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 and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

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, United States. Established in 1889 and opened three years later, it was the state's sole university for 71 years, until 1963. The un ...

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 the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It had a population of 227,470 at the 2020 United States census, making it List of municipalities in Louisiana, Louisiana's second-m ...

, Musseau played football at

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

until interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. While serving as a

paratrooper A paratrooper or military parachutist is a soldier trained to conduct military operations by parachuting directly into an area of operations, usually as part of a large airborne forces unit. Traditionally paratroopers fight only as light infa ...

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 college, public community college in Costa Mesa, California, 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 Ar ...

for five years when named to the staff at

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

in 1962 by new head coach

Dee Andros Demosthenes Konstandies Andrecopoulos (October 17, 1924 – October 22, 2003) was an American college football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He was the head coach at the Idaho Vandals football, University of Idaho from 1962 to 1964 ...

. Three years later, Andros left for

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Corvallis, Oregon, United States. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate degree programs and a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees through all 11 of the universit ...

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 were first reported in the written records as inhabitants of what is now Poland, during the period of the Roman Empire. Much later, in the fifth century, a group of Vandals led by kings established Vand ...

, with fullback Thunder

Ray McDonald Raymondo Antoine McDonald (born September 2, 1984) is an American former professional football player who was a defensive end in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the San Francisco 49ers in the third round of the 2007 NFL ...

, 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 ...

over neighbor

Washington State Washington, officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington State to distinguish it from the national capital, both named after George Washington ...

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 is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference, affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's NCAA Division I, Division I with college football, football competing in the Football Cha ...

in 1963, it had only played one conference game in football in the first two seasons, a previously scheduled game against Idaho State. 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 the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

(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 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

run to their first Rose Bowl in nearly a half century. At the 1995 pre-season camp, Musseau dressed up in costume as

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

to help emphasize his key points. Two of Musseau's sons had played

high school football High school football, also known as prep football, is gridiron football played by High school (North America), high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular high school sports, interscholastic sports in both c ...

for Barnett in the 1970s at

Air Academy High 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 is a part of Academy Sc ...

Colorado Springs Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010. Colorado Springs is the second-most populous c ...

. 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 Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

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

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

. 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 ci ...

, north of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

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

Head coaching record

College

Junior college

References

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