Ron Meyer

For the Dutch politician, see Ron Meyer (politician). For the entertainment executive, see Ronald Meyer.

Ronald Shaw Meyer (February 17, 1941 – December 5, 2017) was an American college and professional football coach. He is best known for having been the head coach of Southern Methodist University and the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL).

Ron Meyer

Biographical details
Born	(1941-02-17)February 17, 1941 Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
Died	December 5, 2017(2017-12-05) (aged 76) Lakeway, Texas, U.S.
Playing career
1961–1962	Purdue
Position(s)	Quarterback, defensive back
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1964	Penn HS (IN)
1965–1970	Purdue (assistant)
1971–1972	Dallas Cowboys (scout)
1973–1975	UNLV
1976–1981	SMU
1982–1984	New England Patriots
1986–1991	Indianapolis Colts
1994	Las Vegas Posse
2001	Chicago Enforcers
Head coaching record
Overall	61–40–1 (college) 54–50 (NFL) 5–13 (CFL) 5–6 (XFL)
Bowls	0–2
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
SWC (1981)
Awards
SWC Coach of the Year (1981)

Biography

Meyer's head coaching career began at University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), then in Division II, where he led the Rebels from 1973 through 1975. In 1974, UNLV had an undefeated regular season at 11–0; and advanced to the semifinals (Grantland Rice Bowl) in the Division II playoffs.

In January 1976, Meyer was hired as the head coach at Southern Methodist University in Dallas,^[1] where he led the Mustangs for six seasons. This tenure included winning the Southwest Conference championship in 1981 with running backs Eric Dickerson and Craig James. While at SMU, Meyer was the losing coach in the famous "Miracle Bowl" in the 1980 Holiday Bowl, where SMU held a 45–25 lead against BYU with less than four minutes to play in the fourth quarter, only to lose 46–45 thanks to three touchdown passes from Cougar quarterback Jim McMahon.

Meyer moved to the pros in 1982, where he coached the New England Patriots for three seasons. He was named the AFC Coach of the Year in his first season where he led the New England Patriots to the playoffs in the strike-shortened 1982 season after the team had finished with the league's worst record the prior season. He is perhaps best remembered by New England fans for coaching during the infamous Snowplow Game against the Miami Dolphins on December 12, 1982. Under heavy snow at Foxboro Stadium with 4:45 remaining in the game, the Patriots lined up for a go-ahead field goal. Meyer called for a stadium worker named Mark Henderson (who was on a prison work release) to drive his snowplow on the field in order to clear an area for holder Matt Cavanaugh to spot the ball and to give kicker John Smith better footing. The Patriots went on to win the game, 3–0, on their way to their first playoff appearance since the 1978 season.

In 1984, Meyer was fired in midseason despite having a 5–3 record and was replaced by Raymond Berry. The move was prompted by team-wide alienation of players on Meyer's part, to where Patriots GM Patrick Sullivan was forced to hold player-only meetings. Meyer responded by firing assistant coach Rod Rust, though he did not have authority to do so. He was fired soon after.^[2] Rust was rehired by Berry, and the Patriots reached Super Bowl XX in 1985 and won the AFC East Division Title in 1986. Rust became head coach upon Berry's resignation after the 1989 season, but was fired after a disastrous 1–15 campaign in 1990.

Meyer spent over a year out of coaching after being dismissed by the Patriots. After initially agreeing to accept the open Head Coach position at his collegiate alma mater, Purdue;^[3] Meyer accepted the now vacant Indianapolis Colts head coach position. When he accepted the job late in the 1986 season, the Colts were 0–13 at the time. Meyer promptly led the Colts to 3 straight victories to finish 3–13. A year later, he won the AFC East title with the Colts. It was the franchise's first winning season and playoff appearance since 1977, when the team was still in Baltimore. Meyer once again won the AFC Coach of the Year. He was helped in large part by being reunited with his former college standout, Eric Dickerson, who was acquired by the Colts in a three-team, 10-player trade involving the Los Angeles Rams and Buffalo Bills.

Meyer's tenure crested at that point. He was unable to get another postseason berth in Indianapolis, slipping by one game in each of the next three seasons, from 9–7 in 1988, to 8–8 in 1989 and 7–9 in 1990, despite the selection of quarterback Jeff George with the first overall pick in the 1990 draft. He was widely criticized in trading up in the draft to obtain George, which included sending star players, receiver Andre Rison, lineman Chris Hinton, and the Colts' first round pick in 1991 to the Atlanta Falcons. George's short-lived stint in Indianapolis did not make matters better. In 1991, when the Colts started off 0–5, he was let go.

The year after his dismissal from Indianapolis, Meyer became an analyst for CNN's Pro Football show. He would remain in that role for two seasons.

In 1994, Meyer returned to coaching again. This time Meyer became the head coach of the Canadian Football League's Las Vegas Posse franchise. The Posse finished the season 5–13. In addition to the poor record, the team suffered from poor attendance and eventually was caught in an ownership debacle. Meyer was to be fired if the team's proposed move to Mississippi went through, but when it did not, and the Posse's roster was dispersed, the franchise's next potential owners in Miami (see: Miami Manatees (CFL)) had planned on retaining Meyer as coach, but the team folded before playing a single game. Meyer would return to his role at CNN in 1995.

In 2001, Meyer returned to coaching, this time as part of the XFL's Chicago Enforcers franchise. The team would finish 5–5 and would lose to the eventual champion, the Los Angeles Xtreme, in the league semifinals. After the season, the XFL folded.

In his later years, he was an NFL analyst for the show The Score on the NFL on the Canadian sports channel The Score.

Meyer died on December 5, 2017, at age 76 from an aortic aneurysm while playing golf with friends in Lakeway, Texas.^[4]

Head coaching record

College

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs	Coaches#	AP°
UNLV Rebels (NCAA Division II independent) (1973–1975)
1973	UNLV	8–3
1974	UNLV	12–1			L Grantland Rice
1975	UNLV	7–4
UNLV:		27–8
SMU Mustangs (Southwest Conference) (1976–1981)
1976	SMU	3–8	2–6	T–7th
1977	SMU	4–7	3–5	T–6th
1978	SMU	4–6–1	3–5	T–6th
1979	SMU	5–6	3–5	6th
1980	SMU	8–4	5–3	T–2nd	L Holiday	20	20
1981	SMU	10–1	7–1	1st			5
SMU:		34–32–1	23-25
Total:		61–40–1
National championship         Conference title         Conference division title or championship game berth
#Rankings from final Coaches Poll. °Rankings from final AP Poll.

NFL

Team	Year	Regular Season					Post Season
		Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
NE	1982	5	4	0	.556	7th in AFC	0	1	.000	Lost to Miami Dolphins in AFC Wild-Card Game
NE	1983	8	8	0	.500	2nd in AFC East	-	-	-	-
NE	1984	5	3	0	.625	2nd in AFC East	-	-	-	Fired midseason
NE total		18	15	0	.545		0	1	.000
IND	1986	3	0	0	1.000	5th in AFC East	-	-	-	-
IND	1987	9	6	0	.600	1st in AFC East	0	1	.000	Lost to Cleveland Browns in AFC Divisional Game
IND	1988	9	7	0	.563	2nd in AFC East	-	-	-	-
IND	1989	8	8	0	.500	2nd in AFC East	-	-	-	-
IND	1990	7	9	0	.438	3rd in AFC East	-	-	-	-
IND	1991	0	5	0	.000	5th in AFC East	-	-	-	Fired midseason
IND total		36	35	0	.507		0	1	.000
Total		54	50	0	.519		0	2	.000

CFL

Team	Year	Regular season					Postseason
		Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
LV	1994	5	13	0	.278	6th in West Division	did not qualify
Total		5	5	0	.500		0	0	.000

XFL

Team	Year	Regular season					Postseason
		Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
CHI	2001	5	5	0	.500	2nd in Eastern Division	0	1	.000	Lost in Semifinals
Total		5	5	0	.500		0	1	.000

References

1. "SMU to be exciting". Victoria Advocate. (Texas). Associated Press. January 24, 1976. p. 3B.
2. see Tales From The Patriots Sidelines (Illinois: Sports Publishing LLP), by Michael Felger
3. "Gold and Black Illustrated | Purdue Boilermakers Football | Bob Knight | Purdue Boilermakers Basketball". March 31, 2020.
4. Former Patriots, Colts head coach Ron Meyer dies at 76