Former player and coach Jim Shofner has died. He was 85.
Shofner died on Saturday, according to TCU, where he was a former star player as well as head coach.
After starring on both sides of the ball as a running back and defensive back at TCU in the mid-1950s, Shofner played six seasons with the Cleveland Browns (1958-63) and had 20 interceptions in 76 games (57 starts). He had a career-best eight interceptions in 1960.
He went into coaching after his playing career and was quarterbacks coach when John Brodie of the San Francisco 49ers (1970) and Brian Sipe (1980) of the Browns won NFL MVP honors. He also was quarterbacks coach for two of the Buffalo Bills’ four straight Super Bowl appearances in the early 1990s where he guided future Hall of Famer Jim Kelly.
Shofner didn’t fare so well as a head coach, going 2-31 at TCU from 1974-76, and 1-6 as the Browns’ interim coach in 1990. Shofner became Cleveland’s coach after Bud Carson was fired.
Shofner, who also starred in baseball at TCU, was inducted into the school’s athletic Hall of Fame in 1981.
