| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | September 1, 1929 Butte, Montana, U.S. |
| Died | February 8, 2013 (aged 83) Fresno, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Portland (1951) |
| Playing career | |
| 1947–1949 | Portland |
| Position(s) | End |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| 1950 | Portland Columbia HS (OR) (assistant) |
| 1951 | Butte Central Catholic HS (MT) (assistant) |
| 1952–1955 | Butte Central Catholic HS (MT) |
| 1956–1959 | Kalispell Flathead HS (MT) |
| 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 Sweeney (September 1, 1929 – February 8, 2013) was an American college football coach who was the head 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 at Fresno State are the most in the program's history. He was also an assistant coach in the National Football League (NFL). He played in college as an end for the Portland Pilots.
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.[1][2] As a youth in Butte, he was a top pitcher and outfielder in baseball, and graduated from Butte Central Catholic High School in 1947.[3]
Sweeney played college football as an end at the University of Portland in Oregon, and graduated in 1951.[4][5] 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.[6]
Following graduation, Sweeney 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, then at Flathead High School in Kalispell from 1956 to 1959.[7] Sweeney moved up to the college ranks in 1960 as an assistant coach at Montana State in Bozeman under Herb Agocs, and was promoted to head coach in 1963.[8] 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.[9] Sweeney's salary at MSU in 1967 was $15,000.[7]
At Montana State, Sweeney is credited with convincing Jan Stenerud, a Norwegian on a ski jumping scholarship (three-time Big Sky champion), to go out for the football team as a kicker.[10] Stenerud went on to become the only "pure" kicker inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.[4][11]
After his success in Bozeman, Sweeney moved up to the Pac-8 Conference at Washington State in Pullman,[7] where he started with a one-year contract at $20,000 in 1968.[12][13] He had only one winning season (1972) and compiled a 26–59–1 (.308) record in eight seasons.[14][15] His team's most noteworthy accomplishment was the defeat of Rose Bowl-bound Stanford in 1971 to garner him NCAA District 8 Coach of the Year honors.[16] One of his notable hires in Pullman was WSU alumnus Jack Elway, father of future hall of fame quarterback John Elway. After a disappointing conclusion to the 1975 season (winless in conference), Sweeney resigned at WSU a week after the season ended.[17][18][19]
Promptly hired at Fresno State,[20][21][22][23] Sweeney led the Bulldogs for two seasons before becoming a National Football League (NFL) assistant for two years. He spent the 1978 season with the Oakland Raiders in John Madden's final season,[24] and the 1979 season with the St. Louis Cardinals under Bud Wilkinson, who was fired before the season's end. Sweeney returned to Fresno State as head coach in December 1979 for 17 more seasons;[25] he compiled a 144–74–3 (.658) record and eight conference championships (PCAA/Big West and WAC) in 19 seasons.[26][27] Sweeney retired from coaching following the 1996 season with 201 wins in 32 seasons. He was most proud of the 1977 team (9–2), and credited them as the "stadium builders", because their success got the local community motivated to fund and construct Bulldog Stadium,[9] which opened in 1980.
Sweeney was the father of nine children: Jim, Peggy, Sheila, Carol, Mary Lou (Dion), Daniel, Colline, Patty (Negrete), and Kevin Sweeney, whom he coached at Fresno State.[1][28] His wife and mother of all his children, Lucille (Cile) Carollo Sweeney, was his high school sweetheart from Butte; she died at age 57 in 1988 from an intracranial hemorrhage.[29][30] He later married June Sweeney and they resided in Fresno. Two of his grandsons played Pac-10 football: Nate Fellner at Washington and Kyle Negrete at USC. Sweeney's grandson, Beau, played at California before transferring in 2011.
Sweeney died in Fresno in 2013 at age 83.[31] He and his wife had recently moved to a senior living home due to his failing health, which included a stay at St. Agnes Medical Center.
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | Coaches# | AP° | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Montana State Bobcats (Big Sky Conference) (1963–1967)[32] | |||||||||
| 1963 | Montana State | 6–3 | 2–1 | 2nd | |||||
| 1964 | Montana State | 7–4 | 3–0 | 1st | W Camellia | ||||
| 1965 | Montana State | 3–7 | 1–3 | T–4th | |||||
| 1966 | Montana State | 8–3 | 4–0 | 1st | L Camellia | ||||
| 1967 | Montana State | 7–3 | 4–0 | 1st | |||||
| Montana State: | 31–20 | 14–4 | |||||||
| Washington State Cougars (Pacific-8 Conference) (1968–1975) | |||||||||
| 1968 | Washington State | 3–6–1 | 1–3–1 | 7th | |||||
| 1969 | Washington State | 1–9 | 0–7 | 8th | |||||
| 1970 | Washington State | 1–10 | 0–7 | 8th | |||||
| 1971 | Washington State | 4–7 | 2–5 | 7th | |||||
| 1972 | Washington State | 7–4 | 4–3 | T–3rd | T–17 | 19 | |||
| 1973 | Washington State | 5–6 | 4–3 | 4th | |||||
| 1974 | Washington State | 2–9 | 1–6 | 7th | |||||
| 1975 | Washington State | 3–8 | 0–7 | 8th | |||||
| Washington State: | 26–59–1 | 12–41–1 | |||||||
| Fresno State Bulldogs (Pacific Coast Athletic Association) (1976–1977) | |||||||||
| 1976 | Fresno State | 6–5* | 3–1 | 2nd | |||||
| 1977 | Fresno State | 9–2 | 4–0 | 1st | |||||
| Fresno State Bulldogs (Pacific Coast Athletic Association / Big West Conference) (1980–1991) | |||||||||
| 1980 | Fresno State | 5–6 | 1–4 | T–4th | |||||
| 1981 | Fresno State | 5–6 | 2–3 | T–3rd | |||||
| 1982 | Fresno State | 11–1 | 6–0 | 1st | W California | ||||
| 1983 | Fresno State | 6–5 | 2–4 | 6th | |||||
| 1984 | Fresno State | 6–6 | 3–4 | T–4th | |||||
| 1985 | Fresno State | 11–0–1 | 7–0 | 1st | W California | 16 | |||
| 1986 | Fresno State | 9–2 | 6–1 | 2nd | |||||
| 1987 | Fresno State | 6–5 | 4–3 | T–2nd | |||||
| 1988 | Fresno State | 10–2 | 7–0 | 1st | W California | ||||
| 1989 | Fresno State | 11–1 | 7–0 | 1st | W California | ||||
| 1990 | Fresno State | 8–2–1 | 5–1–1 | T–2nd | |||||
| 1991 | Fresno State | 10–2 | 6–1 | 1st | L California | ||||
| Fresno State Bulldogs (Western Athletic Conference) (1992–1996) | |||||||||
| 1992 | Fresno State | 9–4 | 6–2 | T–1st | W Freedom | 22 | 24 | ||
| 1993 | Fresno State | 8–4 | 6–2 | T–1st | L Aloha | ||||
| 1994 | Fresno State | 5–7–1 | 3–4–1 | 7th | |||||
| 1995 | Fresno State | 5–7 | 2–6 | T–7th | |||||
| 1996 | Fresno State | 4–7 | 3–5 | T–5th (Pacific) | |||||
| Fresno State: | 144–74–3 | 83–41–2 | *Includes forfeit by Louisiana–Lafayette | ||||||
| Total: | 201–153–4 | ||||||||
| National championship Conference title Conference division title or championship game berth | |||||||||
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