Ted Tollner Ted Alfred Tollner ( born May 29 , 1940 ) is a football coach who has worked as a head coach in college football and was also formerly the passing game coordinator of the Oakland Raiders . Playing career . He attended California Polytechnic State University , where he was a quarterback on the 1960 team that suffered a plane crash in Toledo , Ohio in which 22 people of the 45 people on board were killed , including 16 of Tollner ' s teammates . Coaching career . High school . He began his coaching career as the offensive coordinator ( and later head coach ) at Woodside High School in California in 1963 . College . He then coached at College of San Mateo from 1968 to 1972 . He served as the offensive coordinator for San Diego State under Claude Gilbert from 1973 to 1980 . He also served as the quarterbacks coach at Brigham Young ( BYU ) in 1981 . At BYU he tutored a raw running quarterback named Steve Young . He became offensive coordinator of the USC Trojans football program under head coach John Robinson in 1982 , and succeeded to the head coaching position a year later when Robinson stepped down to take an administrative post at the university ( Robinson departed soon afterward to become head coach of the Los Angeles Rams ) . During his four - year tenure Tollner compiled a 26 - 20 - 1 record . He led the Trojans to the Pacific - 10 conference championship in 1984 . That team defeated Ohio State in the 1985 Rose Bowl game . He was replaced as the USC head coach by Larry Smith after the 1986 season after going 1 - 3 in the UCLA - USC rivalry and 0 - 4 vs . Notre Dame in the Notre Dame – USC rivalry . In 1994 , he returned to San Diego State , this time as the head coach . He coached there for 8 years . Tollner was known for scheduling a tough non - conference schedule including schools like Washington , Wisconsin , USC , Arizona , Arizona State and Oklahoma . His Aztec teams posted eight - win seasons in 1995 and 1996 , the first time it reached that level in consecutive years since 1977 . Overall , he led the Aztecs to a 43 - 48 record until his firing in 2001 . NFL . He served as the wide receivers coach for the Buffalo Bills from 1987 to 1988 . He served as the offensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers from 1989 to 1991 . He served as the quarterbacks coach for the Los Angeles Rams from 1992 to 1993 . In 2002 , he then became the quarterbacks coach for the San Francisco 49ers . After two successful seasons , he was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2004 . When Dennis Erickson was fired as head coach , he was not retained . In 2005 , he became the offensive coordinator of the Detroit Lions . When Steve Mariucci and several of his assistants were fired 11 weeks into the season , Tollner was demoted to Tight End Coach for the remainder of the season . In late 2006 , he was listed as a potential candidate for the head coaching opening for the University of San Diego that later went to Ron Caragher . In late 2007 it was announced that he would serve as offensive assistant for the San Francisco 49ers in a late season attempt to revive the lacking offense and is expected to help Jim Hostler in the play calling . In early 2008 Tollner was named quarterbacks coach / assistant to the head coach for the San Francisco 49ers to get a permanent role in the organization again . On December 30 , 2008 , Tollner was dismissed from the 49ers along with running backs coach Tony Nathan and offensive coordinator Mike Martz . On February 4 , 2009 , Tollner was introduced as a part of the Oakland Raiders ' coaching staff as he was named the passing game coordinator of the team . When Hue Jackson was hired as the Raiders head coach he dismissed Toller and several others from their positions .