Jack Patera John Arlen " Jack " Patera ( born August 1 , 1933 ) is a former American football player and coach in the National Football League . He played for the Baltimore Colts , Chicago Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys . He was an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Rams , New York Giants and the Minnesota Vikings . Patera was the first head coach of the Seattle Seahawks . His career head coaching record is 35 - 59 - 0 , all with the Seahawks . Early life . Patera attended Washington High School in Portland , Oregon . Upon graduation he enrolled at the University of Oregon , where he played college football from 1951 – 1954 , earning All - Pacific Coast Conference honors as a tackle in his senior year . Other honors included his selection to play in the 1955 East - West Shrine Game , the Hula Bowl , and the College All - Star Game . Patera was inducted into the Oregon Sports Hall of Fame in 1982 and the University of Oregon Hall of Fame in 2000 . NFL Player career . Patera ' s NFL playing career started when he was drafted in the fourth round of the 1955 NFL Draft by the Baltimore Colts . Although he was initially drafted as an offensive guard , he was soon switched to the defense as a linebacker and played at that position for three seasons under head coach Weeb Ewbank . In 1958 , he was traded to the Chicago Cardinals and played there for two seasons under head coach Frank Ivy . In 1960 , he was selected by the Dallas Cowboys in the 1960 NFL Expansion Draft . Under head coach Tom Landry , he was designated as the starting middle linebacker in the Cowboys 4 - 3 defensive scheme . Unfortunately Patera ' s playing career ended early when he suffered a knee injury in the fourth game of the 1960 season . Patera returned in 1961 , but played in only two games and retired at the end of the season . Coaching career . Assistant coach . His playing days over , Patera turned his attention to coaching and joined the Los Angeles Rams in 1963 as a defensive line coach . During his tenure with the Rams from 1963 to 1967 , he was responsible for directing the Fearsome Foursome , one of the most dominating defensive lines in the NFL during the sixties . In 1968 , Patera became an assistant coach for the New York Giants , but left after one year to take an assistant coaching position with the Minnesota Vikings under head coach Bud Grant . As defensive line coach with the Vikings from 1969 through 1975 , Patera worked with another very talented and dominant defensive line , nicknamed the Purple People Eaters . During this period , the Vikings would go to three Super Bowl s ( IV , VIII , IX ) . Head coach . In January 1976 , Patera was hired as the first head coach for the new Seattle Seahawks expansion team . Shortly after arriving , he began the difficult task of building a competitive team from the ground up . Along with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers , the Seahawks selected 39 players through the NFL expansion draft held on March 30 – 31 , 1976 . The other 26 NFL teams each protected 29 players on their rosters . Seattle and Tampa Bay alternated selections from the remaining pool of unprotected players . Acquiring quality veteran players via free agency was not an aspect of the league at that time . However , the Seahawks were awarded the 2nd overall pick in the 1976 NFL Draft , a pick they used on defensive tackle Steve Niehaus . Since he would not have the player talent to compete with other NFL teams possessing superior power , speed and finesse , Patera resorted to a wide - open gambling style offense that was centered around a passing game using lots of creative gadget plays . " I had a team that could move the ball like hell , but couldn ’ t stop anybody , " Patera said . " So I figured that to win more ballgames we ’ d simply have to gamble more often . I would much rather have beaten teams on muscle and execution , but we just didn ’ t have the talent . " Even with the lack of talent , Patera still found a way to win games . In 1976 , the Seahawks would finish their first season with a 2 - 12 record , which was typical for a first year expansion team . The 1976 season also showed promise for the future with quarterback Jim Zorn and wide receiver Steve Largent beginning to develop into a potent offensive combination . Behind Zorn and Largent , the team improved their performance with a 5 - 9 record in 1977 . When the Seahawks finished with an impressive 9 - 7 record in their third season , Patera was voted the NFL Coach of the Year in 1978 by the Associated Press and Sporting News . The Seahawks finished with a 9 - 7 record again in 1979 , but it was followed by disappointing losing seasons in 1980 and 1981 . As a head coach , Patera was considered to be a stern disciplinarian with strict rules of conduct . For example , he required players to hold their helmets a certain way on the sidelines during the playing of the national anthem . His players were required to wear coats and ties when traveling on the road . One of his most controversial rules was that he wouldn ' t allow players to have water breaks during practices at training camp in Cheney , Washington where temperatures frequently reached into the nineties in July and August . Patera ' s relationship with the local press in Seattle was stormy at times . He did not enjoy the constant questions about his coaching decisions and the dissection of his teams performance by the sports reporters . He once held a seven - second press conference after a particularly difficult loss in Seattle . After asking , " Any questions ? " , he left the room when reporters started giggling when none of them spoke up . In 1982 , the National Football League Players ' Association ( NFLPA ) was threatening to strike over deadlocked negotiations with NFL team owners to give a percentage of the gross revenues for player salaries . Patera ' s relationship with his players rapidly deteriorated when he first threatened and then fined players for participating in a union solidarity handshake with the opposing team at midfield during pre - season games ( actually it was team management that made the decision ; GM John Thompson was a former head of the NFL bargaining committee ) . When Sam McCullum , a popular player and union representative , was cut from the team by Patera one week before the season started , it was speculated the release was done as retaliation for McCullum ' s union activities . The release was eventually ruled an illegal termination in an " Unfair Labor Practice " lawsuit brought against the team by the NFLPA and McCullum . After losing the first two games of the season , Patera was fired by the Seahawks on October 13 , 1982 along with GM John Thompson . The announcement was made by John Nordstrom , representing the Nordstrom family as majority owners . The firing occurred during the 57 - day NFL players strike which had started on September 21 . He was replaced by Mike McCormack , who was the Seahawks director of football operations , as the interim head coach for the remainder of the 1982 season . After being fired by the Seahawks , Patera never took another coaching position and is completely retired from football . He currently resides in Cle Elum , Washington with his three dogs . He and his wife , Susan , are divorced after 44 years of marriage . They have four children . Patera is the older brother of former Olympic weightlifter and professional wrestler Ken Patera .