Elliot Uzelac - College Coaching Career

College Coaching Career

Before St. Joseph, Uzelac coached at Bowling Green University, the University of Michigan, Indiana University, Ohio State University, the University of Colorado, the University of Kentucky, the University of Minnesota, the University of Maryland, and the NFL's Cleveland Browns. Most stops were for one or two years, while the longest he stayed at any one school was his seven-year tenure as head coach at Western Michigan University. Along the way he has coached under or alongside Bo Schembechler, Lloyd Carr, Bill McCartney, Don Nehlen, Bill Mallory, Les Miles, and Bill Belicheck.

While head coach at Navy, Uzelac had several notable assistants, including Tom Amstutz, Chuck Bresnahan, Steve Belichick, Dean Pees, and Carl Reese. Some assistants had connections to the University of Michigan as either past or future coaches, including Fred Jackson, Greg Mattison, and Mike Trgovac.

While Uzelac has had number of stints in college football as a head coach and as an assistant, his most famous incident occurred in 1991 while he was the offensive coordinator at Ohio State. Uzelac encouraged and pressured players to skip class so they could make practice. This prioritization of football over academics did not sit well with Robert Smith, future Minnesota Vikings running back, who spoke up about the issue. As a result, Smith sat out the season. The next season Uzelac was fired and Smith returned to the team.