Carmen Cozza, who coached Yale's football team for 32 years and holds the distinction of being the University's "winningest" coach, has been elected to the College Football Hall of Fame.

Cozza is among 13 players and one other former coach, Earle Bruce of Ohio State, who will be inducted in the Hall of Fame in South Bend, Indiana, in December.

The 71-year-old Cozza, who was Yale's 31st football coach, achieved legendary status during a career in which he led the Bulldogs to 10 Ivy League championships and 19 winning seasons. He became Yale's head coach in 1965 and retired in 1996 with a career record of 179-119-5.

A native of Parma, Ohio, Cozza lettered in football and baseball at Miami University of Ohio, where he earned his bachelor's and master's degrees. He played professional baseball with the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox. After coaching at Gilmour Academy and Collinwood High School in Ohio, he became head freshman football coach at Miami University in 1956. He was promoted to the varsity football staff in 1961. In 1963, he became a backfield coach at Yale, and was named head coach of the Bulldogs two years later.

During his time at Yale, Cozza coached such football stars as quarterback Brian Dowling and rusher Calvin Hill (both were in his first team as coach). His players include six Bushnell Cup (Ivy League Most Valuable Player) recipients, 118 First-Team All-Ivy Selections and 35 All-Americans, as well as five Rhodes Scholars, among other accomplishments. In fact, Cozza has been credited for his coaching emphasis not only on football, but on his players' academics and long-term futures.

In an Associated Press article on Cozza's Hall of Fame election, former player Calvin Hill commented, "There was no question that Carm understood that we were scholar athletes. The priority was to make sure we always took advantage to graduate with a Yale degree. The other thing was his sense of equity, of fairness."

"Obviously, he was a great coach and had a tremendous record," the Bulldogs' current coach, Jack Siedlecki, said in a New Haven Register article about Cozza's election. "But when you talk to the former players and when you talk to people about him, they don't talk an awful lot about the wins and losses. They talk about the person. That's the image of the head coach of Yale football for 32 years before I got here."

Cozza's numerous other accolades include a Gold Key from the Connecticut Sports Writers Alliance, a Gold Medal and a Man of the Year Award from the Walter Camp Football Foundation, and a Veritas Award from Providence College for his community work. He was named UPI New England Coach of the Year four times and Eastern Coach of the Year, and earned national Coach of the Week recognition in 1981 when the Elis upset Navy in the Yale Bowl.

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Commencement Information

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