John Madden
John Earl Madden was an American professional football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League. He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, leading them to eight playoff appearances, seven division titles, seven AFL/AFC Championship Game appearances, and the franchise's first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XI. Never having a losing season, Madden holds the highest winning percentage among NFL head coaches who coached at least 100 games. He is considered one of the greatest coaches of all time.
After retiring from coaching, Madden was a color commentator for NFL telecasts from 1979 to 2009 and won 16 Sports Emmy Awards. Madden appeared on all four major American television networks, providing commentary for games broadcast by CBS, Fox, ABC, and NBC. He also lent his name, expertise, and commentary to the Madden NFL video game series, which became the best-selling American football video game franchise. Madden was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006.
Early life
John Earl Madden was born in Austin, Minnesota, on April 10, 1936, the son of Earl Russell Madden and Mary Madden. His father, an auto mechanic, moved the Madden family to Daly City, California, located south of San Francisco, when John was young. John attended Catholic parochial school with John Robinson at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, graduating in 1950, and then Jefferson High School, graduating in 1954.Playing career
A football star in high school, Madden played one season at the College of San Mateo, in 1954, before he was given a football scholarship to the University of Oregon, studying pre-law, and playing football with childhood friend John Robinson. He was redshirted because of a knee injury and had a knee operation.In 1955, he attended the College of San Mateo, then Grays Harbor College, playing in the fall of 1956, before transferring to Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, where he played both offense and defense for the Mustangs in 1957 and 1958 while earning a Bachelor of Science in education in 1959 and then a Master of Arts in education in 1961. Madden's senior research project at Cal Poly focused on the use of weights to increase strides and speed in athletic training.
He won first-team all-conference honors at offensive tackle in his debut season at Cal Poly, and was a catcher on the Mustangs baseball team. Known amongst his teammates for his impressive downfield speed for a lineman, Madden also was selected by United Press International for Little All-Coast Second Team accolades following his junior season of 1957. During the 1957 season, Madden caught a pass from future fellow Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, then-teammate and Cal Poly quarterback, Bobby Beathard.
Madden was drafted in the 21st round by the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles in 1958, months before beginning his senior season at Cal Poly. His senior year, which again saw Madden regularly start on the left side of the offensive line, was cut short due to a season-ending collarbone injury, suffered while making a tackle against Long Beach State in October 1958, with four games remaining on the schedule.
On January 3, 1959, Madden played in the All-American Bowl in Tucson, Arizona, and was later praised by Lou Pavlovich of The Sporting News for his play in the showcase. In August 1959, he suffered a torn knee ligament in his first training camp, during an Eagles scrimmage, ending his playing career without having had an opportunity to play in a regulation game professionally.
Coaching career
College
Madden recounted how he became involved with coaching:In 1960, he became an assistant coach at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California. He was promoted to head coach in 1962. Madden went 12–6 in two seasons, including an 8–1 mark in 1963, during which his Bulldogs were ranked No. 9 nationally among city colleges. Following the 1963 season, he was hired as a defensive assistant coach at San Diego State, where he served to 1966. During that final campaign, the 1966 Aztecs were ranked among the top small colleges in the country. While at San Diego State, Madden coached under Don Coryell, whom Madden credited as being an influence on his coaching.
Professional
Building on that success, Madden was hired by Al Davis as linebackers coach for the AFL's Oakland Raiders in 1967, putting him in the Sid Gillman coaching tree. He helped the team reach Super Bowl II that season. A year later, after Raiders head coach John Rauch resigned to take the same position with the Buffalo Bills, Madden was named the Raiders' head coach on February 4, 1969, becoming, at the age of 32, the AFL/NFL's youngest head coach to that time.Madden's first Raiders squad went 12–1–1 in 1969 but lost 17–7 to the Kansas City Chiefs in the last-ever American Football League Championship Game. This would become a frustrating trend during Madden's coaching career. Oakland won seven AFC West division championships and always played to a winning record during his ten seasons as head coach, but they also lost in six AFL/AFC Championship Games.
One of the most frustrating playoff defeats came in 1972, when what appeared to be a last-minute AFC divisional round victory over the Steelers instead became a part of football lore, when Franco Harris' "Immaculate Reception" gave Pittsburgh a 13–7 win. In 1974, after knocking the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Miami Dolphins out of the playoffs in dramatic fashion, the Raiders again lost to the Steelers in the AFC Championship Game. The Steelers again ended the Raiders' season one game short of the Super Bowl in the 1975 AFC Championship Game.
In 1976, the Raiders went 13–1 in the regular season and escaped the first round of the playoffs with a dramatic and controversial 24–21 victory over the New England Patriots. In their third straight battle with the Steelers in the AFC Championship game, Madden's Raiders finally defeated their nemesis 24–7 to reach Super Bowl XI. On January 9, 1977, Madden won his first and only NFL title with a 32–14 win over the Minnesota Vikings.
The Raiders made the playoffs in 1977 as a Wild Card team, but again lost the AFC Championship Game, this time to the Denver Broncos. The Raiders enjoyed their tenth straight winning campaign under Madden in 1978 but failed to qualify for the playoffs for just the second time in his tenure. Soon after their season ended, Madden announced his retirement on January 4, 1979, due to a troublesome ulcer and occupational burnout, stating that he was permanently ending his coaching career.
Among Madden's accomplishments as a head coach were winning a Super Bowl, and becoming the youngest coach to reach 100 career regular-season victories, a record he compiled in only ten full seasons of coaching at the age of 42. Madden is still the coach with the most wins in Raiders history.
Madden never had a losing season as a head coach. His overall winning percentage, including playoff games, ranks second in league history behind Guy Chamberlin and is the highest among those who coached 100 games. Madden achieved his record while competing against coaching legends such as Tom Landry, Don Shula, Chuck Noll, and Bud Grant.
Head coaching record
Junior college
NFL
Sportscasting career
Television
CBS Sports (1979–1993)
Madden joined CBS as a color commentator in 1979. After working lower-profile contests during his first years, he was elevated to CBS's top football broadcasting duo with Pat Summerall in 1981, replacing Tom Brookshier. Prior to teaming with Summerall on CBS, Madden was paired with a variety of announcers, such as Bob Costas, Vin Scully, Dick Stockton, Frank Glieber, and Gary Bender. The team of Madden and Summerall would go on to call eight Super Bowls together.On occasions in which Summerall was unavailable, Madden would team with the likes of Vin Scully and subsequently, Verne Lundquist. On their final CBS telecast together, the 1993 NFC Championship Game on January 23, 1994, Madden told Summerall that while CBS may no longer have the NFL, at least they have the memories. On ABC's final Monday Night Football telecast in 2005, Madden used a similar choice of words.
Fox Sports (1994–2001)
In 1994, when Fox gained the rights to NFC games, leaving CBS without an NFL television deal, CBS employees became free agents. Madden was the biggest star in football broadcasting. Fox, ABC, and NBC made offers higher than the $2 million a year maximum for sportscaster salaries. NBC's owner General Electric offered to make Madden its "worldwide spokesman", and GE Rail would build him a luxury train. After he almost joined ABC, Madden and Summerall, along with Producer Bob Stenner and Director Sandy Grossman—known as the football broadcasting "A Team"—helped establish Fox's NFL coverage, Madden and that group gave Fox credibility to broadcast what Rupert Murdoch called "the crown jewel of all sports programming in the world". Madden's contract paid him more annually than any NFL player. Toward the end of his tenure, Fox was reportedly losing an estimated $4.4 billion on its NFL contract for the eight-year deal it signed in 1998, and it had been trying to cut programming costs as a result. Madden's Fox contract would have been worth $8 million for 2003.ABC Sports (2002–2005)
In 2002, Madden became a commentator on ABC's Monday Night Football, working with longtime play-by-play announcer Al Michaels. Madden reportedly made $5 million per year.NBC Sports (2006–2009)
In 2005, Dick Ebersol, president of NBC Sports, announced that Madden would provide color commentary for NBC's Sunday night NFL games, beginning with the 2006 season, making him the first sportscaster to have worked for all of the "Big Four" U.S. broadcast television networks. On October 13, 2008, NBC announced that Madden would not be traveling to the October 19 Sunday Night Football Seattle Seahawks–Tampa Bay Buccaneers game in Tampa, Florida, marking the end of Madden's 476-weekend streak of consecutive broadcast appearances. Madden, who traveled by bus, decided to take the week off because he had traveled from Jacksonville to San Diego, and would have had to go back to Florida before returning to his Northern California home.Madden was replaced by Football Night in America studio analyst Cris Collinsworth for the game, and returned for the following telecast on November 2, 2008, in Indianapolis. Until 2010 the NFL did not schedule Sunday night games for one week in October, so as not to overlap with the World Series taking place roughly around the same time. Madden called his final game on February 1, 2009, for Super Bowl XLIII between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Madden announced his retirement from the broadcasting booth on April 16, 2009. He was succeeded by Collinsworth.