Steve Kazor

Kazor was born in 1948 in New Kensington, Pennsylvania.[1][2] A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Rancho High School in North Las Vegas, Nevada. He attended Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he lettered for four years on the football team, playing as a nose tackle, and was tri-captain in his senior year.[3]

After graduating from Westminster College, Kazor coached at Camden Military Academy in Camden, South Carolina. In 1973, he was named head football coach at the College of Emporia in Emporia, Kansas, but the school was closed in 1974.[4] Kazor spent the 1974 season at the University of Texas at Arlington as an assistant coach. The following year he was hired as defensive line coach at Colorado State University.[5] After working for a year at Colorado State under head coach Sark Arslanian, Kazor was hired in 1976 as the defensive coordinator at Southern Utah State College—now known as Southern Utah University—under head coach Tom Kingsford. In 1977, he moved to the University of Texas at Austin as an aide to head coach Fred Akers.[6]

Kazor was the linebackers coach at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) in 1979 and 1980 under head coach Bill Michael before moving to the National Football League (NFL) in 1981 to work as a scout for the Dallas Cowboys. In 1982, he was hired as the special teams coach for the NFL's Chicago Bears by newly appointed head coach Mike Ditka.[7]

After 11 seasons with the Bears, Kazor returned to the college football ranks, in 1993, when he was hired as the head football coach at Iowa Wesleyan College—now known as Iowa Wesleyan University.[8] Kazor was the head football coach at McPherson College in McPherson, Kansas for the 1998 and 1999 seasons.[9] His coaching record at McPherson was 12–8.[10] In February 2000, Kazor was named the head football coach at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan.[11]