John Coatta

John Coatta (died December 26, 2000) was the head football coach of the Wisconsin Badgers football program from 1967 to 1969 and at Minnesota State University, Mankato from 1970 to 1975.

Coatta played quarterback at Wisconsin from 1949 to 1951 and in 1950, he set the Big Ten season pass completion percentage record (.642), a record that he held until 1976.

In 1959, Coatta left private business in Madison, Wisconsin to accept an assistant coach's job at Florida State under Bill Peterson. From 1959 to 1964, he coached a number of positions at the school. He then returned to Wisconsin as an assistant coach under Milt Bruhn for two seasons after which he was promoted to head coach.

During his head coaching tenure at Wisconsin, he compiled a 3-26-1 (.117) record. He set an NCAA record for most consecutive games without a win to begin a career with 23. He didn't win a game in his first two seasons, and won all three of his games in his final season. His three wins came against Iowa 23-17, Indiana 36-34, and Illinois 53-14. Allegedly, the Badgers passed on former Michigan head coach Bo Schembechler when they hired Coatta. Schembechler was the head coach at Miami University at the time.

After Minnesota State, Mankato (temporarily) dropped football after the 1975 season, Coatta joined the staff of Cal Stoll at the University of Minnesota as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach from 1977 to 1978. He later scouted for the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks.

Head coaching record

CFB Yearly Record Subhead
name = Wisconsin Badgers
startyear = 1967
conf = Big Ten Conference
endyear = 1969CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1967
name = Wisconsin
overall = 0-9-1
conference = 0-6-1
confstanding = T-9th
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 = CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1968
name = Wisconsin
overall = 0-10
conference = 0-7
confstanding = 10th
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 = CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1969
name = Wisconsin
overall = 3-7
conference = 3-4
confstanding = T-5th
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 = CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = Wisconsin
overall = 3-26-1
confrecord = 3-17-1CFB Yearly Record Subhead
name = Minnesota State University, Mankato
startyear = 1970
conf = North Central Conference
endyear = 1975CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1970
name = Minnesota State, Mankato
overall = 7-2-1
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 = CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1971
name = Minnesota State, Mankato
overall = 7-3
conference =
confstanding =
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 = CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1972
name = Minnesota State, Mankato
overall = 6-5
conference = 3-4
confstanding = T-4th
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 = CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1973
name = Minnesota State, Mankato
overall = 7-4
conference = 4-3
confstanding = T-3rd
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 = CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1974
name = Minnesota State, Mankato
overall = 5-4-1
conference = 3-3-1
confstanding = T-5th
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 = CFB Yearly Record Entry
championship =
year = 1975
name = Minnesota State, Mankato
overall = 3-6
conference = 2-5
confstanding = T-5th
bowlname =
bowloutcome =
bcsbowl =
ranking =
ranking2 = CFB Yearly Record Subtotal
name = Minnesota State, Mankato
overall = 35-24-2
confrecord = 12-15-1CFB Yearly Record End
overall = 38-50-3
bcs =
poll = two
polltype =