Photo and story courtesy of Yale Sports Publicity
NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Walter Camp, the "Father of American football" shaped a new game into what we know today as football. Carmen Louis Cozza, the father figure to more than 2,000 Yale student-athletes from four different decades, molded young men into future leaders while serving as the head football coach at Yale for an amazing 32 seasons.
Cozza, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame, passed away this morning at the age of 87 at the Smilow Cancer Center in New Haven.
When Cozza took over the Yale program, Vince Lombardi was leading the Green Bay Packers to an NFL Championship and Lamar Hunt had not come up with the name "Super Bowl" for the championship of professional football. Future NFL star Calvin Hill '69 was a freshman on Yale's Old Campus.
From 1965 to 1996 he compiled a 179-119-5 (.599) record in 303 games with class and dignity while earning the ever-lasting endearment of his players and the utmost respect from his opponents.
He is still the winningest coach in Ivy League history, and that's why the hall of fame came calling in 2004. Cozza led his teams to 10 Ivy League Championships and 19 winning seasons. Mixed in with all those wins was a famous, 16-game win streak between 1967 and 1968 that initially made his name synonymous with Yale Football.
Yale's legendary mentor coached in numerous all-star games. An assistant coach for the 1970 East-West Shrine Game in Palo Alto, Calif., he served as a head coach in the 1972 contest. Cozza also served as defensive coordinator in the 1981 Blue-Gray Classic in Mobile, Ala. When the 1989 Ivy League All-Stars went to Japan for the first Epson Ivy Bowl, Cozza was the head coach of the Ancient Eight in its victory over the Japanese College All-Stars.
Cozza was born June 10, 1930, in Parma, Ohio. In high school, he was a tremendous athlete, earning 11 varsity letters in football, basketball, baseball, and track. He attended college at Miami (OH), playing football under the tutelage of Ara Parseghian and Woody Hayes. He saw triple duty as a Miami quarterback, running back and defensive back.
On the baseball diamond, he pitched and played the outfield, posting a 1.50 earned run average and a career batting average of .388. He briefly spent time in the minor league organizations of the Cleveland Indians and the Chicago White Sox before taking a coaching position at Gilmour Academy in Ohio.
In 1956, he was appointed head coach of the freshman squad at Miami, and in 1961, he joined the varsity staff. Two years later, he accepted a job as an assistant coach at Yale under head coach John Pont. When Pont resigned two years later in 1965, Cozza was named head coach. At the time of the announcement, Yale Athletics Director Delaney Kiphuth said, "the future of Yale football is in very capable hands." He could not have been more accurate.
A recipient of a master's degree in education from Miami in 1959, Cozza had administrative experience as well. In 1976, he was appointed Yale Athletics Director with the expectation that he would leave coaching after a few years of performing in both capacities. Instead, Cozza decided to give up the director's position in 1977 and remain the football coach.
Since he retired from coaching in 1996, Cozza served as Special Assistant to the Director of Athletics at Yale while also handling the radio color commentary (1998-2016) for Yale football. Throughout his 54-year tenure at the University, Cozza was a guiding, caring and thoughtful mentor to hundreds of athletics department employees.
Cozza, one of the fabled "Cradle of Coaches" from Miami University, earned a George H.W. Bush Lifetime of Leadership Award from Yale in 2009 and was the Walter Camp Football Foundation's Distinguished American recipient in 1992. Cozza was also instrumental in raising money for the renovation of Yale Bowl.
He is survived by his devoted wife and partner of 65 years, Jean Annable Cozza. She was his greatest fan and the love of his life. He is also survived by daughters Kristen (Dave) Powell (Orange, Conn.), Kathryn (Anthony) Tutino (Madison, Conn.) and Karen (John) Pollard (Middlebury, Conn.) and grandchildren Michael and Mark Powell, Elizabeth Tutino and Eric and Christopher Pollard. Carm Cozza was pre-deceased by four sisters, Ange, Pat, Theresa and Josephine (Parma, Ohio) and his parents, James and Carbita Cozza.
The services will be private, and a memorial celebration of his life is being planned for the near future.