Jack "Cactus Jack" Neumeier (19192004) was an American high school football coach from 1946 to 1978. He invented American football's modern

spread offense :''"Spread offense" may also refer to the four corners offense in basketball.'' The spread offense is an offensive scheme in gridiron football that typically places the quarterback in the shotgun formation, and "spreads" the offense horizontal ...

, also known as the one-back spread offense, and originated the phrase "basketball on grass" to describe this offense.

Career

Neumeier was inventor of American football's

(1969-70) as the head coach at Granada Hills High School from 1960 to 1978 and won the Los Angeles City championship in 1970. He was California football Coach of the Year in 1970. His most famous player was

John Elway John Albert Elway Jr. (born June 28, 1960) is an American former professional football quarterback who spent his entire 16-year career with the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). Following his playing career, he then spent 1 ...

, who played for Neumeier from 1976 to 1978.

Dennis Erickson Dennis Brian Erickson (born March 24, 1947) is an American football coach who most recently served as the head coach for the Salt Lake Stallions of the Alliance of American Football (AAF) league. He was also the head coach at the University of ...

, who first met Neumeier through

Jack Elway John Albert Elway Sr. (May 30, 1931 – April 15, 2001) was an American football player and coach. He was the head coach at California State University, Northridge from 1976 to 1978, at San Jose State University from 1979 to 1983, and at Stanford ...

, while serving as Jack Elway's offensive coordinator at

San Jose State San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the List of oldest schools in California, oldest public university on the West Coast of ...

, learned about the spread offense directly from Neumeier. Erickson,

Joe Tiller Joseph Henry Tiller (December 7, 1942 – September 30, 2017) was an American football offensive lineman and coach. He served as the head coach of the Calgary Stampeders as an interim head coach in 1976, University of Wyoming from 1991 to 1996, ...

and other coaches subsequently coached national championship teams and Heisman Trophy winners using Neumeier's offense, which is now utilized in some form by almost every football team at every level of play, NFL, college, high school and youth football. He continued to mentor other coaches utilizing variations of his spread offense until Neumeier's death in 2004.

References

2. One More Season: The Birth of Football's Spread Offense by Lorin Fife (c) 2020, provides historical details about Jack Neumeier's life and career, focusing on the history of his invention of the spread offense in 1970 while coaching at Granada Hills High School in Los Angeles, California. 1919 births 2004 deaths High school football coaches in California People from Van Nuys, Los Angeles Sports coaches from Los Angeles Coaches of American football from California {{Amfoot-coach-stub