- Rod Rust
Rod Rust (born
August 2 ,1928 inWebster City, Iowa ) is a formerAmerican football head coach anddefensive coordinator . He is best known in theUnited States as the coach of theNew England Patriots of theNational Football League during the 1990 season, which ended with a 1-15 record.For most of Rust's early coaching career, he was an assistant to one of two coaches:
Marv Levy orDick Vermeil . Rust began as an assistant under Levy at theUniversity of New Mexico between 1960 and 1962, before leaving to serve underDick Vermeil atStanford University . In 1967, he became the head coach at North Texas State University (now theUniversity of North Texas ), a position he held until 1972. North Texas had a 29-32-1 record during Rust's tenure.Rust returned to work for Levy in 1973 as defensive coordinator for the
Montreal Alouettes of theCanadian Football League . In his three seasons in Montreal, the Alouettes went to twoGrey Cup finals, winning in 1974.In 1976, Rust left the Alouettes to become an assistant with Vermeil's
Philadelphia Eagles . He served as defensive coordinator for two seasons before leaving to take the same position with Levy and theKansas City Chiefs . After Levy's firing in 1982, Rust became defensive coordinator of theNew England Patriots . Head coachRon Meyer fired Rust midway through the 1984 season, but he was later reinstated (with Meyer himself fired). Rust and the Patriots went toSuper Bowl XX in 1986, but he left the team after the 1987 season. He returned to the Chiefs for the 1988 season, and moved again to thePittsburgh Steelers in 1989.The Patriots hired Rust as head coach in 1990, but fired him after a 1-15 season, the worst showing in team history.
The
New York Giants hired Rust as defensive coordinator in 1992, but again only lasted one season. He spent the rest of the 1990s as a defensive assistant with theSan Francisco 49ers andAtlanta Falcons .Rust was named the head coach of the
Montreal Alouettes of theCanadian Football League in 2000, but was fired during the 2001 season after a six-game losing streak. Rust spent 2002 as the defensive quality control coach of the New York Giants. He returned to the CFL in 2005, taking the coordinator position with theWinnipeg Blue Bombers , but left abruptly halfway through the season. He became defensive coordinator of theOttawa Renegades in February 2006, but the team suspended operations before the season began.Professional Head Coaching Record
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