# Jerry Glanville
**Jerry Glanville** (Jerry Michael Glanville, nicknamed the "Man in Black"; born 1941 in Detroit, Michigan) is an [American football](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-football) coach who served as head coach of the NFL's Houston Oilers from 1985 to 1989 and the [Atlanta Falcons](https://www.edgepedia.org/atlanta-falcons) from 1990 to 1993, compiling a regular-season record of 60 wins, 69 losses and a postseason record of 3 wins, 4 losses.[1](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/GlanJe0.htm) • [2](https://www.footballdb.com/coaches/jerry-glanville-glanvje01) Known for his all-black sideline wardrobe, aggressive defenses, and early use of four-wide-receiver offenses, he later coached at [Portland State University](https://www.edgepedia.org/portland-state-university) and, in his eighties, returned to the sideline as a Division II assistant.[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-03-sp-592-story.html) • [4](https://assets-ticats.s3.amazonaws.com/app/uploads/2018/06/25144939/2018-Hamilton-Tiger-Cats-Media-Guide-1.pdf) • [5](https://www.footballscoop.com/2025/03/03/jerry-glanville-says-hes-still-coaching-in-his-80s-because-you-can-only-take-two-things-into-the-box-when-you-die)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1941, Detroit, Michigan; played college football at Northern Michigan[1](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/GlanJe0.htm) |
| NFL head coaching record | 60-69 regular season (.465), 3-4 postseason, over nine seasons with Houston and Atlanta[2](https://www.footballdb.com/coaches/jerry-glanville-glanvje01) |
| Houston Oilers, 1985-89 | Took over for the final two games of 1985, then 33-32 in four full seasons with three straight playoff appearances (1987-89)[6](https://www.deseret.com/1990/1/7/18840065/oilers-and-granville-agree-to-part-ways/) • [2](https://www.footballdb.com/coaches/jerry-glanville-glanvje01) |
| Atlanta Falcons, 1990-93 | 27-37; the 1991 team went 10-6 and won a playoff game in his second season[2](https://www.footballdb.com/coaches/jerry-glanville-glanvje01) • [4](https://assets-ticats.s3.amazonaws.com/app/uploads/2018/06/25144939/2018-Hamilton-Tiger-Cats-Media-Guide-1.pdf) |
| Offensive innovation | Described as the first NFL coach to use four wide receivers in his basic offense[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-03-sp-592-story.html) |
| Later career | Out of coaching 1994-2004 while broadcasting; Portland State head coach 2007-09; CFL Hamilton Tiger-Cats defensive coordinator; assistant at Northwestern Oklahoma State in his 80s[4](https://assets-ticats.s3.amazonaws.com/app/uploads/2018/06/25144939/2018-Hamilton-Tiger-Cats-Media-Guide-1.pdf) • [5](https://www.footballscoop.com/2025/03/03/jerry-glanville-says-hes-still-coaching-in-his-80s-because-you-can-only-take-two-things-into-the-box-when-you-die) |
## Early life and assistant career
Glanville is a Detroit native who attended Perrysburg High School in Ohio and played football at [Northern Michigan University](https://www.edgepedia.org/northern-michigan-university).[7](https://library.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/publications/football/yearbooks/FATLFMG-1991-atlanta-falcons-media-guide.pdf) He began his NFL coaching career in 1974 as a special teams coach and defensive assistant with the [Detroit Lions](https://www.edgepedia.org/detroit-lions), holding that post through 1976.[8](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bcbs-sports-b-analyst-jerry-glanville/) Before reaching a head coaching job he had held nine assistant positions, and he joined the Oilers as an assistant coach in 1984-85.[9](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-01-06-sp-22796-story.html) • [10](https://library.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/publications/football/yearbooks/FTENTMG-1989-tennessee-titans-media-guide.pdf)
## Houston Oilers, 1985-1989
**Promotion to head coach.** When Hugh Campbell was fired on December 9, 1985 with two games left in the season, Glanville took charge of the Oilers on an interim basis and lost both games.[11](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-01-21-sp-31243-story.html) • [1](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/GlanJe0.htm) On January 19, 1986, the team named him head coach. At 44, he was chosen over two other finalists, [San Francisco 49ers](https://www.edgepedia.org/san-francisco-49ers) quarterback coach Paul Hackett and Dick Coury, former head coach of the USFL's Portland Breakers, and signed a five-year contract as the 13th head coach in the 27-year history of the franchise.[11](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-01-21-sp-31243-story.html)
His first full season produced a 5-11 record, but the Oilers then reached the playoffs three consecutive years: 9-6 in 1987, 10-6 in 1988, and 9-7 in 1989, losing each year in the postseason, to Denver and Buffalo in divisional games and [Pittsburgh](https://www.edgepedia.org/pittsburgh) in a wild-card game.[2](https://www.footballdb.com/coaches/jerry-glanville-glanvje01) The 1989 club was also the most penalized team in pro football, drawing an NFL-record 148 infractions.[12](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1990/01/07/suspense-over-glanville-fired/18a388a3-19be-417d-8db4-7daec9ce760d/)
**Dismissal.** After the 1989 season, owner [Bud Adams](https://www.edgepedia.org/bud-adams) announced that Glanville would not return for 1990. He left with a regular-season record of 33-32 in four seasons and a 2-3 playoff mark.[6](https://www.deseret.com/1990/1/7/18840065/oilers-and-granville-agree-to-part-ways/) Jack Pardee succeeded him.[13](https://collections2.swco.ttu.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.12255/358052/Snyder_Daily_News_1994_11_15.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1)
## Atlanta Falcons, 1990-1993
Glanville's success in Houston brought him back to Atlanta as head coach in 1990, where he said he would try to revive the long-slumping Falcons by using his "Red Gun" offense 70 percent of the time.[4](https://assets-ticats.s3.amazonaws.com/app/uploads/2018/06/25144939/2018-Hamilton-Tiger-Cats-Media-Guide-1.pdf) • [14](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/08/18/Football-Lions-1989-success-shows-run-and-shoot-can-work/8693650952000/) After a 5-11 first season, the 1991 Falcons went 10-6 and beat an opponent in the playoffs before losing to Washington in the NFC Divisional Playoff Game; the rush defense rose from last in the league to first, the defense recorded 35 takeaways, and the cornerbacks led the NFL in interceptions.[2](https://www.footballdb.com/coaches/jerry-glanville-glanvje01) • [4](https://assets-ticats.s3.amazonaws.com/app/uploads/2018/06/25144939/2018-Hamilton-Tiger-Cats-Media-Guide-1.pdf) The team then went 6-10 in both 1992 and 1993, and he was fired on Wednesday, January 5, 1994.[2](https://www.footballdb.com/coaches/jerry-glanville-glanvje01) • [15](https://pro-football-history.com/coach/152/jerry-glanville-bio)
## Style and persona
Glanville cultivated a deliberately unconventional public image. For a club whose colors were scarlet, blue, and white, he appeared on the sideline in black golf attire, and he habitually set aside will-call admissions for [Elvis Presley](https://www.edgepedia.org/elvis-presley), the Phantom of the Opera, and assorted other famous figures, whether dead, invented, or real.[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-03-sp-592-story.html) The black attire and his features drew comparisons to country singer [Johnny Cash](https://www.edgepedia.org/johnny-cash), the source of the "Man in Black" nickname.[1](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/GlanJe0.htm) • [3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-03-sp-592-story.html)
His teams played a physical, penalty-prone style. A 1989 profile portrayed him as a coach whose relentless prodding of his players to hit, hustle, and scrap pushed them to a usual place at the top of the league in penalties, and the Oilers feuded openly with opposing coaches: following a game between Pittsburgh and Houston, Steelers coach [Chuck Noll](https://www.edgepedia.org/chuck-noll) declined to shake his hand, charging that Glanville's players had set out to injure his own.[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-03-sp-592-story.html) Tactically, he was described as the first NFL coach to use four wide receivers in his basic offense, and he twice led Houston into the playoffs by that point in 1989.[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-03-sp-592-story.html)
## Broadcasting and later coaching
Glanville was out of coaching from 1994 to 2004 but remained a visible voice of the game as an analyst for HBO's "Inside the NFL," CBS's "The NFL Today," and Fox's NFL coverage; he had joined CBS's "The NFL Today" pregame studio show after leaving the Falcons.[4](https://assets-ticats.s3.amazonaws.com/app/uploads/2018/06/25144939/2018-Hamilton-Tiger-Cats-Media-Guide-1.pdf) • [8](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bcbs-sports-b-analyst-jerry-glanville/)
He returned to the field as head coach at Portland State University from 2007 to 2009, giving him more than 12 years as a head coach across the NFL and NCAA.[4](https://assets-ticats.s3.amazonaws.com/app/uploads/2018/06/25144939/2018-Hamilton-Tiger-Cats-Media-Guide-1.pdf) In 2024, at age 83, he was working as an assistant coach at Northwestern Oklahoma State, a Division II program in Alva, Oklahoma.[5](https://www.footballscoop.com/2025/03/03/jerry-glanville-says-hes-still-coaching-in-his-80s-because-you-can-only-take-two-things-into-the-box-when-you-die)
## References
1. [Jerry Glanville Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks, Pro-Football-Reference.com](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/GlanJe0.htm)
2. [Jerry Glanville Coaching Record, The Football Database](https://www.footballdb.com/coaches/jerry-glanville-glanvje01)
3. [Glanville Is the Dean of NFL Coaches, Los Angeles Times, October 3, 1989](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-03-sp-592-story.html)
4. [Jerry Glanville, 2018 Hamilton Tiger-Cats Media Guide](https://assets-ticats.s3.amazonaws.com/app/uploads/2018/06/25144939/2018-Hamilton-Tiger-Cats-Media-Guide-1.pdf)
5. [Jerry Glanville says he's still coaching in his 80's, FootballScoop, March 3, 2025](https://www.footballscoop.com/2025/03/03/jerry-glanville-says-hes-still-coaching-in-his-80s-because-you-can-only-take-two-things-into-the-box-when-you-die)
6. [Oilers and Glanville Agree to Part Ways, Deseret News, January 7, 1990](https://www.deseret.com/1990/1/7/18840065/oilers-and-granville-agree-to-part-ways/)
7. [Atlanta Falcons Media Guide (1991)](https://library.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/publications/football/yearbooks/FATLFMG-1991-atlanta-falcons-media-guide.pdf)
8. [CBS Sports Analyst Jerry Glanville, CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bcbs-sports-b-analyst-jerry-glanville/)
9. [Oilers Did Save Glanville From the Showers, Los Angeles Times, January 6, 1988](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-01-06-sp-22796-story.html)
10. [Houston Oilers Media Guide (1989)](https://library.sfo2.cdn.digitaloceanspaces.com/publications/football/yearbooks/FTENTMG-1989-tennessee-titans-media-guide.pdf)
11. [Glanville Wins Head Coaching Job With Oilers, Los Angeles Times, January 21, 1986](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-01-21-sp-31243-story.html)
12. [Suspense Over, Glanville Fired, The Washington Post, January 7, 1990](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/sports/1990/01/07/suspense-over-glanville-fired/18a388a3-19be-417d-8db4-7daec9ce760d/)
13. [The Snyder (Tex.) Daily News, November 15, 1994](https://collections2.swco.ttu.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.12255/358052/Snyder_Daily_News_1994_11_15.pdf?isAllowed=y&sequence=1)
14. [Football: Lions' 1989 success shows run-and-shoot can work, UPI, August 18, 1990](https://www.upi.com/Archives/1990/08/18/Football-Lions-1989-success-shows-run-and-shoot-can-work/8693650952000/)
15. [Jerry Glanville, Pro Football History.com](https://pro-football-history.com/coach/152/jerry-glanville-bio)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Other team and ball sports › Rugby and other football codes › American football players, coaches, and executives › NFL head coaches › Late 20th century head coaches*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license