John Gregory ( American football coach ) John Gregory ( born November 22 , 1938 ) is an American football head coach and currently the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Storm in the Arena Football League . Gregory ' s most recent head coaching stint came with the Iowa Barnstormers , which is also in the AFL . Coaching career . Early years . Gregory ' s first coaching job was at Iowa Central Community College , where he was assistant head coach and athletic director of the new football program . In Gregory ' s three years there , the program had a 24 – 3 – 1 record and won the Wool Bowl in 1969 . John Matuszak , who was recruited by Gregory , went on to become the number one pick in the 1973 NFL Draft . His first college head coaching job was at South Dakota State , where he had 55 – 50 – 3 record from 1972 – 1981 . Gregory is third in school history in coaching victories and his 1979 team had a single season best record of 9 – 2 . SDSU didn ’ t have a winning record the previous 11 seasons before Gregory ’ s arrival . After serving as Northern Iowa offensive coordinator in 1982 , Gregory was the offensive line coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for the six seasons . In 1984 Winnipeg won the Grey Cup in part due to Gregory ’ s offensive line that helped set a CFL single season rushing record . Saskatchewan Roughriders . After the 1986 season he was hired to coach Saskatchewan Roughriders , a team that had no playoff appearances in the past 11 years . In his first season as Saskatchewan ' s head coach , he led the Riders to an 11 – 7 record and a playoff berth . He won the Annis Stukus Trophy as the league ' s coach of the year . The following year the Roughriders finished 9 – 9 and won the 77th Grey Cup , their first since 1966 . After a 1 – 6 start in 1991 , he was fired and replaced by Don Matthews . He had a 35 – 43 – 1 overall record in Saskatchewan . Hamilton Tiger - Cats . That same season , he was hired to replaced David Beckman as head coach of the 0 – 8 Hamilton Tiger - Cats . He made the postseason two of the four years he was with the team and finished with a 24 – 40 record . Arena Football . In 1995 , Jim Foster hired Gregory to build an Arena Football League expansion team in Des Moines , Iowa . Gregory signed Kurt Warner , then a little known quarterback working at a local grocery store to a tryout . Gregory coached the Iowa Barnstormers to five division titles in six seasons and led the team to two ArenaBowl s . Quarterback s Kurt Warner and Aaron Garcia are considered two of the greatest AFL players ever . Gregory was named AFL Coach of the Year in 1995 and 1996 . The Barnstormers relocated to New York in 2000 and Gregory left the team in 2003 . Gregory coached the Carolina Cobras to a 6 – 10 record in 2004 before the team folded . In 2005 , Gregory came out of retirement to coach the Arkansas Twisters . He went 5 – 7 in his first season and 10 – 6 in the 2006 season , losing the National Conference Championship to the Spokane Shock . In 2007 the Twisters improved to a 12 – 4 record , a franchise best , but lost to the Bossier – Shreveport Battle Wings in the first round of the playoffs . In 2007 , it was announced that Gregory would return to Iowa to coach the new expansion Iowa Barnstormers . On May 17 , 2011 , Gregory resigned from his position with the Barnstormers . In 2012 , Gregory is the offensive coordinator for the Tampa Bay Storm . It is his first position where he has not been a team head coach for more than two decades .