Coaching Career
Edwards was BYU's head football coach from 1972 to 2000. His offensive scheme was passing-dominated. He started coaching in an era when college football offenses were dominated by strong running attacks. His quarterbacks threw over 11,000 passes for more than 100,000 yards and 635 touchdowns. He got the idea to switch to a pass oriented team by looking at BYU's history. The BYU football program had been a dismal failure before Edwards with the notable exception of one conference championship that resulted from the aerial attack of Virgil Carter. This past success encouraged Edwards to open up the BYU offense.
Edwards coached prominent quarterbacks such as Gary Scheide, Gifford Nielsen, Marc Wilson, Jim McMahon, Steve Young, Robbie Bosco, Ty Detmer, Steve Sarkisian, and Brandon Doman.
Awards won by his players include a Heisman Trophy, a Doak Walker Award, a Maxwell Award, two Outland Trophies, four Davey O'Brien Awards, seven Sammy Baugh Awards, and 31 All-America citations, including 11 consensus All-Americans. In 1984, he was named National Coach of the Year after BYU finished the season 13–0 and won the National Championship. Edwards retired after the 2000 season with a 257–101–3 record for a .717 winning percentage.
Prior to Edwards' final game, the football stadium at Brigham Young University was renamed LaVell Edwards Stadium in his honor. At the time of his retirement, he ranked sixth in all-time victories. Edwards received the Amos Alonzo Stagg Award, presented by the American Football Coaches Association, in 2003.
In the 1980 Holiday Bowl, BYU rallied from a 45–25 deficit with only 4 minutes to play to defeat Southern Methodist University (SMU). Trailing 45–39 with seconds to go, Quarterback Jim McMahon, completed a game winning touchdown pass to Clay Brown.
Following the 1984 national championship, Edwards was offered the head coaching positions with the Detroit Lions as well as the University of Texas at Austin.
Edwards remains a prominent leader and speaker for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is affiliated with BYU.
Read more about this topic: La Vell Edwards
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