John Rauch, 80; coach led Oakland Raiders to Super Bowl
John Rauch, the former Georgia quarterback who coached the Oakland Raiders to a berth in the second Super Bowl, died Tuesday at his home in Oldsmar, Fla. He was 80.
His wife, Jane, said Rauch died in his sleep, possibly because of a heart problem.
Rauch was 33-8-1 in three seasons as the Raiders' coach, from 1966 to 1968. He also was head coach of the Buffalo Bills for two years.
"Our hearts go out to his family, who we knew well," the Raiders said in a statement. "John Rauch gave us several great years as an assistant and head coach for the Oakland Raiders, and he took us to our first Super Bowl in 1967. They were memorable years for the Raiders, and they will never be forgotten and they should not be forgotten."
Rauch was a Raiders assistant coach for three years before he was named to follow owner Al Davis as head coach after Davis became commissioner of the American Football League.
"Any time you follow Mr. Davis as head coach, everybody will have all eyes on you watching what you can do," said Raiders defensive backs coach Willie Brown, who played for Rauch in 1967-68 on his way to becoming a Hall of Fame cornerback. "John did quite well, no question about it."
Brown said Rauch proved he was willing to serve his players on and off the field. "When I got traded to the Raiders, he was the head coach, and my wife got sick," Brown said. "This was training camp. I said, 'Hey, coach. I have to go home. My wife is sick. She has nobody out here; she doesn't have a car. I have the car.' So he called his wife, and she took my wife to the hospital. It's the little things like that that stick in my mind."
Davis hired Rauch as an assistant coach in 1963. Rauch's promotion to head coach occurred three years later.
Rauch, who had John Madden and Bill Walsh as assistant coaches, led the Raiders to a 13-1 record in 1967 and a berth in the Super Bowl, where they lost to Green Bay. Rauch was named American Football League coach of the year. He led the Raiders to a 12-2 record in 1968 but left to coach the Bills in 1969, with Madden replacing him as Raiders coach.
"I had a problem with management there," Rauch said of the Raiders in a 1999 interview with the Tampa Tribune. "When I got an opportunity to go someplace else, I took it. Whether I made the right move remained to be seen."
