Dan Reeves

Dan Reeves
	Reeves in 2014.
No. 30
Position:	Running back
Personal information
Born:	January 19, 1944 (age 74); Rome, Georgia
Height:	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight:	200 lb (91 kg)
Career information
High school:	Americus (GA)
College:	South Carolina
Undrafted:	1965
Career history
As player:
	Dallas Cowboys (1965–1972);
As coach:
	Dallas Cowboys (1972, 1974–1980) (assistant); Denver Broncos (1981–1992); New York Giants (1993–1996); Atlanta Falcons (1997–2003);
Career highlights and awards
	2× Super Bowl champion (VI, XII); 2× AP NFL Coach of the Year (1993, 1998); 3× AFC champion (1986, 1987, 1989); NFC champion (1970, 1971, 1975, 1977, 1978, 1998); Denver Broncos Ring of Fame;
Career NFL statistics
	Player stats at NFL.com
	Player stats at NFL.com
Head coaching record
Regular season:	190–165–2
Postseason:	11–9
Career:	201–174–2
	Player stats at PFR
	Coaching stats at PFR

Daniel Edward Reeves (born January 19, 1944) is a former American football running back and coach in the National Football League (NFL). Over the course of his 38 years in the NFL, Reeves participated in a combined nine Super Bowls as player and coach, the second-most in league history behind Bill Belichick's eleven. He served as a head coach for 23 seasons, primarily with the Denver Broncos and the Atlanta Falcons. As a player, he spent the entirety of his eight-season career with the Dallas Cowboys.

Reeves made his first two Super Bowl appearances during his playing career, winning one in VI. He began his coaching career as an assistant coach for Cowboys, where he made three more championship appearances and was part of the team that won XII. As the head coach of the Broncos for 12 seasons, Reeves led the team to three Super Bowls in XXI, XXII, and XXIV, each of which ended in defeat. Following four seasons as the head coach of the New York Giants, Reeves served as the Falcons' head coach for seven seasons. With the Falcons, he led the franchise to their first championship appearance in XXXIII, in which he was defeated by his former team, the Broncos.

As a head coach, Reeves is only one of five to lead two different franchises to a Super Bowl appearance, and has the most Super Bowl appearances without a victory at four, along with Bud Grant and Marv Levy. He is also tied with Jeff Fisher for the NFL record of most regular-season losses as a head coach at 165, although both have overall winning records.

Early years[edit]

Born in Rome, Georgia, Reeves grew up in Americus, Georgia. He attended Americus High School, where he participated in football, baseball and basketball.

After he missed four games with a broken collarbone during his senior season, only the University of South Carolina was interested enough to offer him a football scholarship. The interest from other schools came later, when he won the MVP trophy at the Georgia High School football All-star game, but he decided to stay with his first choice. He also was selected to the All-state basketball team in 1961.

College career[edit]

Reeves played college football at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, where he was a three-year starter at quarterback from 1962 through 1964. He became the starting quarterback during his sophomore year in 1962 and was named second-team All-conference after his junior and senior years.

Reeves was more comfortable running than throwing, but was effective enough to set 10 school records and in 1964 against a strong Nebraska team, champion of the Big Eight, he passed for 348 yards in a 28–6 loss in Lincoln.

Even though he only compiled an 8–21–4 (.303) record, he ended his college career as the leading passer in Gamecock history, accumulating 2,561 yards passing, to go along with 16 touchdowns and 3 games with 100-yards rushing.

Reeves also became a very good baseball prospect as a right fielder for the Gamecocks.

In 1977, he was inducted into the school's Athletic Hall of Fame.^[1] In 2006, he was inducted into the State of South Carolina Athletic Hall of Fame.

Professional career[edit]

Although he went undrafted after graduation, he received professional sports offers from the Dallas Cowboys in the National Football League (NFL), the San Diego Chargers in the American Football League (AFL) and the Pittsburgh Pirates in Major League Baseball.

Reeves signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent in 1965 to play the safety position, but was later moved to halfback, after a series of injuries depleted the team's depth during training camp. His rookie year was spent mostly on the kickoff and punt units.

In 1966, Tom Landry looking for more speed at running back, shifted All-Pro safety Mel Renfro to offense. Renfro was hurt in the opening game against the New York Giants, and Reeves took advantage of his opportunity by having a break out season leading the team in rushing with 757 yards and in scoring with 96 points, while finishing second in receiving with 557 yards. His performance helped the Cowboys take some of the running load from fullback Don Perkins and reach its first championship game. Reeves set a franchise record with 16 touchdowns (8 rushing and 8 receiving), had over 1,300 all-purpose yards, was sixth in the NFL in rushing, first in touchdowns and sixth in scoring. He was also voted to The Sporting News All-Pro team at the end of the year.

In 1967, he posted back-to-back seasons with more than 600 rushing yards, ranking second on the team in rushing with 603 yards and third in receiving with 490 yards. In the week 8 game against the Atlanta Falcons, he set a franchise record after scoring 4 touchdowns. In the week 13 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, he scored touchdowns running, receiving, and passing in the same game.

During the first half of his NFL career, he became a multi-talented running back and displayed the ability to consistently make big plays. He remained a starter until the week 4 of the 1968 season, when he tore ligaments in his right knee and was lost for the season.

The injury ended up hampering him for the remainder of his career and limiting his abilities. Head coach Tom Landry started playing him in spots and asked him to become a player-coach, while being passed on the depth chart by Calvin Hill and Duane Thomas. He remained in that role for three years, until the end of the 1972 season when he retired to become a full-time assistant coach.

Reeves played eight seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, collected 1,990 rushing yards, 1,693 receiving yards and 42 touchdowns.^[2] The Cowboys made the playoffs every year, reaching the Super Bowl twice and culminating in a 24-3 victory over the Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl VI following the 1971 season. In Super Bowl V with the Cowboys and Colts tied at 13 in the last 2 minutes, he let a pass go through his hands that was intercepted, setting up the Colts in Dallas territory. The Colts won the game on a 32-yard field goal from Jim O'Brien with five seconds left. He threw a touchdown pass in the Cowboys' losing effort in the legendary subzero Ice Bowl against the Green Bay Packers for the 1967 NFL title.^[3]

In 2010, he was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame.

Coaching career[edit]

Reeves, a protégé of Tom Landry, became the youngest head coach in the NFL when he joined the Denver Broncos in 1981 as vice president and head coach. After acquiring quarterback John Elway in a trade, Reeves guided the Broncos to six post-season appearances, five divisional titles, three AFC championships and three Super Bowl appearances (Super Bowl XXI, Super Bowl XXII and Super Bowl XXIV) during his 12-year tenure. He was the only AFC coach in the decade of the 1980s to lead his team to consecutive Super Bowl berths and his Broncos appeared in the Super Bowl three times during a span of four years. Reeves was fired after the 1992 season^[4] and replaced by his protégé and friend Wade Phillips, who was previously the Broncos' defensive coordinator.

Reeves served as New York Giants head coach from 1993–1996. In his first season, he led the Giants to an 11–5 record and a berth in the playoffs. Reeves's 1993 season record is the best ever for a first-year Giants coach, and he was named the 1993 Associated Press Coach of the Year after helping the Giants improve from a 6–10 record in 1992. Reeves was fired again after the Giants went 5–11 in 1995 and 6–10 in 1996.

In 1997, Reeves was named the head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. Under his command the team, which had finished the 1996 campaign with a 3–13 record, steadily improved. After going 7–9 his first season, Reeves took Atlanta to the greatest season in franchise history.

The Falcons went 14–2 in 1998, going on to capture their first NFC championship. Reeves coached the Falcons to a 12–2 record before being hospitalized for the final two regular season games to undergo quadruple-bypass heart surgery in December. Reeves managed to return to the sidelines just three weeks later to lead the Falcons to victory in their first NFC Championship. During Super Bowl XXXIII, Reeves' Falcons were pitched against his former team, the defending champions Denver Broncos whose quarterback Elway was in his final season; the Falcons lost 34-19. In the process, Reeves earned the NFL's top coaching awards as he was named the 1998 NFL Coach of the Year.

In 2003, after winning just 3 of the first 13 games, Reeves asked to be released and the Falcons replaced him with Wade Phillips as interim coach for three games, making it the second time for Reeves to be succeeded by Phillips as an NFL head coach.

In January 2009, Reeves interviewed with the San Francisco 49ers for their offensive coordinator job.

After negotiations with the Dallas Cowboys (which, coincidentally, had Phillips as their head coach), Reeves became a consultant for the team in February 2009. This role was short-lived, however, as it only lasted two days before Reeves turned in the keys to his office and left. Reeves and the Cowboys could apparently not reach conclusions as to Reeves' role with the team. In the days following, it was revealed that the dispute came down to a contract clause specifying a number of hours per week to be worked, which Reeves deemed insulting.

Reeves was reportedly interested in returning to coaching for the 2010 season as a part of Chan Gailey's staff with the Buffalo Bills.^[5]

In 2007, Reeves had an active role in the starting of the Georgia State University's football program.

In 2017, the Professional Football Researchers Association named Reeves to the PFRA Hall of Very Good Class of 2017 ^[6]

Head coaching record[edit]

Team	Year	Regular Season					Post Season
Team	Year	Won	Lost	Ties	Win %	Finish	Won	Lost	Win %	Result
DEN	1981	10	6	0	.625	2nd in AFC West	–	–	–	–
DEN	1982	2	7	0	.222	5th in AFC West	–	–	–	–
DEN	1983	9	7	0	.563	2nd in AFC West	0	1	.000	Lost to Seattle Seahawks in AFC Wild Card Game.
DEN	1984	13	3	0	.813	1st in AFC West	0	1	.000	Lost to Pittsburgh Steelers in AFC Divisional Game.
DEN	1985	11	5	0	.688	2nd in AFC West	–	–	–	–
DEN	1986	11	5	0	.688	1st in AFC West	2	1	.667	Lost to New York Giants in Super Bowl XXI.
DEN	1987	10	4	1	.700	1st in AFC West	2	1	.667	Lost to Washington Redskins in Super Bowl XXII.
DEN	1988	8	8	0	.500	2nd in AFC West	–	–	–	–
DEN	1989	11	5	0	.688	1st in AFC West	2	1	.667	Lost to San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XXIV.
DEN	1990	5	11	0	.313	5th in AFC West	–	–	–	–
DEN	1991	12	4	0	.750	1st in AFC West	1	1	.500	Lost to Buffalo Bills in AFC Championship Game.
DEN	1992	8	8	0	.500	3rd in AFC West	–	–	–	–
DEN Total		110	73	1	.601		7	6	.538
NYG	1993	11	5	0	.688	2nd in NFC East	1	1	.500	Lost to San Francisco 49ers in NFC Divisional Game.
NYG	1994	9	7	0	.563	2nd in NFC East	–	–	–	–
NYG	1995	5	11	0	.313	4th in NFC East	–	–	–	–
NYG	1996	6	10	0	.375	5th in NFC East	–	–	–	–
NYG Total		31	33	0	.484		1	1	.500
ATL	1997	7	9	0	.438	2nd in NFC West	–	–	–	–
ATL	1998	14	2	0	.875	1st in NFC West	2	1	.667	Lost to Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII.
ATL	1999	5	11	0	.313	3rd in NFC West	–	–	–	–
ATL	2000	4	12	0	.250	5th in NFC West	–	–	–	–
ATL	2001	7	9	0	.438	3rd in NFC West	–	–	–	–
ATL	2002	9	6	1	.594	2nd in NFC South	1	1	.500	Lost to Philadelphia Eagles in NFC Divisional Game.
ATL	2003	3	10	0	.231	Fired in mid-season	–	–	–	–
ATL Total		49	59	1	.454		3	2	.600
Total^[7]		190	165	2	.535		11	9	.550

Coaching tree[edit]

Assistants under Dan Reeves who became NCAA or NFL head coaches:

Dennis Allen: Oakland Raiders (2012–2014)
Chan Gailey: Birmingham Fire (1991–1992), Samford (1993), Dallas Cowboys (1998–1999), Georgia Tech (2002–2007), Buffalo Bills (2010–2012)
Mike Nolan: San Francisco 49ers (2005–2008)
Mike Shanahan: Los Angeles Raiders (1988–1989), Denver Broncos (1995–2008), Washington Redskins (2010–2013)

Broadcast career[edit]

Reeves previously covered NFL games as a color analyst (teamed with play-by-play man Bill Rosinski) for the second Sunday afternoon game on Westwood One radio network. Dan Reeves also keeps in touch with his fans through his website and is available for hire for corporate and football events around the country.

Personal life[edit]

Reeves is married to Pam Reeves. Reeves has three children and six grandchildren.^[8] He is a Christian.^[9] While coaching for the Giants, Reeves and his wife had been residents of Ho-Ho-Kus, New Jersey.^[10]

His nephew is David Andrews, who currently plays center for the New England Patriots.