Sam William Rutigliano (born July 1, 1931) 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 ...

coach and current television football analyst for

WEWS WEWS-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It has been owned by the E. W. Scripps Company since its inception in 1946, making it one of two stations that have been built and signed on by ...

, the ABC affiliate in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

. He served as the head coach for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conferenc ...

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) from 1978 to 1984, compiling a record of 47–50. Rutigliano was the head football coach at

Liberty University Liberty University (LU) is a private Baptist university in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia ( Southern Baptist Convention). Founded in 1971 by Jerry Falwell Sr. and Elmer L. Towns, Lib ...

from 1989 to 1999, tallying a mark of 67–53.

Career

left, 175px, Rutigliano around 1979 at the Cleveland Browns practice facility Rutigliano, the son of Italian immigrants, played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, partl ...

Erasmus Hall High School Erasmus Hall High School was a four-year public high school located at 899–925 Flatbush Avenue between Church and Snyder Avenues in the Flatbush neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It was founded in 1786 as Erasmus Hall Ac ...

in Brooklyn. He played college football at

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 36th-largest by ...

, where he roomed with future

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

star

Lou Albano Louis Vincent Albano (July 29, 1933 – October 14, 2009) was an Italian-American professional wrestler, manager and actor, who performed under the ring/stage name "Captain" Lou Albano. He was active as a professional wrestler from 1953 until 1 ...

, and

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...

. He coached at the high school level in New York and Connecticut, including

Horace Greeley High School Horace Greeley High School is a public, four-year secondary school serving students in grades 9– 12 in Chappaqua, New York, United States. It is part of the Chappaqua Central School District. It is consistently ranked among the top high scho ...

in Chappaqua, NY and

Greenwich High School Greenwich High School is a four-year public high school in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. The school is part of the Greenwich Public Schools system and serves roughly 2,700 students. It offers over 295 courses and a wide variety of co-cu ...

. He was then defensive backs coach at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

from 1964 to 1965 and the wide receivers coach at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...

in 1966. In 1967, he became a professional football assistant with the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

in 1967. He was an assistant with 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 ...

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The ...

, and

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

over the next eleven years before being given the head coaching job for the

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

. Over the next six years, Rutigliano was the coach of the famed " Kardiac Kids" Browns. He led the

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – In ...

Browns to the AFC Central Division Championship. The final play of the Browns' playoff game with the

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 Ra ...

would be the most memorable moment in Rutigliano's coaching career. Down 14–12 and within field goal range, Rutigliano decided to run one more play rather than kick a game-winning field goal. The play, called "

Red Right 88 Red Right 88 was a passing play called by the Cleveland Browns during the January 4, 1981 American Football Conference divisional playoff game against the Oakland Raiders; in the years since, the term has been used to refer to the game itself and ...

", resulted in an end-zone interception with 41 seconds left that led to the Browns losing. Despite the early playoff exit, Rutigliano received

NFL Coach of the Year The National Football League Coach of the Year Award is presented annually by various news and sports organizations to the National Football League (NFL) head coach who has done the most outstanding job of working with the talent he has at his disp ...

honors for the 1980 season. Rutigliano was fired in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

after starting the season 1–7. He was replaced by

Marty Schottenheimer Martin Edward Schottenheimer (; September 23, 1943 – February 8, 2021) was an American football linebacker and coach who served as a head coach in the National Football League (NFL) from 1984 to 2006. He was the head coach of the Kansas City ...

. In his six and a half seasons with the Browns, Rutigliano compiled a 47–50 record. After being let go by the Browns, Rutigliano served as an analyst for

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its ...

and

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

for three years. In 1988, he was given the head coaching job at

, a post he would hold for eleven years until retiring in 2000. Rutigliano worked as an assistant coach under

Jack Bicknell Jack Bicknell (born February 20, 1938) is a retired American football coach, most recently known for his long involvement in NFL Europa and its predecessor, the World League of American Football (WLAF). He served as the head football coach at th ...

with the

Barcelona Dragons Two American football franchises have been referred to as the Barcelona Dragons: * Barcelona Dragons (NFL Europe), active in NFL Europe between 1991 and 2003; * Barcelona Dragons (ELF) The Barcelona Dragons are an American football team based in ...

and

Scottish Claymores The Scottish Claymores were an American football team based in Scotland. The franchise played in the World League of American Football (later renamed NFL Europe) between 1995 and 2004, initially playing all home games at Murrayfield Stadium, ...

, both of

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa League) was a professional American football league that functioned as the developmental minor league of the National Football League (NFL). Originally ...

. Beginning in 2005, Rutigliano became a Browns analyst for

WKYC WKYC (channel 3) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. Its studios are located on Tom Beres Way (a section of Lakeside Avenue in Downtown Cleveland named after the station's lon ...

channel 3 in Cleveland and also for

SportsTime Ohio Bally Sports Great Lakes is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel, which is a sister network to Bally Sports Ohio, broadcasts statewide coverage of professiona ...

when it began operations in 2006. In 2011, he moved to

WEWS-TV WEWS-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It has been owned by the E. W. Scripps Company since its inception in 1946, making it one of two stations that have been built and signed on by ...

5 to become their Browns analyst.

Player addiction recovery program

Throughout the 1970s,

substance abuse Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods which are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder. Differing definitions of drug abuse are used in public health, ...

, particularly of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Am ...

, was a rampant problem among NFL players. During Rutigliano's tenure with the Browns, he and Dr. Gregory Collins of the

Cleveland Clinic Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit American academic medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio. Owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an Ohio nonprofit corporation established in 1921, it runs a 170-acre (69 ha) campus in Cleveland, ...

, with the support of team owner Art Modell, founded an anonymous support group known as the "Inner Circle" to help players with substance abuse problems. In 2007, Rutigliano was given the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence's Bronze Key Award by the NCADD's Northeast Ohio affiliate, Recovery Resources.

Head coaching record

NFL

College

References

External links

Sam Rutigliano
at Pro-Football-Reference.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Rutigliano, Sam 1931 births Living people American football ends College football announcers Barcelona Dragons coaches Cleveland Browns head coaches Denver Broncos coaches Hamburg Sea Devils coaches Liberty Flames football coaches Maryland Terrapins football coaches National Football League announcers New England Patriots coaches New Orleans Saints coaches New York Jets coaches Scottish Claymores coaches Tennessee Volunteers football players Tulsa Golden Hurricane football players UConn Huskies football coaches High school football coaches in Connecticut High school football coaches in New York (state) Erasmus Hall High School alumni Sportspeople from Brooklyn Players of American football from New York City American people of Italian descent American expatriate sportspeople in Spain American expatriate sportspeople in Scotland American expatriate sportspeople in Germany