Paul Wiggin's timing in the game of football is truly remarkable. After playing with John Brodie at Stanford and winning an NFL title with Jim Brown, he embarked on a decades long dance with the game that he loved, coaching the Chiefs as they began their decline and coaching John Elway at Stanford, watching one of the most famous plays in college football unfold from the sidelines. Now working as a senior advisor for the Minnesota Vikings, he remains on the hunt for the one thing that eludes him: the Super Bowl.
The Early Years
Paul Wiggin was born on November 18, 1934 in Modesto, California. After standing out at Manteca High School, he competed in football and track at Modesto Junior College before accepting a scholarship offer to Stanford University. In three years on "the Farm", the young defensive end enjoyed one winning season, a 6-3-1 effort in 1955.
Although he was drafted by the Browns following his junior season, Wiggin decided to stay in college one more year to get his degree. Even though Wiggin picked up his second All-America nod that year, the Indians were not as successful in 1956, going 4-6, but they did end the year on a memorable note. In a 20-18 loss to arch-rival Cal, Stanford halfback Lou Valli rushed for a Big Game record 209 yards that would stand until Cal's Joe Igber broke it in 2002.
Cleveland
Paul Wiggin arrived in during a time of change in Cleveland. After enjoying 10 years as their league's preeminent franchise, winning seven titles during that stretch, the Browns had started to fall back to earth. With the retirement of legendary quarterback Otto Graham now in their rearview mirror, the Browns had recently drafted the nation's best running back, Jim Brown.
Still, coach Paul Brown was growing desperate as he could see his once mighty empire crumbling. Having seen so much, he'd often butt heads with his players in attempts to get them to go above and beyond their abilities. Paul Wiggin was one of the players that was never afraid to stand up to the esteemed coach and may have been relieved when Brown was fired in 1963.
With a new regime in charge, the Browns returned to the NFL title game in 1964 and beat the Colts 27-0. Years later, Wiggin would still call that moment his finest in the sport. He earned the first of two Pro Bowl appearances the next year, a consolation prize for losing in the NFL title game to Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers.
By then, he had began to think about life after his playing days were over and spent his free time teaching high school history. He thought that that might be his path, but the 49ers hired him to coach their defensive line. With the opportunity to return home in mind, Paul Wiggin retired and became a coach. It was the first step in a long, winding journey.
The Coach
Paul Wiggin joined his old Stanford teammate, John Brodie, in San Francisco at just the right time. His first group of defensive linemen were Stan Hindman, Charlie Krueger, Roland Lakes and Clark Miller, a stout bunch that protected linebacker great Dave Wilcox as he went on to go to the Pro Bowl that year. That unit led the way as the 49ers ended 1968 ninth in the 12-team NFL with 1,776 rushing yards given up.
They grew as the years went on and by 1971, they gave up just four rushing touchdowns all year. It was the second fewest in the newly expanded league and the fewest that Wiggin's unit would allow in his seven years in San Francisco.
As his unit improved, so did the team and by 1970, they had reached the very first NFC Championship Game, losing to the Dallas Cowboys in the last NFL game ever played at Kezar Stadium. By then, they had added North Texas's Cedrick Hardman, making them one of the best defensive line units in the league, affectionately named "the Gold Rush".
Fortified by that unit, the 49ers marched to the playoffs twice more, only to lose to the Cowboys each time. Even though Wiggin's defensive line slipped down to 18th against the run in 1974, he was still a hot head coaching candidate that offseason and was hired by the Kansas City Chiefs.
At the time, the Chiefs were in the beginning of a long decline. Ever since losing to the Dolphins in the 1971 Divisional Round, the Chiefs began to see their stars depart in retirement and the losses began to mount. After the team finished 1974 5-9, they fired longtime coach Hank Stram, opening the door for Paul Wiggin to cut his teeth as a head coach.
It didn't go well. In two and a half seasons, the Chiefs won just 11 games against 24 losses. By the middle of the 1977 season, the Chiefs front office had had enough and fired Paul Wiggin.
He quickly found work as the Saints defensive coordinator. In 1978, his first year, Wiggin's defense led the league with nine rushing touchdowns given up. The following year, they were tied for fifth in the league with 26 interceptions. Having proven himself as a coordinator, Stanford hired him as their new head coach. Never in his wildest dreams could Wiggin have imagined this sort of opportunity, the opportunity to coach a sensational sophomore named John Elway.
The Elway Years
Two years after esteemed coach Bill Walsh left Stanford for the 49ers, the Indians were looking for another coach after Rod Dowhower left for the NFL. So Paul Wiggin returned to the Farm where John Elway was due to star.
The Indians began 1980 well enough, going 2-1 before traveling to Norman, Oklahoma to face off against the fourth-ranked Sooners. Undaunted by Oklahoma's 20 game home winning streak, Stanford outplayed the Sooners from start to finish. They led 31-0 late in the third quarter before Oklahoma began to make the game more entertaining.
In all respects, this was John Elway's coming out party. The young gunslinger completed 20 of 34 passes for 237 yards and three touchdowns while scrambling for an additional 37 yards and another touchdown in the 31-14 stunner.
The rest of the season was memorable only because of Elway's brilliance. As the Indians stumbled to a record of just over .500, John Elway finished the year having completed 65.4% of his passes for a conference leading 2,889 yards and 27 touchdowns.
Stanford changed its mascot in 1981 and since then have been known as the Cardinal. That year, the Cardinal football team was not as successful, finishing the year a disappointing 4-7. However, once again, John Elway was their bright spot as he led the conference with 2,674 passing yards while tossing 20 touchdowns.
1982 was quite a year on the Farm. After beating Purdue, Stanford lost to Jack Elway and San Jose State 35-31. The Cardinal rebounded remarkably the next week by beating thirteenth ranked Ohio State 23-20 in front of 89,000 screaming fans at the Horseshoe.
Five weeks later, Stanford hosted the second ranked team in America, the Washington Huskies. John Elway put the team on his back that day, completing 20 of 30 passes for 265 yards and two touchdowns in the 43-31 upset. It would be his last win at Stanford.
Needing just one more win to qualify for a rare Bowl game, Stanford lost their next too matchups to Arizona (41-27) and UCLA (38-35). There was one last game on the schedule that would decide their's and their opponent's fate: Cal.
In a tremendous back-and-forth bout between two historic rivals, the Cardinal took a late 20-19 lead with just seconds left on the clock. All they had to do was recover a simple onside kick and run out the clock. Instead, Wiggin elected to pooch the kick to a Golden Bears return-man who easily scooped it up near midfield and began lateraling the ball down the field.
Down, down the field the Golden Bears went, lateraling the ball with perfection like New Zealand's famed All Blacks rugby squad. Expecting a win, the Stanford marching band had already worked its way down onto the field, covering virtually all of the Cardinal's end zone. Running towards the end zone with a head full of steam, Kevin Moen clobbered a Cardinal trombone player as he pranced into the endzone.
Now known as "the Play", it continues to live on in college football lore. With Elway off to the NFL, Stanford was in free-fall the next year, finishing 1983 with an appalling 1-10 record. After that abysmal season, Paul Wiggin was fired but quickly found work in the NFL as he was soon hired coach the defensive line of the Minnesota Vikings.
Minnesota
The 1985 Vikings were not a very good group as head coach Bud Grant was in his final year and looking at retirement. However, Minnesota built up its roster quickly and by 1987, Paul Wiggin was blessed with one of the most talented defensive lines in the league. Led by future Hall of Famer Chris Doleman and 1989 Defensive Player of the Year Keith Millard, the 1989 Vikings capped off a memorable three year run by recording 71 sacks, which was just short of the Chicago Bears record of 72 in 1984.
By 1990, the Vikings signed an undersized undrafted free agent named John Randle. While Randle would go on to make a strong case for Canton throughout the 1990's, Paul Wiggin was in the background for most of it, having stepped down as coach following 1991 and moving into the Vikings front office, where he remains to this day.
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