Jim Sochor (February 11, 1938 – November 23, 2015) 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 ...

player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

from 1970 to 1988 during which time compiling a record of 156–41–5 and won 18 consecutive conference championships, then a

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. Sochor also served as the

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches a ...

at UC Davis from 1989 to 1991. He was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

as a coach in 1999.

Early years and playing career

Sochor was born February 11, 1938, in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

. He grew up in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. Sochor played football as a

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 ...

at George Washington High School in San Francisco. He also played on the basketball team. He went on to play quarterback at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

from 1957 to 1959, leading the

San Francisco State Gators The San Francisco State Gators are the athletic teams that compete at San Francisco State University in San Francisco, California. The nickname applies to the college's intercollegiate NCAA Division II teams. The nickname was published in the stu ...

to three

Far Western Conference The Northern California Athletic Conference (NCAC) was an NCAA Division II college athletic association that sponsored American football that was founded in 1925. It disbanded in 1998 after the majority of its member schools were forced to drop fo ...

(FWC) championships.

Early coaching career

Sochor started his coaching career as an assistant at San Francisco State from 1960 to 1965. He then served as an assistant at the

from 1967 to 1969.

Head coach

Sochor became the head coach at UC Davis in 1970. Following his first year there, he had a streak of 18 consecutive conference championships, from 1971 to 1988 (15 outright, three shared). The only other college football program in NCAA history on any division level for this remarkable streak has been Mount Union College. His overall record between 1970 and 1988 was 156–41–5, a winning percentage of .785. In conference games under Sochor, the Aggies were 92–5. He had winning streaks of 41 and 38 in conference games. His Aggies were the final poll leaders at the end of the regular season in 1983 and 1985. He was named national coach of the year in NCAA Division II in 1983. He was the coach of future NFL quarterbacks Mike Moroski and Ken O'Brien and kicker

Rolf Benirschke Rolf Joachim Benirschke (born February 7, 1955) is an American former professional football player who was a placekicker in the National Football League (NFL). He played for the San Diego Chargers from 1977 until 1986. He is probably most kno ...

. He was also a mentor to several future head coaches including Dan Hawkins, Paul Hackett, Mike Bellotti, Chris Petersen, Gary Patterson, and Bob Biggs.

1982 Palm Bowl

Sochor led the 1982 Aggies to the Palm Bowl in

McAllen, Texas McAllen is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Hidalgo County. It is located at the southern tip of the state in the Rio Grande Valley, on the Mexican border. The city limits extend south to the Rio Grande, acros ...

for the NCAA Division II national football championship against the

Jim Wacker James Herbert Wacker (April 28, 1937 – August 26, 2003) was an American football coach and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Texas Lutheran University (1971–1975), North Dakota State University (1976–1 ...

-led Southwest Texas State, but lost 34–9. Aggie Quarterback Ken O'Brien had suffered leg and ankle injuries in the semifinal game two weeks before, and as a result reserve Scott Barry had to lead the offense.

Later life and career

Sochor served as the UC Davis director of athletics from 1989 to 1991. He served as the coach of the golf team for five years starting in 1992. Sochor later served as 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 ...

of the Scottish Claymores of

NFL Europe NFL Europe League (simply called NFL Europe and known in its final season as NFL Europa) was a professional American football league that functioned as the List of developmental and minor sports leagues, developmental minor league of the Nati ...

for three years. They won World Bowl '96, 32–27, over the Frankfurt Galaxy during his time there. In 1984 and 1988 he served as the assistant coach in the East–West Shrine Game. Sochor died of cancer on November 23, 2015.

Honors

* He was inducted into the Cal Aggie Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995 * He was inducted into the

in 1999. * He was awarded the Ronald L. Jensen Award for Lifetime Achievement by the Positive Coaching Alliance in 2008. * The field at Aggie Stadium is named Jim Sochor Field.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sochor, Jim 1938 births 2015 deaths American football quarterbacks San Francisco State Gators football coaches San Francisco State Gators football players Scottish Claymores coaches UC Davis Aggies athletic directors UC Davis Aggies football coaches College golf coaches in the United States College Football Hall of Fame inductees Players of American football from Oklahoma City Coaches of American football from California Players of American football from San Francisco