Stephen Joseph Musseau Jr. (July 15, 1923 – December 28, 1997) was an

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

coach. He served as the head football coach at the

University of Idaho The University of Idaho (U of I, or UIdaho) is a public land-grant research university in Moscow, Idaho. It is the state's land-grant and primary research university,, and the lead university in the Idaho Space Grant Consortium. The University ...

for three seasons, from 1965 to 1967, compiling a record of 13–17. Following coaching, he was a motivational speaker and mental performance teacher.

Early years

Born in

Baton Rouge, Louisiana Baton Rouge ( ; ) is a city in and the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, it is the parish seat of East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana's most populous parish—the equivalent of count ...

, Musseau played football at LSU until interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. While serving as a

paratrooper A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during Wor ...

in the , he incurred a badly fractured leg that ended his football career, but led him to his future wife, a nurse he met while recuperating. He returned to LSU to finish his degree, changing from engineering to pre-dental to education.

Coaching

A high school head coach in Louisiana and California, Musseau was at Mater Dei High School for two seasons, then moved to the junior college level in 1957. He was the head coach at

Orange Coast College Orange Coast College (OCC) is a public community college in Costa Mesa in Orange County, California. It was founded in 1947, with its first classes opening in the fall of 1948. It provides Associate of Art and Associate of Science degrees, cer ...

for five years when named to the staff at

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and W ...

in 1962 by new head coach Dee Andros. Three years later, Andros left for Oregon State in 1965 with several assistants and offered him an assistant coaching position in Corvallis as well; Musseau was named head coach at Idaho within two days.

Idaho head coach

Musseau's 1965

Vandals The Vandals were a Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century. The Vandals migrated to the area be ...

, with fullback Thunder Ray McDonald, won the

Battle of the Palouse The Battle of the Palouse refers to an athletic rivalry in the northwest United States, between the Vandals of the University of Idaho and Cougars of Washington State University. The two land-grant universities are less than apart on the ru ...

over neighbor

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washingto ...

for the second straight year, this time on the road in Pullman, and finished at 5–5. Although Idaho was a charter member was the

Big Sky Conference The Big Sky Conference (BSC) is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I with football competing in the Football Championship Subdivision. Member institutions are located in the western United States in the eigh ...

in 1963, it had only played one conference game in football in the first two seasons, a previously scheduled game against

Idaho State , mottoeng = " The truth will set you free" , established = , former_names = Academy of Idaho(1901–1915)Idaho Technical Institute(1915–1927) University of Idaho—Southern Branch(1927–1947)Idaho Sta ...

. Idaho was a "university division" program and a longtime member of the defunct PCC, while the other four football-playing members of the Big Sky were "college division" ( Division II). Under Andros, Idaho viewed the six-team Big Sky as an answer to its basketball scheduling problems, as well as other sports, but had desired to continue as an independent at the top level in football. Directed by the conference to comply, Idaho played its first full conference schedule in football in 1965 and was 3–1 for the first two seasons, but posted a disappointing 2–2 in the third. A November defeat at Weber State and non-conference blowout losses at Washington State (14–52) and

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

(6–77) closed out the 1967 season at 4–6 overall. Although his 13–17 () record was better than each of the previous eight head coaches, pressure from alumni and boosters forced Musseau's resignation, despite a signed petition by the Vandal football players that he remain for a fourth year. His salary during his final year as head coach was $13,900. He stayed with the university in 1968, but outside the athletic department in a fund-raising role under the university president.

After coaching

Following coaching, he was a motivational speaker, author, and mental performance teacher. For several seasons in the mid-1990s, Northwestern head coach

Gary Barnett Gary Lee Barnett (born May 23, 1946) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Fort Lewis College (1982–1983), Northwestern University (1992–1998), and the University of Colorado at Boulder (1999–2005) ...

brought in Musseau as an inspirational mentor on adversity, including their

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strike ...

run to their first Rose Bowl in nearly a half century. At the 1995 pre-season camp, Musseau dressed up in costume as Moses to help emphasize his key points. Two of Musseau's sons had played

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, partl ...

for Barnett in the 1970s at

Air Academy High School Challenger Middle School Air Academy High School (AAHS) is a public high school in El Paso County, Colorado, United States that serves the northwestern end of Colorado Springs, Colorado, as well as the United States Air Force Academy. Air Academy ...

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

. After AAHS was beaten by its overmatched archrival, Barnett discovered that the rival team had been mentored by Musseau that week.

Personal

At the time of his hiring as head coach at Idaho in 1965, Musseau and his wife Yollanda were the parents of twelve children: ten sons and two daughters. Musseau had ongoing problems with his health; following his first season as head coach at Idaho, he had a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which m ...

in early 1966 at age 42, and had several triple-bypass surgeries, as well as

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level (hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

. In his later years, Musseau was a resident of

Marysville, Washington Marysville is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States, part of the Seattle metropolitan area. The city is located north of Seattle, adjacent to Everett on the north side of the Snohomish River delta. It is the second-largest ...

, north of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

. He died of heart failure in late 1997 at a nursing home in Everett.

Head coaching record

College

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Musseau, Steve 1923 births 1997 deaths American football guards Idaho Vandals football coaches LSU Tigers football players High school football coaches in California Junior college football coaches in the United States United States Army personnel of World War II Players of American football from Baton Rouge, Louisiana People from Marysville, Washington Paratroopers