Chuck Curtis Charles “ Chuck ” Curtis ( born 1935 ) is a former American football coach . After a stellar collegiate career and a short stint with the NFL ' s New York Giants , Curtis began his coaching career at the high school level , before serving as last head coach at the University of Texas at Arlington . Growing up in Gainesville , Texas as son of a minister , Curtis played quarterback at Gainesville High School in the late 1940s and early 1950s . During his senior year Curtis ' father moved to Taylor but allowed him to remain at Gainesville in a garage apartment in order to keep his eligibility . Despite All - State honors , college recruiters ignored him , except for Texas Christian ' s Abe Martin . At TCU , Curtis led the Horned Frogs to the 1955 Southwest Conference championship . In the 1957 Cotton Bowl , Curtis threw two touchdown passes and ran for another TD to lead the Horned Frogs to a 28 - 27 win over Syracuse and standout running back Jim Brown . Garnering All - Southwest Conference honors in 1955 and 1956 , Curtis was selected 85th overall by the defending champions , the New York Giants , in the 1957 NFL Draft . As back - up quarterback for Charley Conerly Curtis did not see any action during the 1957 NFL season , yet as an aspiring coach it worked to his advantage . Both Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry were assistants on the Giants staff , and their system , he soon realized , far surpassed anything he had seen in four years at TCU . After one season with the Giants , Curtis returned to Texas in order to pursue a coaching career . He began at Holliday , where he led the 1958 Eagles to an 8 – 2 record and barely missed the playoffs . The following year Curtis moved to 2A Jacksboro , where he turned around a program in the dumps for 10 straight years and culminating in the state title in 1962 . The Tigers outscored their opponents 602 - 43 that year . Curtis soon moved on , as he succeeded Homer Johnson as head coach at 4A Garland . Guiding the Owls to back - to - back state titles in 1963 and ' 64 , Curtis became the first coach in Texas high school football to win consecutive titles at different schools in different classifications , going 26 - 1 - 1 during that stretch . He also joined , at that time , Waco ' s Paul Tyson , Amarillo ' s Blair Cherry and Abilene ' s Chuck Moser as the only coaches to win three straight state crowns . Curtis seriously considered the head coaching job at Odessa Permian , which just became vacant as Jim Cashion resigned , but eventually accepted an assistant coaching position on Hayden Fry ' s staff at Southern Methodist University . In 1968 he returned to the high school level , taking over at Grand Prairie . In 1979 Curtis briefly returned to Jacksboro , before taking over head coaching duties at Cleburne High School in 1981 . In 1982 , he guided the Yellow Jackets to the state semifinals , but lost 7 - 3 to Don Denbow ' s Corsicana squad . Cleburne ' s 1983 team carried an unbeaten 13 – 0 record in the quarterfinal round , only to lose 13 - 3 to Lubbock Estacado . Curtis also coached in the Oil Bowl in 1983 . In 1984 Curtis finally got his first head coaching job at the collegiate level , taking over as 13th head football coach at the University of Texas at Arlington . His career coaching record for the Mavericks was 11 – 10 – 1 . This ranks him sixth at UT Arlington in total wins and eighth at UT Arlington in winning percentage . UT - Arlington discontinued its football program after the conclusion of the 1985 season . After one year out of coaching , Curtis returned to the high school level , becoming head coach at 3A Aledo . He guided the Bearcats to a 6 – 5 and 8 – 3 record in 1987 and 1988 , respectively , before he retired .