Peter P. Kettela (May 28, 1938 – September 29, 2013) was an American

gridiron football Gridiron football,"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica''. Ret ...

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

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

from 1965 to 1969 and as the head coach for the

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at the Brick Field at Commo ...

of the

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 ci ...

(CFL) in 1983.

Athletic career

Kettela played football, baseball, and basketball at UC Riverside from 1959 to 1961. He was the starting

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 Ame ...

for the Highlanders during their undefeated 1960 season and was named to that year's Small College All-American team. Kettela was inducted into the UC Riverside Athletic Hall of Fame on June 12, 1986 as a member of the Hall's first class.

Coaching career

Kettela served as the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

in 1970 and as an assistant coach at

University of the Pacific University of the Pacific may refer to: *University of the Pacific (Colombia) *University of the Pacific (Ecuador) *University of the Pacific (Peru) * University of the Pacific (United States) *University of Asia Pacific, Bangladesh * University of ...

in 1971 before spending five seasons as a member of the

Stanford Cardinal The Stanford Cardinal are the athletic teams that represent Stanford University. As of June, 2022, Stanford's program has won 131 NCAA team championships. Stanford has won at least one NCAA team championship each academic year for 46 consecutive ...

coaching staff and one season as the offensive coordinator at San Jose State. In 1978, Kettela moved joined the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

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 ...

(NFL)as a scout. In 1981, he joined the coaching staff as special offensive assistant and was promoted to offensive backfield coach the following year. In 1983, Kettela replaced Hugh Campbell as the head coach of the

. He was fired after the defending

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

champions got off to a 4–4 start and was replaced by former Eskimos quarterback

Jackie Parker John Dickerson "Jackie" Parker (January 1, 1932 – November 7, 2006) was an American gridiron football player and coach. He was an All-American in college football and an outstanding professional football player in the Canadian Football League ...

. The following season, Kettela served as an assistant coach with Arizona Outlaws of the

United States Football League 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 ...

. In 1985, he was the offensive coordinator of the USFL's

Portland Breakers The Portland Breakers were an American football team that played in the United States Football League (USFL) in the mid-1980s. Before moving to Portland, Oregon, the franchise was previously in Boston, Massachusetts as the Boston Breakers and ...

. Kettela served as an assistant at

UNLV The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a public land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the University of Nevada from 1957 to 1969. It includes the S ...

in 1989 and in 1990 he was the offensive coordinator under

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coach ...

r George Allen at

Long Beach State California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

. Following Allen's death, he was a candidate for the head coaching job that ultimately went to Willie Brown. In 1991, Kettela was named head coach of Carolina Cougars of the

Professional Spring Football League The Professional Spring Football League (PSFL) was an outdoor american football minor league slated to begin in 1992. The league had a preview show on SportsChannel America in late 1991/early 1992, laying out the ten teams that would play. The ...

. The league folded before a game was ever played. From 1992 to 2007, Kettela was the Director of Player Personnel and an assistant coach for the

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They are currently members of the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

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 ...

. During his tenure with the Rattlers, the team appeared in the ArenaBowl five times, winning twice. Kettela retired to

Flagstaff, Arizona Flagstaff ( ) is a city in, and the county seat of, Coconino County, Arizona, Coconino County in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2019, the city's estimated population was 75,038. Flagstaff's combined metropolitan area has ...

. He died on September 29, 2013.

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kettela, Pete 1938 births 2013 deaths American football quarterbacks Arena Football League executives Arizona Rattlers coaches Edmonton Elks coaches Green Bay Packers coaches Green Bay Packers scouts Long Beach State 49ers football coaches Pacific Tigers football coaches San Jose State Spartans football coaches Stanford Cardinal football coaches UC Riverside Highlanders baseball players UC Riverside Highlanders football coaches UC Riverside Highlanders football players UC Riverside Highlanders men's basketball players UC Santa Barbara Gauchos football coaches United States Football League coaches UNLV Rebels football coaches American men's basketball players