GRANT TEAFF
As a 14-year-old boy growing up in West Texas, Grant fell in love with the game of football and decided that coaching was his life’s goal. He believed he would be a Head Football Coach in the Southwest Conference.
Teaff’s high school yearbook predicted that Grant would end up at the helm of the Texas Longhorns. As Teaff often says, “In the end, they only missed it by 90 miles.”
1960-1971
Grant Teaff (center) as head football coach at McMurry University in 1960.
In 1960, Teaff became the head coach at McMurry University, where he would spend six seasons before becoming an assistant coach at Texas Tech University 1966-68 and then the head coach at Angelo State University 1969-71.
1972
When he arrived, the Bears were considering dropping out of Division I football, after winning only seven games in a five-year span. Teaff persuaded the University to believe as well. In what would come to be known as the “Miracle on the Brazos,” Teaff led the Bears to their first Conference Championship in 50 years, inspired by an unforgettable come-from-behind victory over the Texas Longhorns.
1972-1992
1992 Baylor 21 Texas 20
Teaff’s last game in Waco
Coach Teaff would lead Baylor to 128 wins over 21 seasons. He earned Southwest Conference Coach of the Year honors six times and received National Coach of the Year accolades from the AFCA and Football Writers Association of America. Teaff’s teams won two Southwest Conference titles and appeared in eight bowl games.
1994-2016
After a legendary 37- year coaching career, Teaff was chosen to lead the American Football Coaches Association as Executive Director in 1994. Over the next 22 years, he transformed the Association into one of the most effective and powerful organizations in all of college sports.
Coach Teaff – with his wife, Donell, at his side – continues to make a difference in the lives of others. Theirs is a true legacy of influence.
