Clint Dolezel (born March 25, 1970) is an American

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

in the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...

(AFL). He currently serves as the head football coach at

East Texas A&M University East Texas A&M University (ETAMU; formerly Texas A&M University–Commerce) is a public university in Commerce, Texas, United States. With an enrollment of over 12,000 students as of fall 2017, the university is the third-largest institution in ...

. Dolezel played as a

in the AFL before becoming the head coach of the

Philadelphia Soul Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia (TSOP), is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush string and horn arrangements. The ...

from 2013 until the league folded in 2019. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the East Texas State Lions, and was in the AFL for 13 seasons from 1995 to 2008. Dolezel first became a head coach in 2010 with the San Angelo Stampede Express of the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional indoor American football league in the United States. The league comprises 14 teams, divided equally between the Eastern Conference (EC) and Western Conference ...

(IFL). After just a single season, Dolezel returned to the AFL as the head coach of the Dallas Vigilantes. After the Vigilantes franchise suspended operations, Dolezel joined the Philadelphia Soul as their offensive coordinator under head coach

Doug Plank Douglas Walter Plank (born March 4, 1953) is an American former professional football player and coach. He played as a safety for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) and also played one year in the United States Football Leag ...

. Plank left the Soul following the 2012 season, and the team promoted Dolezel to head coach. He was named the inaugural head coach of the

Frisco Fighters The Frisco Fighters are an inactive professional Indoor American football, indoor football team based in Frisco, Texas. A member of the Indoor Football League, the Fighters play their home games at the Comerica Center. The team was set to partic ...

in the IFL before the 2020 season. On December 7, 2022, it was announced that Dolezel would return to his alma mater,

, to serve as the school's head football coach. As an AFL player, he was originally signed by the Milwaukee Mustangs. In his career, he also played for the Texas Terror / Houston ThunderBears,

Grand Rapids Rampage The Grand Rapids Rampage was an arena football team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The team began play in 1998 in the Arena Football League as an expansion team. They were last coached by Steve Thonn. Their home arena was the Van Andel Arena ...

, Las Vegas Gladiators, and the

Dallas Desperados The Dallas Desperados were a professional arena football team based in Dallas, Texas. They played in the Eastern Division of the Arena Football League from to . The franchise began as an expansion team and posted a winning record in all but o ...

. Dolezel was also a

scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement ** Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom ** Scouts BSA, sect ...

for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

in 2007.

Early life

Born in

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 popul ...

, to Johnnie and Judy Dolezel, Clint attended Robinson High School in Robinson, Texas, where he was a standout quarterback and golfer.

College career

After graduating from Robinson, Dolezel attended Cisco College and was a student and a

letterman Letterman may refer to: * Letterman (sports), a classification of high school or college athlete in the United States People * David Letterman (born 1947), American television talk show host ** ''Late Night with David Letterman'', talk show that ...

. In football, he was a second-team All-Conference selection as a sophomore. After graduating from Cisco, he committed to the

University of Southern Mississippi The University of Southern Mississippi (Southern Miss or USM) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award bac ...

. However, a coaching change landed Dolezel at

East Texas State University East Texas A&M University (ETAMU; formerly Texas A&M University–Commerce) is a public university in Commerce, Texas, United States. With an enrollment of over 12,000 students as of fall 2017, the university is the third-largest institution in ...

to play for coach Eddie Vowell. Dolezel was a letterman in football,

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

, and track and field at East Texas State, becoming one of just three documented three-sport athletes in the history of the university. He quarterbacked the Lions in 1992 and 1993 and ended his career as a Lion throwing for 3,152 yards and 23 touchdowns over 2 seasons. The Lions finished 8–2 during his junior year and finished second in the Lone Star Conference.

Professional career

After establishing himself as one of the best young quarterbacks in the AFL, Dolezel signed with the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

in 2000. Dolezel, along with

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

Terrill Shaw, helped the

win the 2001

ArenaBowl The ArenaBowl was the championship game of the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally hosted at Pittsburgh's Civic Arena based on home attendance during the inaugural 1987 season, save four years (2005–2008) the game was hosted by the team w ...

. Dolezel and Shaw became teammates again playing for the Dallas Desperados in 2006. In September 2003, the Rampage traded Dolezel to the Las Vegas Gladiators for Sedrick Robinson, Paul LaQuerre and Hardy Mitchell. On March 12, 2006, Dolezel threw his 700th career touchdown, becoming just the third quarterback in AFL history to do so. The Desperados won that game versus the

Tampa Bay Storm The Tampa Bay Storm were a professional arena football team based in Tampa, Florida, US. It played in the Arena Football League (AFL). Originally the team was located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and operated as the Pittsburgh Gladiators. The ...

64–35. On April 16, 2007, in a 51–41 home win against the

, Dolezel became the first professional quarterback to throw 800 touchdown passes. In

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

, Dolezel became the first quarterback in league history to lead his team to 15 wins in a season. Despite the 15–1 record, Dallas lost to the 7–9

Columbus Destroyers The Columbus Destroyers were an Arena Football League (AFL) team based in Columbus, Ohio, with home games in Nationwide Arena. The team was founded in as the Buffalo Destroyers, based in Buffalo, New York, and relocated to Columbus in . They fo ...

in the first round of the playoffs. In a

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

game versus the

, Dolezel became the first quarterback in league history to throw for 900 touchdown passes in a career.

Statistics

''Stats from ArenaFan'':

Coaching career

Dolezel had said that he would like to be a coach after his career is over. It was announced that on January 19, Dolezel would become the offensive coordinator for the Florida Firecats' 2009 season (due to the Arena Football League suspending operations for 2009). He was the head coach of the San Angelo Stampede Express of the

in 2010. Dolezel was announced as the head coach for the Dallas Vigilantes for the 2011 season. The team did not play in 2012 for unknown reasons. On August 21, 2012, Dolezel was promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach of the

. On September 16, 2014, Dolezel re-signed with the Soul for two more seasons. In June 2016, Dolezel was announced as the first head coach of the China Arena Football League's Beijing Lions. He was named an All-Pro North Division All-Star as a head coach. On November 6, 2016, the Lions won the first China Bowl and finished the season undefeated. On August 25, 2016, Dolezel was named the 2016 Marcum-Moss Head Coach of the Year. A day later, he won his first ArenaBowl championship as a coach when the Soul defeated the

Arizona Rattlers The Arizona Rattlers are a professional indoor American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area that competes in the Indoor Football League (IFL). The Rattlers were founded in 1992 as an expansion team in the Arena Football League ...

, 56–42, in ArenaBowl XXIX in

Glendale, Arizona Glendale () is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. Located about nine miles northwest of the state capital Phoenix, Glendale is known for State Farm Stadium, which is the home of the Arizona Cardinals football team. The city al ...

. On August 26, 2017, the Soul beat the

in ArenaBowl XXX by a score of 44–40. In 2019, the AFL folded and Dolezel was hired as the inaugural head coach of the

in the

before the 2020 season. However, the 2020 season was cancelled due to the onset of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He returned to Frisco for the 2021 season, leading the team to a 10–3 record and made it to the league semifinal. Near the end 2021 season, Dolezel was signed to a multi-year extension, but ultimately chose to leave the team to pursue other opportunities. Dolezel served as a quarterback coach consultant for

Zachary Levi Zachary Levi Pugh ( ; born September 29, 1980) is an American actor. He starred as Chuck Bartowski in the action comedy series ''Chuck (TV series), Chuck'' (2007–2012), and as Captain Marvel (DC Comics), the titular character in the superher ...

in preparation for the 2021 film, American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story. Levi starred as

Kurt Warner Kurtis Eugene Warner (born June 22, 1971) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for 12 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), primarily with the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals. His career, whi ...

, the Super Bowl champion and Hall of Fame NFL quarterback, in the film. Dolezel assisted in training Levi with mechanics, physical training and throwing. Dolezel played against Warner when the duo played in the

. Dolezel was named the 21st head coach in the history of the football program at East Texas A&M University, his alma mater, on December 7, 2022. He became just the third alum to take the reins of the Lion football program, and the first since 1930. In his first year, the Lions went 1–9.

Head coaching record

Arena football

College

Notes and references

External links

East Texas A&M profile

Clint Dolezel on ArenaFan.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dolezel, Clint 1970 births Living people American football quarterbacks China Arena Football League coaches Cisco Wranglers football players Dallas Cowboys scouts Dallas Desperados players Dallas Vigilantes coaches Grand Rapids Rampage players Florida Firecats coaches Las Vegas Gladiators players Houston ThunderBears players Milwaukee Mustangs (1994–2001) players Philadelphia Soul coaches East Texas A&M Lions football coaches East Texas A&M Lions football players Texas Terror players Indoor Football League coaches Players of American football from Waco, Texas Coaches of American football from Texas American expatriate sportspeople in China