Dan Audick


Daniel James Audick is an American former professional football offensive lineman in the National Football League from 1977 through 1984. A second generation Lithuanian American, Dan was born into a large military family as the son of Col. Albert E. Audick, Sr. and Stella Audick. After his birth, he and his nine siblings moved to military bases in France, Virginia, Tennessee, Japan, Colorado, and Los Angeles. As a high school senior at Wasson High School in Colorado Springs, Audick earned All-State honors as an offensive lineman while contributing to the winning of what was then the AAA-Colorado high school football championship in 1971. In 2005, Audick was inducted with his teammates and coaches into the Colorado Springs Sports Hall of Fame. Audick was a scholarship student-athlete for the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors from 1972 to 1977 and a team captain in the 1976 football season. Under the pioneering leadership of coach Larry Price, he was one of the few former Warriors who made the transition from Division II Independent to Division IA Independent and who would go on to NFL careers and coaching careers.

Professional career

Audick was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1977 NFL draft. He started in 33 of 76 regular season games while playing for the St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Chargers, and San Francisco 49ers. In post-season play, Audick started in 5 of 6 playoff games. Under the leadership of Coach Don Coryell, Audick played on a Chargers' team that clinched two consecutive playoff berths. With the 1980 Chargers, Audick started at the right tackle position in the AFC Championship game versus the Oakland Raiders where he protected Dan Fouts' frontside in the "Air Coryell" offense.
In 1981, Audick was traded to the San Francisco 49ers. Though he was considered to be "undersized" for the left tackle position, he was tasked with the responsibility of protecting Joe Montana's "blindside." Under the guidance of Coach Bill Walsh, Audick was a key contributor on the final 89-yard drive that led to the play that has been immortalized as "The Catch" in the 1982 NFC Playoffs versus the Dallas Cowboys. Audick subsequently started in Super Bowl XVI wearing number 61 for the 49ers' 26–21 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.
When Michael Lewis was researching for his 2006 book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game, he called upon several former NFL coaches and players who had played the left tackle position including Audick. Audick helped Lewis understand the role of the "undersized" versus the "prototypical." In Lewis's book, Audick is credited with having played a contributing role in the evolution of the "undersized" left tackle position. In 2009, the book was made into a movie called The Blind Side.
Audick was the first student athlete to graduate from the University of Hawaii and to contribute to a winning Super Bowl team.
Dan was the defensive line coach in 1991 for Grossmont College in El Cajon, California.

Academic career

In addition to his professional football career, Audick pursued three advanced degrees in the field of Sports Administration. Subsequent to his NFL retirement, he completed his MBA at San Diego State University in 1986. In honing his studies to Sports Administration, he crafted his coursework and thesis toward the design and development of a computerized feedback system for college and professional football teams. It was not until 2006 that SDSU formally graduated the official first class for a Sports MBA program . Audick was also an early participant in Internet education when he earned his second master's degree at the University of Phoenix's online program from 1994 to 1996. Audick completed his education by earning a doctorate in education in the field of Human Performance Technology at the University of Southern California. For his Ed.D dissertation, Audick used an instructional design enhancement to augment the instruction and communication of offensive passing routes and formations as compared with traditional approaches by using "eight points of a compass" coupled with measurable distances down field and a "grid and code" system, respectively.