James Joseph Valek (January 25, 1928 – September 4, 2005) was 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 ...

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

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Un ...

from 1967 to 1970, compiling a record of 8–32. Valek also coached the New York Knights, of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

, to a 2–10 record in 1988.

Head coaching record

College

References

1928 births 2005 deaths American football ends Arena Football League coaches Army Black Knights football coaches Dallas Cowboys scouts Illinois Fighting Illini football coaches Illinois Fighting Illini football players New England Patriots coaches New England Patriots executives South Carolina Gamecocks football coaches Wichita State Shockers football coaches High school football coaches in Illinois Sportspeople from Joliet, Illinois Players of American football from Illinois {{1960s-collegefootball-coach-stub