Coaching Career
Christiansen stayed in the game, accepting an assistant coaching position with the 49ers under Red Hickey on January 22, 1959, joining a staff that included his former college coach, Mark Duncan. After just over four years of inconsistent play, Hickey resigned on September 30, 1963, with Christiansen receiving the promotion to head coach. In that season's final 11 games, the 49ers won only twice, but held the distinction of being the only team to defeat the eventual NFL champion Chicago Bears.
Over the succeeding four years, San Francisco continued to struggle, with Christiansen's best season coming in 1965 when the team was 7-6-1. The 49ers began the 1967 NFL season with five wins in their first six games, but won only two more games the remainder of the campaign, resulting in Christiansen's dismissal on December 20, 1967, while ending his tenure with a record of 26-38-3.
After briefly serving as a consultant to the Colorado State athletic program, Christiansen returned to coaching as an assistant under John Ralston at Stanford in April 1968. During this period, the Indians (their previous nickname) pulled off consecutive Rose Bowl upsets of Ohio State University and the University of Michigan. When Ralston left to coach the NFL's Denver Broncos, Christiansen first considered following him back to Colorado, but instead was hired as Stanford's head coach on January 21, 1972, after fellow assistant Mike White turned the job down.
Christiansen would spend five years as Stanford's head coach, and was fired on November 19, 1976 after compiling a 30-22-3 record. Some of the reasons for the dismissal were Christiansen's troubles in recruiting players to the school, known for its top academics, his more player-friendly approach that brought criticism about a lack of discipline, and his blunt approach to dealing with a vocal alumni group.
Following his dismissal, Christiansen returned to the professional ranks, working one year with the Kansas City Chiefs. Following a coaching change, he was hired on April 24, 1978 by the Seattle Seahawks as the team's defensive backs coach. He served five years in the Northwest before another coaching change sent him looking for work following the strike-shortened 1982 NFL season. He found his final coaching job with the Atlanta Falcons on February 18, 1983, serving only one year before resigning on January 24, 1984 after being diagnosed with cancer.
Over the next 30 months, Christiansen continued to battle the disease. Just six weeks before his death, he was inducted into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame, an honor that recognized his Lions career. He died after never regaining consciousness following additional cancer surgery.
Read more about this topic: Jack Christiansen
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