Vincent Michael Tobin (born September 29, 1943) is an

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 wi ...

coach and former college player who was the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in asso ...

of the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play th ...

of 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 majo ...

(NFL). During his four decades of coaching, he served as defensive coordinator for college, NFL, and

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a c ...

(CFL) teams.

Early life

Vincent and his brother Bill Tobin both were born on a farm near

Burlington Junction, Missouri Burlington Junction is a city in Nodaway County, Missouri, United States. The population was 537 at the 2010 census. History Burlington Junction was founded in 1879, and named for a Burlington railroad junction near the original town site. A po ...

. Their father Ed Tobin was basketball captain at the

Conception Junction, Missouri Conception Junction is a city in Nodaway County, Missouri, United States, near the Platte River. The population was 198 at the 2010 census, at which time it was a town. History New Conception was laid out in 1895 when the railroad was extended ...

high school. The brothers both attended Maryville High School which is 16 miles from Burlington Junction but the family thought their sports prospects would be much better in the much bigger school and they commuted each day to the school. The brothers who are two years apart in age played on the football teams at the same time both in Maryville and at the University of Missouri football team.

College coaching career

Tobin was a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...

and entered the coaching ranks as a graduate assistant with the team in 1965. He was Missouri'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 ...

from 1971 to 1976.

Pre-NFL coaching

He was the defensive coordinator for the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions played their first seas ...

of the

CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

and for the Philadelphia / Baltimore Stars of the

USFL The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

NFL coaching

Chicago Bears

His first coaching job in the

was as the defensive coordinator for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine ...

in 1986, one year following their legendary 1985 Super Bowl winning season. Tobin filled the role left by legendary defensive coordinator

Buddy Ryan James David "Buddy" Ryan (February 17, 1931 – June 28, 2016) was an American football coach in the National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL). During his 35-season coaching career, Ryan served as the head coach of the ...

, who had left the team to become the head coach of the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

. While the Bears' defensive unit ranked among the league's highest during his tenure, they never achieved the same dominance as they did in 1985, the team's only playoff wins coming over Ryan's Eagles in 1988's Fog Bowl and in 1991 against New Orleans. Following the 1992 firing of head coach

Mike Ditka Michael Keller Ditka (born Michael Dyczko; October 18, 1939) is an American former football player, coach, and television commentator. A member of both the College (1986) and the Pro (1988) Football Halls of Fame, he was UPI NFL Rookie of Year i ...

, Tobin was released with the rest of the Bears coaching staff.

Indianapolis Colts

Tobin was hired in 1994 to be the defensive coordinator of the

Indianapolis Colts The Indianapolis Colts are a professional American football team based in Indianapolis. The Colts compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) South division. Since the 2008 ...

by his brother Bill Tobin, the team's acting

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

. He left the team following the 1995 season.

Arizona Cardinals

He was the head coach of the Cardinals in 1996 and succeeded Buddy Ryan again. His one winning season and playoff berth as a head coach came in 1998 where the club posted a 9-7 record. He then coached the Cardinals to their first playoff win in 50 years during the 1998 season by defeating the 3rd-seeded

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 divis ...

. The team lost the next week to the 1st-seeded

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

. After 7 games of the 2000 season, Tobin was fired after posting a 2–5 record. His record in Arizona was 28–43, with a 1–1 postseason record.

Detroit Lions

In 2001 Tobin was hired as the defensive coordinator for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at For ...

, where the club posted a 2–14 record. He was fired after 1 season.

Head coaching record

Personal life

Vince Tobin's brother is Bill Tobin. Bill was the

of the

and the

. Vince served as Colts defensive coordinator while Bill was general manager.

References

External links

Biography at ''Packers.com''

– Cardinals statistics under Tobin {{DEFAULTSORT:Tobin, Vince 1943 births Living people American football safeties Arizona Cardinals head coaches BC Lions coaches Chicago Bears coaches Detroit Lions coaches Green Bay Packers coaches Indianapolis Colts coaches Missouri Tigers football coaches Missouri Tigers football players National Football League defensive coordinators United States Football League coaches People from Nodaway County, Missouri