Jim Sweeney (coach)
| Sport(s) | Football |
|---|---|
| Biographical details | |
| Born |
September 1, 1929 Butte, Montana |
| Died | February 8, 2013 (aged 83) Fresno, California |
| Alma mater | University of Portland, 1951 |
| Playing career | |
| 1947–1949 | Portland |
| Position(s) | End |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1950 | Portland (OR) Columbia HS (assistant) |
| 1951 | Butte (MT) Central Catholic HS (assistant) |
| 1952–1955 | Butte (MT) Central Catholic HS |
| 1956–1959 | Kalispell (MT) Flathead HS |
| 1960–1962 | Montana State (assistant) |
| 1963–1967 | Montana State |
| 1968–1975 | Washington State |
| 1976–1977 | Fresno State |
| 1978 | Oakland Raiders (assistant) |
| 1979 | St. Louis Cardinals (assistant) |
| 1980–1996 | Fresno State |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 201–153–4 (college) |
| Bowls | 6–3 |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Championships | |
| 3 Big Sky (1964, 1966–1967) 6 PCAA/Big West (1977, 1982, 1985, 1988–1989, 1991) 2 WAC (1992–1993) |
|
James Joseph "Jim" Sweeney (September 1, 1929 – February 8, 2013) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Montana State University (1963–1967), Washington State University (1968–1975), and California State University, Fresno (1976–1977, 1980–1996), compiling a career college football record of 201–153–4 (.567). Sweeney's 144 wins as the head coach at Fresno State are the most in the history of the program.
Born in Butte, Montana, Sweeney was the youngest of seven children of Will and Kate Sweeney; his father was a hard-rock miner who emigrated from Ireland. As a youth in Butte, he was a top pitcher and outfielder in baseball, and graduated from Butte Central Catholic High School in 1947.
Sweeney played college football as an end at the University of Portland in Oregon, and graduated in 1951. After his junior year, the school dropped football as an intercollegiate sport, and Sweeney spent his senior season of 1950 as a high school coach at Columbia High School in Portland.
Following graduation he returned to Montana and was a high school assistant at his alma mater, Butte Central, for a season, He was its head coach from 1952 to 1955, and at Flathead High School in Kalispell from 1956 to 1959. Sweeney moved up to the college ranks in 1960 as an assistant coach at Montana State in Bozeman, and was promoted to head coach in 1963. He compiled a 31–20 (.608) record and three Big Sky conference championships in his five seasons with the Bobcats, where one of his starting quarterbacks was Dennis Erickson. At Montana State, Sweeney is credited with convincing Jan Stenerud, a Norwegian on a skiing scholarship, to go out for the football team as a kicker. Stenerud went on to become the only "pure" kicker inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. His salary at MSU in 1967 was US$15,000.
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