Sam Wyche

Samuel David Wyche (; January 5, 1945 – January 2, 2020) was an American professional football quarterback and coach. He was a quarterback and head coach for the Cincinnati Bengals and a quarterbacks coach for the San Francisco 49ers. As head coach, he led the Bengals to Super Bowl XXIII, which they lost to the 49ers 20–16, relinquishing the lead on a last-minute touchdown. He was also known for introducing the use of the no-huddle offense as a standard offense (as opposed to use at the end of the half).

Wyche coached Cincinnati from 1984 to 1991, and his 64 wins with the Bengals were the most by a coach in franchise history until he was surpassed by Marvin Lewis in 2011.

Wyche also played for the Washington Redskins, Detroit Lions, St. Louis Cardinals, and Buffalo Bills. He also coached at the University of South Carolina and Indiana University, and for the San Francisco 49ers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Buffalo Bills.

College career From 1963 to 1965, Wyche played college football at Furman University as a quarterback. He was also an initiated member of Kappa Alpha Order fraternity. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Furman University and his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of South Carolina.

Professional career Wheeling Ironmen From 1966 through 1967, Wyche played for the Wheeling Ironmen of the semi-professional Continental Football League.

Cincinnati Bengals Wyche signed with the American Football League expansion Cincinnati Bengals for the 1968 season, when he started three games and also served as backup to John Stofa and Dewey Warren. In his rookie season, he completed 35 passes in 55 attempts (63.6 percent) for 494 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed 12 times for 74 yards (a 6.2 average) and caught one pass for five yards.

In Wyche's second season, 1969, he played in seven games, again starting three, as Bengals rookie Greg Cook eventually assumed the starting role. For the season, Wyche completed 54 passes in 108 attempts (50.0 percent) for 838 yards and seven touchdowns. He rushed 12 times for 109 yards (an 8.9 average) and one touchdown.

Detroit Lions In 1974, Wyche played for the Detroit Lions, with only one pass attempted. He was also selected in the inaugural World Football League draft in 1974.

St. Louis Cardinals In the 1976, Wyche signed with the St. Louis Cardinals. He completed his only pass completion for five yards.

Buffalo Bills Wyche was signed by the Buffalo Bills on October 27, 1976. He did not play any games during his time with the team.

Coaching career University of South Carolina In 1967, while at the University of South Carolina working on his MBA degree, Wyche was an assistant coach for the Gamecocks.

San Francisco 49ers Wyche was an assistant coach and directed the passing game for the San Francisco 49ers from 1979 to 1982. He was on the coaching staff of the 1981 team that won Super Bowl XVI. Future NFL head coach Cam Cameron was a quarterback on that team.

Cincinnati Bengals Wyche was hired as the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals in late December 1983. In his first three seasons, Cincinnati finished second each time, then fell to 4–11 in 1987. The next year, he led the Bengals to their second Super Bowl appearance, where they lost 20–16 to the San Francisco 49ers, who rallied to win with a touchdown pass from Joe Montana with 34 seconds remaining. for his unconventional play-calling. Wyche introduced the concept of having 12 or more players huddle on the field, then having a few leave the field. He called it the "sugar huddle"; it was meant to confuse the defense as to the personnel grouping. If defenses tried to adapt with their own substitutions, the Bengals snapped the ball, often leading to the defense being penalized for having too many players on the field. The NFL responded by changing the rules so that defenses could match the offensive substitutions before a snap was allowed. Will the next person that sees anybody throw anything onto this field, point 'em out, and get 'em out of here. You don't live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati! A year after the Seahawks game, he refused to allow a female reporter from USA Today in the locker room after a game, saying he did not want his players to be naked in front of her. The NFL fined him $27,000, the largest fine ever assessed against a coach. He complained that Commissioner Paul Tagliabue was more interested in fining him than finding a solution that worked. Wyche was dismissed at the conclusion of the 1995 season,

Buffalo Bills From 2004 to 2005, Wyche was the quarterbacks coach for the Buffalo Bills.

Head coaching record College

NFL

Broadcasting career In 1996, Wyche worked as a sports analyst with Marv Albert on a weekly NFL game for NBC. In 1997, he was promoted to the studio on NBC's weekly pre-game and half-time shows. He worked as an analyst for CBS with Kevin Harlan on the weekly NFL games from 1998 until week 2 in 2000 when his voice gave part way through a game between Miami and Minnesota. Beesley Reece came up from sideline reporting to do color commentary for the rest of that game. He returned to CBS in 2001, where he did the first two games of the NFL season with Gus Johnson, and Brent Jones. In 2006, he was a commentator on Westwood One's NFL Thursday night coverage, with Dick Enberg. Also in 2006, he began working with Tom Werme broadcasting Southern Conference Football for Fox Sports South.

Personal life Wyche and his wife, Jane, had two children, Zak and Kerry, and six grandchildren. He was a private pilot for many years. He also enjoyed golf, tennis, jogging and riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle. The first store opened in 1973 and grew to over a dozen locations by the late 1980s. By 1990, the company was struggling financially and two years later was working on a deal to be bought out by Hibbett Sports.

Wyche underwent a biopsy on lymph nodes in his chest in 2000. His left Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve was severed during the procedure, leaving his voice consistently hoarse and scratchy. From 2004 to 2006, he was a volunteer at Pickens High School in South Carolina as a public speaker. He was an amateur magician.

Wyche's brother, Bubba, was a quarterback at Tennessee and in the Canadian Football League (CFL) and World Football League (WFL).

On September 9, 2016, Wyche was admitted to the Carolinas Medical Center's Dickson Heart Unit in Charlotte, North Carolina, awaiting a heart transplant due to congestive heart failure. Three days later, a heart was found, and on September 13, Wyche underwent a 4.5-hour transplant operation.

Wyche was diagnosed with melanoma in 2019 and died at his home in Pickens, South Carolina, on January 2, 2020, at the age of 74.

Political career On November 4, 2008, Wyche secured a seat on the County Council for Pickens County, South Carolina. Running as a member of the Republican Party, Wyche defeated Democrat Wesley Burbage for the Pickens seat, by a margin of 6,478 votes to 1,639.