Bobby Ross Robert Joseph Ross ( born December 23 , 1936 ) is a former American football player and coach . He served as the head football coach at The Citadel ( 1973 – 1977 ) , the University of Maryland , College Park ( 1982 – 1986 ) , the Georgia Institute of Technology ( 1987 – 1991 ) , and the United States Military Academy ( 2004 – 2006 ) , compiling a career college football record of 103 – 101 – 2 . Ross was also the head coach of the National Football League ' s San Diego Chargers from 1992 to 1996 and the Detroit Lions from 1997 to 2000 , tallying a career NFL mark of 77 – 68 . He guided his 1990 Georgia Tech squad to a share of the national championship and coached the 1994 San Diego Chargers to an appearance in Super Bowl XXIX . Education and playing career . After graduating from Benedictine High School in 1955 , Ross enrolled at the Virginia Military Institute , where he started at quarterback and defensive back for two seasons and served as captain of the football team as a senior . Ross graduated from VMI in 1959 with a bachelor of arts degree in English and history . Coaching career . Early years . Following a tour of duty in the United States Army as a first lieutenant ( 1960 – 1962 ) , Ross found work coaching high school football . He coached at Colonial Heights High School , and at his own nearby alma mater of Benedictine , both located near Richmond , Virginia . He then moved on to coaching at the college level , starting with assistant coaching stints at William & Mary , Rice , and Maryland before accepting his first head coaching job in 1973 at The Citadel , located in Charleston , South Carolina . Ross was the 16th head football coach for The Citadel Bulldogs and held that position for five seasons , from 1973 until 1977 . His career coaching record at The Citadel was 24 wins , 31 losses , and 0 ties . As of the conclusion of the 2007 season , this ranks him seventh at The Citadel in total wins and 16th at The Citadel in winning percentage . Ross then spent four years as an assistant coach with the Kansas City Chiefs ( 1978 – 1981 ) before returning to the collegiate ranks as head coach at Maryland . He won three consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference ( ACC ) Championships from 1983 to 1985 . After four years , Ross left Maryland to coach the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football team . As head coach of Georgia Tech in 1990 , he led the Jackets to a 11 – 0 – 1 record and the ACC championship — the school ' s first conference title since 1952 , while they were still in the Southeastern Conference . They also won a share of the national championship by finishing first in the final Coaches ' Poll . Ross won the Paul " Bear " Bryant Award and the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award . San Diego Chargers . He then left to become head coach of the San Diego Chargers , where the highlight of his tenure would be an AFC Championship and San Diego ' s first trip to the Super Bowl after the 1994 season . Ross ' first season in San Diego ( 1992 ) saw the Chargers drop the first four regular season games , but they recovered to win 11 of their final 12 games to win the AFC West , their first division title since 1981 . In his five seasons with the Chargers , they won two division titles and made the playoffs three times . His regular season coaching record with the Chargers was 47 – 33 , and 3 – 3 in the playoffs . Detroit Lions . Following the 1996 season , Ross left the Chargers to take a more lucrative , and perhaps more rewarding position as the Head Coach of the Detroit Lions , where he would have control of all player personnel decisions and be able to hire his own staff . He held the position until the middle of the 2000 season . Detroit had long been considered underachievers under Wayne Fontes , and Ross was brought in to provide the team a more structured atmosphere . It was a challenging endeavor , as Detroit had developed somewhat of a " country club " atmosphere under Fontes ' leadership , and veteran players on the roster ultimately came to resent Ross for running tougher practices , instilling weight requirements , curfews , etc . Ross sought to change the identity of the Detroit Lions , having them become a more traditional , physical , football team - - less co - dependent on Barry Sanders for success . He structured his drafts accordingly , drafting highly regarded college offensive linemen such as Stockar McDougall and Aaron Gibson , who both never panned out professionally . Ultimately , Ross was unable to change the culture in Detroit . He became frustrated at what he perceived to be the team ' s lack of effort , accusing them of just playing for their paychecks . In November 2000 , following a home loss to the Miami Dolphins , having had enough of what he called his team ' s unwillingness to " fight back , " he resigned in mid - season . Although his frustration with the Lions organization was evident , Ross later claimed that his primary reason for leaving when he did was due to blood clots in his legs . . Until 2011 , Bobby Ross was the last Head Coach of a Detroit playoff team ( 1999 ) . It is also noteworthy to mention that the 1999 Detroit team achieved the playoffs despite the unexpected retirement of Barry Sanders prior to training camp . Army Black Knights . As head coach at Army , Ross reportedly received $ 600 , 000 in annual salary , which was seen as evidence of Army ' s eagerness to right the program after the team ' s 0 – 13 record in 2003 . During his three year term as Army head coach , Ross improved their record to 9 – 25 , up from 4 – 32 over the three years before Ross ' s arrival . Ross retired from coaching in 2007 . Personal life . Ross and his wife , Alice , have three sons , two daughters , and 17 grandchildren . Their sons Chris and Kevin graduated from the United States Air Force Academy and Naval Academy , in 1984 and 1988 , respectively . Kevin served for a time as Army ' s offensive coordinator and running backs coach under his father , but was not kept in that post under Ross ' s replacement , Stan Brock . Honors . In 1997 , Ross was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame .