Pete Rodriguez (American football)

Pete Rodriguez (July 25, 1940 – November 30, 2014) was an American football coach of Mexican American descent.

Pete Rodriguez

Biographical details
Born	July 25, 1940 Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Died	November 30, 2014(2014-11-30) (aged 74) San Diego, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Western State College
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1968–1969	Arizona (GA)
1970–1973	Western Illinois (assistant)
1974–1975	Florida State (DC/DL)
1976–1978	Iowa State (DC)
1979–1982	Western Illinois
1983–1984	Michigan Panthers (DL)
1985	Denver Gold (DL)
1986	Northern Iowa (DC)
1987	Ottawa Rough Riders (DC)
1988–1989	Los Angeles Raiders (ST)
1990–1993	Phoenix Cardinals (ST)
1994–1997	Washington Redskins (ST)
1998	Seattle Seahawks (AHC/ST)
1999–2003	Seattle Seahawks (STC)
2004–2006	Jacksonville Jaguars (STC)
2009	New York Sentinels (ST)
Head coaching record
Overall	14–28
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
1 Mid-Con (1981)

College coaching career

Rodriguez broke into coaching as a graduate assistant at Arizona (1968–69) and later served as defensive coordinator at Western Illinois (1970–73), Florida State (1974–75), Iowa State (1976–78) and Northern Iowa (1986). He served as head coach at Western Illinois from 1979 to 1982.

Professional coaching career

USFL

Rodriguez served as defensive line coach for the Michigan Panthers of the United States Football League from 1983 to 1984. He was part of the USFL's first championship team, helping the Panthers to the title in 1983. He spent the 1985 season as defensive line coach with the Denver Gold.

CFL

Rodriguez was the defensive coordinator for the Ottawa Rough Riders of the Canadian Football League in 1987.

NFL

Rodriguez entered the National Football League as the Los Angeles Raiders special teams coach (1988–89). He served in a similar capacity with the Phoenix Cardinals (1990–93), Washington Redskins (1994–97), Seattle Seahawks (1998–2003) and, most recently, the Jacksonville Jaguars (2004–2006).

UFL

Rodriguez served as the special teams coach for the New York Sentinels of the United Football League in 2009.

Involvement with USC

In July, 2010 the Los Angeles Times reported that he was the coach hired by Pete Carroll as a special consultant for USC's kickers during the 2008 football season. The use of additional coach was one of the items that the NCAA found to be a Major Violation and subjected USC to the "Loss of institutional control" finding. Carroll had defended the hiring as being done with the knowledge of the USC compliance staff however the compliance staff reported that this was not the case.

Personal

One of Rodriguez's daughters, Regina M. Rodriguez, is an attorney who was nominated multiple times to serves as a federal judge on the United States District Court for the District of Colorado.

Death

Rodriguez died in San Diego on November 30, 2014, of a complication following an undisclosed surgery, after being in a coma for months.

Head coaching record

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs
Western Illinois Leathernecks (Association of Mid-Continent Universities) (1979–1982)
1979	Western Illinois	3–8	1–4	5th
1980	Western Illinois	4–6	0–4	5th
1981	Western Illinois	5–6	2–1	T–1st
1982	Western Illinois	2–8	0–3	4th
Western Illinois:		14–28	3–12
Total:		14–28
National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth