John Gregory (coach)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Gregory (Born November 22, 1938) is the current head coach of the Iowa Barnstormers, a football team currently playing in the af2.
Gregory's first coaching job was at Iowa Central Community College, where he was assistant head coach and athletic director of the new football program. In Gregory's three years there, the program had a 24-3-1 record and won the Wool Bowl in 1969. John Matuszak, who was recruited by Gregory, went on to become the number one pick in the 1973 NFL Draft.
His first college head coaching job was at South Dakota State, where he had 55-50-3 record from 1972-1981. Gregory is second in school history in coaching victories and his 1979 team had a single season best record of 9-2. SDSU didn’t have a winning record the previous 11 seasons before Gregory’s arrival.
After serving as Northern Iowa offensive coordinator in 1982, Gregory was the offensive line coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for the six seasons. In 1984 Winnipeg won the Grey Cup in part due to Gregory’s offensive line that helped set a CFL single season rushing record. After the 1987 season he was hired to coach Saskatchewan Roughriders, a team that had no playoff appearances in the past 11 years.
In his first season as Saskatchewan's head coach, he led the Riders to an 11-7 record and a playoff berth. He won the Annis Stukus Trophy as the league's coach of the year. The following year the Roughriders finished 9-9 and won the 77th Grey Cup, their first since 1966. After a 1-6 start in 1991, he was fired and replaced by Don Matthews. He had a 35-43-1 overall record in Saskatchewan.
That same season, he was hired to replaced David Beckman as head coach of the 0-8 Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He made the postseason two of the four years he was with the team and finished with a 24-40 record.
In 1995, Jim Foster hired Gregory to build an Arena Football League expansion team in Des Moines, Iowa. Gregory signed Kurt Warner, then a little known quarterback working at a local grocery store to a tryout. Gregory coached the Iowa Barnstormers to five division titles in six seasons and led the team to two ArenaBowls. Quarterbacks Kurt Warner and Aaron Garcia are considered two of the greatest AFL players ever. Gregory was named AFL Coach of the Year in 1995 and 1996. The Barnstormers relocated to New York in 2000 and Gregory left the team in 2003. Gregory coached the Carolina Cobras to a 6-10 record in 2004 before the team folded.
Gregory came out of retirement to coach the Twisters four into the 2005 season. He went 5-7 that season and 10-6 in the 2006 season, losing the National Conference Championship to the Spokane Shock. In 2007 the Twisters improved to a 12-4 record, a franchise best, but lost to the Bossier-Shreveport Battle Wings in the first round of the playoffs.
In 2007, it was announced that Gregory would return to Iowa to coach the new expansion Iowa Barnstormers.[1]
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