Homer C. Rice (born February 20, 1927) is a former American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator.[1] As Director of Athletics at Georgia Tech, Rice successfully developed and implemented the Total Person Program which is now the model for NCAA Life Skills Program that is in place at universities throughout the nation.
Rice attended Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, where he lettered in both football and baseball. He was a Collier's All-American in football in 1948 and made a lasting impact on the Centre football program, as the team hands out the Homer Rice Award to its special team's most valuable player each season. He was named to the Centre Athletics Hall of Fame in 1992.[2] From 1951 to 1961 Rice coached high school football in Tennessee and Kentucky, compiling a record of 101–9–7.[3] In 1962, Charlie Bradshaw hired Rice to be his offensive coordinator at the University of Kentucky. He coached the offense at Kentucky for four years, leading the SEC in offense and winning the national passing title. During the 1966 season, he served as offensive coordinator for the University of Oklahoma under head coach Jim Mackenzie. From 1967 to 1968, he served as the head football coach at the University of Cincinnati, where he compiled an 8–10–1 record. After Rice accepted the head coaching position at the University of Cincinnati, Oklahoma's coach Mackenzie died of a massive heart attack. Upon Mackenzie's death, Oklahoma's athletic director and the president called Rice to request that he return to replace Mackenzie as head coach at Oklahoma. Rice had already hired his staff at Cincinnati and turned down the Oklahoma job to stay committed to his staff at Cincinnati.[4]
His longest tenure as an athletic director though came at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where he served from 1980 to 1997, and was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa. He took a $62,000 a year pay cut to leave the Cincinnati Bengals, despite stiff opposition from Paul Brown who strongly favored Coach Rice staying with the Bengals, in pursuit of fulfilling his life's mission of building an athletic program with the student-athlete Total Person Program as a cornerstone.[4]
Athletic success during Rice's tenure included a 1990 National Championship in football, 1990 Men's Basketball NCAA Final Four, nine consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament in basketball, three ACC Tournament Championships in basketball, 18 players selected in the NBA draft, 1994 College Baseball World Series runner-up, 13 consecutive NCAA appearances in baseball, six first-round selections in Major League Baseball draft, 1994 NCAA runner-up in golf, two golfers named Player of Year in the 1990s, three Olympic gold medalists in track and three Olympians in baseball, four top ten finishes in Track and 14 ACC team championships including football (1), baseball (4), basketball (3), golf (5) and volleyball (1).[6]
^"Homer Rice Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
August 04, 2023
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Homer C Rice born February 20 1927 is a former American football player coach and college athletics administrator 1 As Director of Athletics at Georgia Tech Rice successfully developed and implemented the Total Person Program which is now the model for NCAA Life Skills Program that is in place at universities throughout the nation Homer RiceBiographical detailsBorn 1927 02 20 February 20 1927 age 96 Bellevue Kentucky U S Coaching career HC unless noted 1951Wartburg Central HS TN 1952 1953Spring City HS TN 1954 1961Ft Thomas Highlands HS KY 1962 1965Kentucky assistant 1966Oklahoma backs 1967 1968Cincinnati1976 1977Rice1978 1979Cincinnati BengalsAdministrative career AD unless noted 1969 1975North Carolina1976 1977Rice1980 1997Georgia TechHead coaching recordOverall12 28 1 college 8 19 NFL 101 9 7 high school Contents 1 Career 1 1 Early career 1 2 Georgia Tech 2 Head coaching record 2 1 College 2 2 NFL 3 Bibliography 4 ReferencesCareer EditEarly career Edit Rice attended Centre College in Danville Kentucky where he lettered in both football and baseball He was a Collier s All American in football in 1948 and made a lasting impact on the Centre football program as the team hands out the Homer Rice Award to its special team s most valuable player each season He was named to the Centre Athletics Hall of Fame in 1992 2 From 1951 to 1961 Rice coached high school football in Tennessee and Kentucky compiling a record of 101 9 7 3 In 1962 Charlie Bradshaw hired Rice to be his offensive coordinator at the University of Kentucky He coached the offense at Kentucky for four years leading the SEC in offense and winning the national passing title During the 1966 season he served as offensive coordinator for the University of Oklahoma under head coach Jim Mackenzie From 1967 to 1968 he served as the head football coach at the University of Cincinnati where he compiled an 8 10 1 record After Rice accepted the head coaching position at the University of Cincinnati Oklahoma s coach Mackenzie died of a massive heart attack Upon Mackenzie s death Oklahoma s athletic director and the president called Rice to request that he return to replace Mackenzie as head coach at Oklahoma Rice had already hired his staff at Cincinnati and turned down the Oklahoma job to stay committed to his staff at Cincinnati 4 From 1969 to 1975 he served as the athletic director at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and from 1976 to 1977 he served as both the athletic director and the head coach at Rice University As Rice s head coach he compiled a 4 18 record He was the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League NFL from 1978 to 1979 The air option offense was pioneered by Rice 5 Plaque at Georgia Tech honoring Homer RiceGeorgia Tech Edit His longest tenure as an athletic director though came at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he served from 1980 to 1997 and was inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa He took a 62 000 a year pay cut to leave the Cincinnati Bengals despite stiff opposition from Paul Brown who strongly favored Coach Rice staying with the Bengals in pursuit of fulfilling his life s mission of building an athletic program with the student athlete Total Person Program as a cornerstone 4 Athletic success during Rice s tenure included a 1990 National Championship in football 1990 Men s Basketball NCAA Final Four nine consecutive appearances in the NCAA Tournament in basketball three ACC Tournament Championships in basketball 18 players selected in the NBA draft 1994 College Baseball World Series runner up 13 consecutive NCAA appearances in baseball six first round selections in Major League Baseball draft 1994 NCAA runner up in golf two golfers named Player of Year in the 1990s three Olympic gold medalists in track and three Olympians in baseball four top ten finishes in Track and 14 ACC team championships including football 1 baseball 4 basketball 3 golf 5 and volleyball 1 6 Head coaching record EditCollege Edit Year Team Overall Conference StandingCincinnati Bearcats Missouri Valley Conference 1967 1968 1967 Cincinnati 3 6 2 2 3rd1968 Cincinnati 5 4 1 2 2 3rdCincinnati 8 10 1 4 4Rice Owls Southwest Conference 1976 1977 1976 Rice 3 8 2 6 T 7th1977 Rice 1 10 0 8 9thRice 4 18 2 14Total 12 28 1NFL Edit Team Year Regular Season Post SeasonWon Lost Ties Win Finish Won Lost Win ResultCIN 1978 4 7 0 364 4th in AFC Central CIN 1979 4 12 0 250 4th in AFC Central CIN Total 8 19 0 296 Total 7 8 19 0 296 Bibliography EditRice Homer 1985 Winning football with the air option passing game West Nyack N Y Parker Pub Co ISBN 9780139610387 References Edit Homer Rice Record Statistics and Category Ranks Pro Football Reference com 1992 Homer Rice 1951 alumni centre edu Retrieved July 18 2022 Homer Rice New Head Grid Coach For Cincinnati Spartanburg Herald Journal Spartanburg South Carolina Associated Press December 25 1966 Retrieved November 3 2013 via Google News a b Homer Rice 2000 Lessons for Leaders Building a Winning Team From the Ground Up Longstreet Press Ewing Craig January 1 1989 The Option Multiple offense still a winner The Orlando Sentinel Retrieved March 11 2021 via Newspapers com Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Georgia Tech Athletics Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets Homer Rice Record Statistics and Category Ranks Pro Football Reference com Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Homer Rice amp oldid 1146641064, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
