Assistant coaches Robert “Red” Miller (left) and Joe Collier (right) flank Western Illinois head coach Lou Saban (center) in the late 1950s. (Photo by WIU Athletics)
By Dan Verdun
With this week’s death of Joe Collier, all five members of the late 1950s Western Illinois football staff have now passed. Their legacy, however, lives on in the annals of Leatherneck lore.
Led by head coach Lou Saban, WIU certainly thrived during the period in which the team played at the NAIA level.
Saban spent three seasons in Macomb. Under his guidance, the Leathernecks posted a 20-5-1 record.
After finishing second in the Illinois Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 1957, Saban’s 1958 and ’59 teams won league titles. The ’58 team suffered its only loss by a single point, while the 1959 Leathernecks went unbeaten at 9-0-0. Saban was chosen as the NAIA Coach of the Year.
Saban’s three-year span at WIU produced two pro football draft picks, quarterback Mike McFarland by the Minnesota Vikings in 1961 and Leroy Jackson by the Cleveland Browns in 1962. Jackson, a running back, was a first-round pick.
In addition, several other Leathernecks from the Saban era found their way into pro football, including Jack Atchason, Larry Garron, William Larson, Bill Zavadil and Booker Edgerson.
In addition to Collier, Saban was assisted at Western by Red Miller, Art Dufelmeier and Guy Ricci.
“He’d drive you hard, but I remember him saying one of the best ways to be successful was to surround yourself with good people,” former WIU player Warren “Wally” Dew said of Saban in a 2010 interview. “Lou did that with his coaching staff. That’s a lesson I always remembered and took into my future careers. Anytime I was in a position to hire people, I followed Lou’s example.”
Dew, who died in June 2023, took that lesson to heart. A Peoria native, Dew enjoyed a successful teaching and coaching career. He was inducted into both the WIU athletic hall of fame as well as the coaching hall of fame at Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Mo.
Collier’s career
Collier, a two-time All-America defensive end at Northwestern and a New York Giants draft pick, began his coaching career under Saban.
“Lou came to Northwestern when I was graduating,” Collier said in a 2012 interview. “He was a defensive-minded guy. I remembered him from his time with the Cleveland Browns as a linebacker in the pros. I had just gotten out of the Army and was looking to coach at the high school level. He took me on as a graduate assistant. It was a premiere learning experience for me.”
Following his time in Macomb, Collier coached 28 years in pro football, 20 of which were spent with the Denver Broncos organization.
Collier, a Rock Island native, was the architect of Denver’s 1977 “Orange Crush” defense that helped lead the Miller-coached Broncos to an AFC championship and Super Bowl berth.
According to author Terry Frei, Collier preferred to set up the Broncos’ defense with four linemen, but would occasionally organize an experimental 3–4 defense.
After an injury to defensive end Lyle Alzado early in the 1976 season, Collier used the system more regularly and improved upon it. Frei called him “the scientist in the laboratory, coming up with ways to make the defense even better.”
When Saban left Macomb to become the head coach of the Boston Patriots in the upstart American Football League in 1960, Collier and Miller went with him.
“Lou needed coaches he could trust so he took Joe Collier and Red Miller with him,” Edgerson said in the 2017 book Southern Illinois Salukis Football. “Of course that hurt us.”
Saban and Collier spent two seasons in Boston before leaving for Buffalo when Saban took over as the Bills’ head coach in 1962. The duo spent the next four seasons there.
The Bills won the 1965 AFL title over the offensive-oriented San Diego Chargers with the help from defensive alignments that Collier designed, one of which was similar to the modern zone blitz. Collier’s defense featured linemen dropping back to cover pass attempts, according to pro football historian and writer John Maxymuk.
Collier was promoted to Buffalo head coach when Saban resigned in 1966. The Bills’ best season under Collier came in his first year, when they won the Eastern Division with a 9–4–1 record before losing the AFL championship game to Kansas City.
Following three seasons in Buffalo, Collier joined the Denver Broncos as an assistant. During his 20 years there, the Broncos won five division titles and reached three Super Bowls with Collier serving as defensive coordinator.
After being hired by Saban, Collier remained as DC for four subsequent Broncos’ head coaches.
Collier was fired by Denver head coach Dan Reeves after the 1988 season. After a short time away from the NFL, Collier became the New England defensive coordinator for two seasons in the early 1990s. He then retired to Colorado.
Collier passed away May 6 at age 91.
Hall of famer wing
Saban and his former WIU assistants are all members of the Leatherneck athletic hall of fame.
Saban, who was born in Brookfield and graduated from Lyons Township High School in La Grange, was inducted in 1974. Saban died in 2009.
Miller, whose given name was Robert, was also inducted into the WIU hall of fame in 1974. Born and raised in Macomb, Miller was the Leathernecks’ football MVP in three straight seasons (1947-49).
Miller spent two decades coaching in pro football, highlighted by his 1977 NFL Coach of the Year honor and Denver’s first-ever Super Bowl appearance. He was enshrined in the Broncos’ Ring of Fame in 2017. He died that same year at age 89.
Dufelmeier, who entered the WIU hall of fame in 1986, followed Saban as WIU head coach in 1960. His 1964 team tied for the IIAC title. Dufelmeier was the Leathernecks’ head coach for nine seasons before becoming the head coach at Havana High School. He died in 2010.
In addition to serving as a Saban assistant, Ricci coached Western’s baseball team from 1955 to 1969. The Pekin native was also a WIU basketball assistant for 15 years and served as head coach from 1969 to 1973.
A 1987 WIU hall of fame inductee, Ricci is listed as deceased in his Western athletic biography.
To date, WIU has inducted seven teams into its athletic hall of fame. Saban’s 1959 Leathernecks are the lone football team so honored.
Dan Verdun is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin. He has written four books: NIU Huskies Football, EIU Panthers Football, ISU Redbirds Football and SIU Salukis Football.
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