Chuck Fairbanks Chuck Fairbanks ( June 10 , 1933 – April 2 , 2013 ) was an American football coach , a head coach at the high school , collegiate and professional levels . The offensive and defensive systems he introduced and helped develop have proven influential in the NFL . Early career . Born in Detroit , Fairbanks graduated from Michigan State University in 1955 , following three years of football with the Spartans . That fall , he began the first of three years as head coach of Ishpeming High School in Michigan . College assistant . In 1958 , he accepted an assistant coaching position at Arizona State University in Tempe , spending four years there under former Spartan teammate Frank Kush before moving on for another four - year stint at the University of Houston under Bill Yeoman from 1962 to 1965 . In 1966 , he accepted an assistant coaching position at the University of Oklahoma in Norman . Head coach . Following the death of 37 year - old Sooner head coach Jim Mackenzie in April 1967 , Fairbanks was promoted to head coach four days later at age 33 . He had nearly left for another assistant position at Missouri under Dan Devine , but decided to stay in Norman when Mackenzie moved him to offensive coordinator after the 1966 season . Over the next six years , Fairbanks led Oklahoma to three Big Eight Conference titles , with 11 – 1 records in each of his final two seasons . Three months after his mid - contract departure to the New England Patriots of the NFL , Oklahoma was forced to forfeit nine games from the 1972 season after evidence of recruiting violations involving altered transcripts of student - athletes surfaced . Fairbanks denied any knowledge of this . The scandal under his watch made Sooners ineligible for bowl games or the national championship for two years after he left . After the probation ended , however , the Sooners , under his successor Barry Switzer , won consecutive national titles in 1974 - 75 . NFL . On January 26 , 1973 , Fairbanks was named head coach of the New England of the NFL . His first NFL draft that year included John Hannah , Sam Cunningham , Ray Hamilton and Darryl Stingley , the first of a solid run of drafts through Fairbanks ' tenure with the team . He went 5 – 9 in his first year in New England . The 1974 season was marred by a league - wide players ' strike during training camp and preseason , which actually helped the Patriots as Fairbanks and defensive coordinator Hank Bullough were installing a new system ( today known as the Fairbanks - Bullough 3 – 4 , or the 3 – 4 two - gap system ) . They got a lot done because so many players who were not part of the NFL Players ' Association , and eighteen first - year players made the roster . The Patriots stormed to a 6 – 1 start before other teams caught up with them and they finished 7 – 7 . He then had a falling - out with quarterback Jim Plunkett , who was traded for important draft picks to San Francisco , and suffered when hardball negotiating tactics by Patriot ownership led to a team - wide player strike that cancelled a preseason game with the New York Jets . The team never recovered and fell to 3 – 11 in 1975 , but Fairbanks planted an important seed for the future by drafting quarterback Steve Grogan , who saw his first serious game action later that year . Fairbanks ' Patriots erupted to 11 – 3 in 1976 , a reversal of the 3 – 11 mark from the year before , and took on the 13 – 1 Oakland Raiders in the first round of the NFL playoffs . New England entered the fourth quarter with a 21 – 10 lead , but a controversial roughing - the - passer call on defensive end Ray Hamilton by referee Ben Dreith wiped out a late incompletion by the Raiders and Raider quarterback Ken Stabler ' s dive into the endzone with eight seconds left gave Oakland a 24 - 21 comeback victory . Although Dreith insisted after the game that he had to call the penalty because he saw Hamilton hit Stabler on the head , replays showed that " Sugar Bear " had made no illegal contact . The call was condemned for years thereafter , and remained a bitter memory for the Patriots as the Raiders went on to win Super Bowl XI . In 1977 , contract squabbles with offensive linemen John Hannah and Leon Gray led to discord within the team . The incident soured Fairbanks on Chuck Sullivan , who as the eldest son of team owner Billy Sullivan controlled the team ' s finances and had forced Fairbanks to renege on his proposed contracts with Hannah and Gray . Hannah , denied Fairbanks ' promised contract by the ownership team , later contended that the Sullivans " took Chuck ' s authority away and turned him into a liar . " The Patriots narrowly missed making the playoffs on the last weekend of the regular season . The following year in 1978 , the division - champion Patriots seemed poised to challenge for a Super Bowl berth , but just prior to the final regular season game Sullivan suspended Fairbanks for again breaking a contract by agreeing become head coach for the University of Colorado in 1979 . Fairbanks was reinstated for the team ' s first playoff game ( and the franchise ' s first - ever home playoff game ) , but the second - seeded Patriots were upset 31 – 14 by superstar running back Earl Campbell and his fifth - seed Houston Oilers . Unwilling to let him leave with as few consequences for his actions as had the Sooners , New England sued Fairbanks for breach of contract . During discovery for the suit , he admitted recruiting for Colorado while still working for the Patriots , who won an injunction preventing him from leaving . But on April 2 , 1979 , a group of CU boosters ( Flatirons Club ) bought out his contract , making it possible for him to leave the Patriots . Paul Zimmerman , " Sports Illustrated ' s " dean of professional football writers , speculated that the animus surrounding Fairbanks ' departure from New England stemmed from the fact that , unlike the late - season departure of New York Jets coach Lou Holtz for Arkansas in 1976 , " no one " felt Fairbanks " was a really nice guy . " Return to collegiate ranks . The legal battle to make Fairbanks the Buffaloes ' head coach proved not be worth the effort when he compiled a dismal 7 – 26 record ( ) in three seasons for Colorado ( 3 – 8 , 1 – 10 , 3 – 8 ) . His predecessor ' s worst record was 6 – 5 in 1978 . His time at CU was tumultuous period for the football and athletic program , headed by former head coach Eddie Crowder . Fairbanks has been routinely and incorrectly credited for the unpopular color switch from black to blue uniforms in 1981 , his final season at Colorado . The color change was mandated by CU ' s Board of Regents to reflect " the Colorado sky at , " but did not win fan support . ( The school ' s official colors are silver and gold , and the CU teams traditionally wore black and gold since 1959 . ) A darker shade of blue was introduced in 1984 , but black jerseys were restored for the Oklahoma and Nebraska games in Boulder , and for all home games starting in 1985 . USFL . Fairbanks resigned from CU on June 1 , 1982 to accept the head coaching position with the New Jersey Generals of the fledgling USFL . Even before coaching his first game in the new league , Fairbanks once again found himself immersed in controversy . Georgia junior Herschel Walker , the reigning Heisman Trophy winner , signed with the Generals on February 23 , 1983 , violating the NCAA ' s then - unwritten rule against signing players who were still college - eligible . His time in New Jersey , like his tenure at Colorado , was met with little success on the field as the Generals finished the 1983 USFL season at 6 – 12 . The poor showing led to Fairbanks ' firing . The innovative but scandal - marred coach never again coached either collegiately or professionally , and moved on to real estate and golf - course development , creating PGA West and launching many other successful California and Arizona ventures . Legacy . Fairbanks ' schemes have influenced the New England Patriots ( under Bill Belichick ) . In a 2007 press conference , Belichick said the following of Fairbanks : " I think Chuck has had a tremendous influence on the league as well as this organization in terms of nomenclature and terminology and those kinds of things . I ' m sure Chuck could walk in and look at our playbook and probably 80 percent of the plays are the same terminology that he used - whether it be formations or coverages or pass protections . We were sitting there talking yesterday and he was saying , ' How much 60 protection are you guys using ? How much 80 are you using ? ' All of the stuff that was really the fundamentals of his system are still in place here even , again , to the way we call formations and plays and coverages and some of our individual calls within a call , a certain adjustment or things that Red ( Miller ) and Hank ( Bullough ) and Ron ( Erhardt ) and those guys used when they were here . " Death . Fairbanks died at the age of 79 from brain cancer on April 2 , 2013 .