Las Vegas Bowl team history: Don Coryell’s impact on San Diego State

Leading up to the Las Vegas Bowl between Houston and San Diego State, the Review-Journal will provide glimpses into each school’s football history. We’ll take a look at each school once per day until game day on Dec. 17 at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Don Coryell’s impact

Dates: 1961-72

Coryell, most famous for revolutionizing the NFL passing game with the San Diego Chargers and the “Air Coryell” offense, also did incredible things in the same city with its college team.

Coryell was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1999 largely thanks to his 12 seasons in charge of the Aztecs, during which he posted a record of 104-19-2.

The school at one point had a 32-game unbeaten streak under his watch, and he helped transition the program from Division II to Division I in 1969.

Coryell began developing his famous passing concepts with San Diego State, because football powerhouses Southern California and UCLA landed most of the state’s top running backs and linemen. The coach noticed that there seemed to be a deeper supply of quarterbacks and receivers in Southern California, and began to focus his offense around them.

Coryell left the program to coach the St. Louis Cardinals in 1973, and went on to coach San Diego and Chargers greats Dan Fouts and Kellen Winslow. San Diego led the NFL in passing in seven of his nine seasons.

He is the only coach to win 100 games at both the college and professional level.

Ben Gotz/Las Vegas Review-Journal. Gotz can be reached at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.