Jim Colletto (born October 4, 1944) 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 wi ...

player and coach. He attended Monterey High School (1958–1962) where he was an all conference baseball and football player and starter on the varsity basketball team. At

UCLA 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 ...

Colletto was all conference in baseball and football; where he led the team in rushing as a sophomore and as a senior defensive end was captain of the UCLA team that beat Michigan State in the 1966 Rose Bowl. He served as the head football coach at

California State University, Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public university in Fullerton, California. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) ...

from 1975 to 1979 and at Purdue University from 1991 to 1996, compiling a career college football record of 38–80–4. Colletto was the offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions of the

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, replacing

Mike Martz Michael Martz (born May 13, 1951) is an American football coach. Best known for his coaching tenure with the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League (NFL), he served as the offensive coordinator for the Rams' Greatest Show on Turf offe ...

, who was fired on January 2, 2008. He was hired as the Lions' offensive line coach on January 29, 2007 after spending a year as the

offensive line coach under Karl Dorrell. Prior to that he was offensive line coach for the Baltimore Ravens from 1999 thought 2005. Colletto was previously the offensive coordinator at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

for the 1997 and 1998 seasons and was the head coach at Purdue University from 1991 to 1996. During his six seasons at Purdue, Colletto's teams compiled a 21–42–3 record. Colletto was a member of the 2000 Baltimore Ravens

Super Bowl XXXV Super Bowl XXXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...

championship team.

Purdue

Colletto was named Purdue University's head coach in December 1990, accepting the position while he was serving as the offensive coordinator for Ohio State. Colletto came to Purdue with the goal of recruiting kids from the

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area, and keeping Purdue's quarterback tradition trending onward. During his introduction press conference, he stated that at the practice field, he planned to install a small cemetery in which he would place a tombstone for every school Purdue upset or beat on the road. Colletto also provided up change on offense, as he brought his I formation with him from Ohio State. During his first season as head coach, the Boilermakers improved winning two more games than they had the year before, and freshman tailback Corey Rogers was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year. In 1992, Colletto lost Rogers to academic ineligibility, and was forced to use a new running back. The Rogers suspension opened the door for what would become Purdue's all-time leading rusher, Mike Alstott. In 1993, Colletto was in some hot water when former player, Ryan Harmon sued Purdue, claiming that Colletto had physically and mentally abused him. In 1994, the Boilermakers got out to a 4–1–1 start, and were starting to gain national attention. With Rogers and Alstott leading the way out of the Purdue backfield, Purdue racked up 1,206 and 17 rushing touchdowns in 6 games. However Purdue stumbled down the stretch, finishing the season 0–4–1. (1-3-1 due to Michigan state forfeiting all their 1994 games) Colletto resigned in November 1996. Colletto was hired in December as Notre Dame's offensive coordinator in December 1996.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colletto, Jim 1944 births Living people Baltimore Ravens coaches Arizona State Sun Devils football coaches Brown Bears football coaches Cal State Fullerton Titans football coaches Detroit Lions coaches National Football League offensive coordinators Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches Pacific Tigers football coaches Purdue Boilermakers football coaches UCLA Bruins baseball players UCLA Bruins football coaches UCLA Bruins football players Xavier Musketeers football coaches