Irving Wayne Hardin (March 23, 1926 – April 12, 2017) 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 and coach. He served as the head football coach at the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of the Navy. The Naval Academy ...

from 1959 to 1964 and at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

from 1970 to 1982, compiling a career college football record of 118–74–5. Hardin led

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

to appearances in the 1961 Orange Bowl and the 1964 Cotton Bowl Classic, and coached two Midshipmen to the Heisman Trophy,

Joe Bellino Joseph Michael Bellino (March 13, 1938 – March 27, 2019) was an American football halfback who won the Heisman Trophy in 1960 playing for the United States Naval Academy and played in the American Football League (AFL) for the Boston Patrio ...

in 1960 and Roger Staubach in 1963. After leaving Navy, Hardin coached the

Philadelphia Bulldogs ''For the Continental Football League team (1960s) known as the Philadelphia Bulldogs, see here.'' The Philadelphia Bulldogs were an inline hockey team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They were members of the Atlantic Division of the East ...

of the Continental Football League, leading the team to a championship in 1966. Hardin was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 2013.

Early life and playing career

Irving Wayne Hardin was born in Smackover, Arkansas and attended high school in Stockton, California. He played college football at the College of the Pacific under Hall of Fame coach

Amos Alonzo Stagg Amos Alonzo Stagg (August 16, 1862 – March 17, 1965) was an American athlete and college coach in multiple sports, primarily American football. He served as the head football coach at the International YMCA Training School (now called Springfiel ...

and his successor, Larry Siemering. Hardin won 11 varsity letters at Pacific before he graduated in 1950. He was inducted into the College of the Pacific's Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998. Coach Hardin was also a veteran of WWII. After his freshman year at Pacific he enlisted and served in the U.S. Coast Guard and served on the ship the USS Orlando PF-99.

Coaching career

After serving as a student assistant coach in 1949 at Pacific, Hardin began his professional coaching career in 1950 at Ceres High School in

Ceres, California Ceres is a city in Stanislaus County, California. Its population was 49,302 at the 2020 U.S. Census, up from 45,417 at the 2010 U.S. Census. It is part of the Modesto metropolitan statistical area. Ceres is located in the San Joaquin Valley a ...

. There he coached football and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

. Hardin returned to his alma mater, Pacific, in 1952 as the backfield coach under Ernie Jorge. He then moved on to Porterville College, a community college in

Porterville, California Porterville is a city in the San Joaquin Valley, in Tulare County, California, United States. It is part of the Visalia-Porterville metropolitan statistical area. Since its incorporation in 1902, the city's population has grown as it annexed n ...

, where in two seasons as head football coach, 1952 and 1953, he tallied a mark of 9–8. In 1955, Hardin was hired as an assistant football coach at the

under

Eddie Erdelatz Edward J. Erdelatz (April 21, 1913 – November 10, 1966) was an American collegiate and professional football player and coach who served as head football coach of the U.S. Naval Academy for nine years. Erdelatz was also the first head coach of ...

. From 1959 to 1964, Hardin was the head coach at Navy, where he compiled a 38–22–2 record. His Navy teams posted five consecutive wins against archrival

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

, a feat not surpassed until 2007 when Paul Johnson's Navy squad won their sixth consecutive contest in the Army–Navy Game. Hardin coached Navy's two winners of the Heisman Trophy,

, who received the award in 1960, and Roger Staubach, who did so in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

. Hardin was the head coach at Temple from 1970 to 1982, where he compiled an 80–50–3 record. His 80 wins are the most in school history. Hardin coached numerous future professional players at Temple including New York Jets defensive lineman

Joe Klecko Joseph Edward Klecko (born October 15, 1953) is an American former football player, of Polish descent, best remembered for his days as a defensive lineman, a member of the New York Jets' famed " New York Sack Exchange." Temple Owls Before goin ...

, Pittsburgh Steelers

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

Randy Grossman,

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover Wide receiver, receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such Play from scrimmage, offensive running plays as sweep ...

Kevin Ross, San Diego Chargers

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

Bill Singletary, and New York Jets

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 ...

Steve Joachim, who won the

Maxwell Award The Maxwell Award is presented annually to the college football player judged by a panel of sportscasters, sportswriters, and National Collegiate Athletic Association head coaches and the membership of the Maxwell Football Club to be the best al ...

in 1974 playing for the Owls. Under Hardin, Temple's school-record 14-game winning streak over two seasons from 1973 into 1974 was the longest Division I winning streak at the time. Hardin's 1979 squad was the most successful in Temple football's history. The team went 10–2 and finished the season ranked #17 in both major polls, the only Temple team to finish a campaign ranked. The 1979 team concluded their season with a victory in the 1979 Garden State Bowl over heavily favored Cal. Temple did not return to a

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...

until the 2009 season. Hardin's career college record was 118–74–5.

After coaching

Hardin also spent time as a color commentator for CBS Sports for the Baltimore Colts. Hardin died at the age of 91 on April 12, 2017 after suffering a massive stroke in

Oreland, Pennsylvania Oreland is a United States census-designated place (CDP) in Springfield and Upper Dublin townships, just outside the Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy areas of Philadelphia. Oreland has a ZIP code of 19075, and the population was 5,678 at the 201 ...

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hardin, Wayne 1926 births 2017 deaths American football halfbacks American football quarterbacks American men's basketball players Continental Football League coaches Navy Midshipmen football coaches Pacific Tigers football coaches Pacific Tigers football players Pacific Tigers men's basketball players Temple Owls football coaches High school basketball coaches in California High school football coaches in California Junior college football coaches in the United States College Football Hall of Fame inductees Baltimore Colts announcers National Football League announcers People from Ceres, California People from Porterville, California People from Smackover, Arkansas Coaches of American football from California Players of American football from Stockton, California