Pat Sullivan
Patrick Joseph Sullivan (born January 18, 1950 in Birmingham) won the 1971 Heisman Trophy as quarterback for the Auburn Tigers. He spent five years in the National Football League and spent a decade in private business before returning to the field as an assistant under Pat Dye at Auburn. He spent six seasons as the head coach of Texas Christian University and is currently the offensive coordinator for the UAB Blazers under Watson Brown.
Sullivan began his athletic career as a three-sport star at John Carroll Catholic High School. Although a talented baseball and basketball player, he chose to play football for Auburn University where he would become the starting quarterback in 1969 under head coach Shug Jordan. Over the next three seasons Sullivan broke several school and NCAA records for passing while leading the team to a 26-7 record. In 1970, he led the NCAA in total offense with 2,856 yards and set an NCAA record for most yards per play with 8.57. In his career, he was responsible for 71 touchdowns (53 passing/18 rushing) to tie the NCAA record. In his senior season, Sullivan completed 162 passes on 281 attempts for 2012 yards and 20 touchdowns. This performance was enough to edge out Ed Marinaro of Cornell for the 1971 Heisman Trophy. Also an excellent student, Sullivan was named an Academic All-American and graduated with a bachelor's of science in business administration in 1972.
After college, Sullivan had a short professional football career playing first with the Atlanta Falcons from 1972 to 1976 and then the Washington Redskins in 1976 and 1977. He left football to enter private business in Birmingham where he worked in insurance and as a tire company executive. Sullivan also spent five seasons doing color commentary for Auburn football games before joining the staff at Auburn in 1986 as quarterbacks coach under head coach Pat Dye. He worked with AU quarterbacks Jeff Burger, Reggie Slack, and Stan White during his six years at Auburn.
On January 2, 1992, Sullivan became the 27th head football coach of Texas Christian University, inheriting a probation-wracked team. After two losing seasons, he led TCU to a 7-5 mark in 1994 to win a share of the Southwest Conference championship. The next season produced another winning record of 6-5 before TCU joined the Western Athletic Conference in 1996 and fell once again on hard times. Losing seasons in 1997 and 1998 resulted in Sullivan's resignation in November 1998 with an overall record of 24-42-1. He is remebered for recruiting LaDainian Tomlinson to play at TCU.
In January 1999, Sullivan became the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for UAB. He helped develop the skills of quarterback Darrell Hackney.
After neck surgery in September 2003, Sullivan was diagnosed with throat cancer and began chemotherapy and radiation treatments in December. In April 2004, doctors told him he was clear of cancer cells but he continues to be monitored for recurrence. Sullivan missed only one game in the 2003 season but lost around 50 pounds over the course of his treatment.
Sullivan is married to the former Jean Hicks of Birmingham and they have three children — Kim, and twins Kelly and Patrick, Jr.
Honors and awards
- Heisman Trophy, 1971
- All-American, 1970, 1971 (unanimous)
- Southeastern Conference Player of the Year, 1970, 1971
- Gator Bowl Most Valuable Player, 1970
- Sugar Bowl Most Valuable Player, 1971
- Senior Bowl Most Valuable Player, 1972
- College All-Star Game Most Valuable Player, 1972
- Alabama Sports Hall of Fame
- National Football Foundation Hall of Fame
- Sugar Bowl Hall of Fame
- Gator Bowl Hall of Fame
- Senior Bowl Hall of Fame
- College Football Hall of Fame, 1991
- Southwest Conference Coach of the Year, 1994
Reference
- "Pat Sullivan (American football)." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 30 Nov 2006, 19:57 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 30 Nov 2006 [1].
- Cordell, Carten (December 2, 2004) Glory Days. The Auburn Plainsman