school in Jurupa Valley, California. It is part of the Jurupa Unified School District, and it opened in 1959. It is one of four high schools in the district, the others being Jurupa Valley High Sch ...

Jurupa Valley, California Jurupa Valley ( Serrano: ''Hurumpa'') is a city in the northwest corner of Riverside County, California. It was the location of one of the earliest non-native settlements in the county, Rancho Jurupa. The Rancho was initially an outpost of the ...

. In 1979 he moved up to the college ranks as the head coach of United States International before becoming the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach of

Murray State Murray State University (MSU) is a public university in Murray, Kentucky. In addition to the main campus in Calloway County in southwestern Kentucky, Murray State operates extended campuses offering upper level and graduate courses in Paducah, ...

in 1980. In 1981 he was brought on as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach of

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Los Angeles Raiders

In 1982 he was hired as the quarterbacks and wide receivers coach of the newly relocated

Los Angeles Raiders The Los Angeles Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Los Angeles from 1982 to 1994 before relocating back to Oakland, California, where the team played from its inaugural 1960 season to the 1981 season and then agai ...

under head coach

Tom Flores Thomas Raymond Flores (born March 21, 1937) is a former American football coach and quarterback. After his retirement as a coach, he was a radio announcer for more than twenty years. Flores won a total of four Super Bowls in his playing and c ...

. Under Flores he was part of the coaching staff that won

Super Bowl XVIII Super Bowl XVIII was an American football game played on January 22, 1984, at Tampa Stadium between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion and defending Super Bowl XVII champion Washington Redskins and the American Football Conference ( ...

. In 1991 Walsh became offensive coordinator under head coach

Art Shell Arthur Lee Shell Jr. (born November 26, 1946) is an American former professional football player in the American Football League (AFL) and later in the National Football League (NFL), a Hall of Fame offensive tackle and a two-time former head ...

. After several disputes with players over his coaching style and an alleged fight offensive line coach Bill Meyers during the 1994 season Walsh was fired along with Shell after the 1994 season.

Return to college coaching

After being fired from the Raiders, Walsh went on to coach the

Idaho State Bengals The Idaho State Bengals are the varsity intercollegiate athletic teams representing Idaho State University, located in Pocatello, Idaho. The university sponsors thirteen teams including men and women's basketball, cross country, tennis, and tra ...

in 1997 and 1998, compiling a 6–16 record. He then coached the

Mobile Admirals The Mobile Admirals were a professional American football team that played during the 1999 season as part of the Regional Football League; the Admirals were the league champions. They played their home games at Ladd–Peebles Stadium in Mobile, Al ...

to the league championship of the short-lived professional

Regional Football League The Regional Football League (RFL) was an american football minor league formed to be the self-styled "major league of spring football." Established in 1997, the league played a single season, 1999, and then ceased operations. History The RFL s ...

in 1999. After 1999, Walsh was all but retired from coaching.

Out of football

Walsh spent the years out of coaching operating a bed and breakfast in Swan Valley, Idaho. He also served as the town's mayor.

Oakland Raiders

After five years out of football and twelve out of the NFL, Walsh was re-hired by the

in February, 2006, as offensive coordinator by head coach

but demoted before the end of the 2006 season which resulted in a 2–14 record and replaced by

John Shoop John Shoop (born August 1, 1969) is an American football coach and former quarterback, who is the current head coach of the Munich Ravens in the European League of Football (ELF). He played college football at Sewanee. He has coached in the Nat ...

."Walsh hired as Raiders' offensive coordinator"
ESPN.com, February 23, 2006. Retrieved July 17, 2007 During the time Walsh was the offensive coordinator for the 2006 Raiders his offense was referred to as the "Bed and Breakfast Offense". After leaving the Raiders, Walsh stated that

Randy Moss Randy Gene Moss (born February 13, 1977) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders, New England Patriots, Tennessee ...

, whom he coached in Oakland, was "a player whose skills are diminishing.""Walsh: Moss' skills were 'diminishing' on Raiders"
ESPN.com, May 16, 2007. Retrieved 29 December 2007 Moss went on to break the single season touchdown reception record in 2007 after being traded to the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Tom Jurupa Valley, California 1949 births Living people Cincinnati Bearcats football coaches Idaho State Bengals football coaches High school football coaches in California Mayors of places in Idaho Murray State Racers football coaches Los Angeles Raiders coaches National Football League offensive coordinators Oakland Raiders coaches San Diego State University alumni San Diego Toreros football coaches United States International Gulls football coaches University of California, Santa Barbara alumni People from Bonneville County, Idaho Sportspeople from Vallejo, California