Jim Colletto (born October 4, 1944) is a former

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 ...

player and coach. He attended Monterey High School (1958–1962) where he was an all conference baseball and football player and starter on the varsity basketball team. At

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

Colletto was all conference in baseball and football; where he led the team in rushing as a sophomore and as a senior defensive end was captain of the UCLA team that beat Michigan State in the

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

Rose Bowl. He served as the head football coach at California State University, Fullerton from 1975 to 1979 and at

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

from 1991 to 1996, compiling a career

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 ...

record of 38–80–4. Colletto was the

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

for the

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

, replacing

Mike Martz Michael Martz (born May 13, 1951) is an American American football, football coach. Best known for his coaching tenure with the History of the St. Louis Rams, St. Louis Rams of the National Football League (NFL), he served as the offensive coor ...

, who was fired on January 2, 2008. He was hired as the Lions' offensive line coach on January 29, 2007, after spending a year as the

offensive line coach under Karl Dorrell. Prior to that he was offensive line coach for the Baltimore Ravens from 1999 thought 2005. Colletto was previously the offensive coordinator at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac (known simply as Notre Dame; ; ND) is a Private university, private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1842 by members of the Congregation of Holy Cross, a Cathol ...

for the 1997 and 1998 seasons and was the head coach at

from 1991 to 1996. During his six seasons at Purdue, Colletto's teams compiled a 21–42–3 record. Colletto was a member of the 2000 Baltimore Ravens

Super Bowl XXXV Super Bowl XXXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2000 Baltimore Ravens season, Baltimore Ravens and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 2000 New York Giants season, New York Giant ...

championship team.

Purdue

Colletto was named

's head coach in December 1990, accepting the position while he was serving as the offensive coordinator for Ohio State. Colletto came to Purdue with the goal of recruiting kids from the

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

area, and keeping Purdue's quarterback tradition trending onward. During his introduction press conference, he stated that at the practice field, he planned to install a small cemetery in which he would place a tombstone for every school Purdue upset or beat on the road. Colletto also provided up change on offense, as he brought his I formation with him from Ohio State. During his first season as head coach, the Boilermakers improved winning two more games than they had the year before, and freshman tailback Corey Rogers was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year. In 1992, Colletto lost Rogers to academic ineligibility, and was forced to use a new running back. The Rogers suspension opened the door for what would become Purdue's all-time leading rusher, Mike Alstott. In 1993, Colletto was in some hot water when former player, Ryan Harmon sued Purdue, claiming that Colletto had physically and mentally abused him. In 1994, the Boilermakers got out to a 4–1–1 start, and were starting to gain national attention. With Rogers and Alstott leading the way out of the Purdue backfield, Purdue racked up 1,206 and 17 rushing touchdowns in 6 games. However Purdue stumbled down the stretch, finishing the season 0–4–1. (1-3-1 due to Michigan state forfeiting all their 1994 games) Colletto resigned in November 1996. Colletto was hired in December as Notre Dame's

in December 1996. Colletto was subsequently defeated his first year as OC at Notre Dame at the hands of the Purdue Boilermakers.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colletto, Jim 1944 births Living people Baltimore Ravens coaches Arizona State Sun Devils football coaches Brown Bears football coaches Cal State Fullerton Titans football coaches Detroit Lions coaches NFL offensive coordinators Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches Pacific Tigers football coaches Purdue Boilermakers football coaches UCLA Bruins baseball players UCLA Bruins football coaches UCLA Bruins football players Xavier Musketeers football coaches Monterey High School (Monterey, California) alumni Players of American football from Monterey County, California