Former Patriots Coach Cleve Bryant Passes Away at 75
The New England Patriots are joining all members of football fandom in mourning the loss of former Pats running backs coach Cleve Bryant, who passed away earlier this week. He was 75 years old.
Bryant impacted football both on the field and the sidelines. His playing journey began at Ohio University, where he earned all-conference honors in 1967 as the quarterback while leading the Bobcats to a conference title. Bryant led his team to another championship in 1968 while winning Mid-American Conference (MAC) Player of the Year.
Though he was drafted by the Denver Broncos in the 11th round in 1970, Bryant did not make the team.
Bryant's college coaching career began in 1977 at Miami (OH) University, where he was in charge of quarterbacks and wide receivers. The following year, he was named quarterbacks coach at the University of North Carolina where remained 1978-81. During his tenure, the Tar Heels went to three bowl games and won the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1980.
In 1982, Bryant left North Carolina to become the running backs coach for the Patriots. During his two seasons in Foxboro, the Pats finished 2nd and 5th in rushing, compared to 15th in 1981 and 11th in 1984.
Bryant left the Patriots in 1984 to return as head coach to his alma mater, Ohio University, becoming only the third black head football coach in the NCAA.
He went 9-44-2 in five seasons with the Bobcats.
"I think we made a difference, mostly negative, in the lives of some young people," he said. "We did not win enough ball games. We were not good enough athletically to win enough games for them to be able to keep me, and I totally understand that."
Following the end to his time at Ohio in 1989, Bryant finished his coaching career as position coach at Illinois, Texas and North Carolina, where he assisted College Football Hall of Fame coach Mack Brown with recruiting, while coaching the team's wide receivers.
From 1998-2011, Bryant served as both an assistant, and later an Associate Athletics Director for Football Operations for the University of Texas.
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