Former Coach Corky Nelson

[SUMG]

Someone just told me that they heard that Corky Nelson has Alzheimer's.....and that it's pretty far along.

Anyone else heard this?

I hope it's not true. Coach Nelson is, to me, one of the most underrated coaches in NT history.

[SUMG]

I just received a PM from a poster, who told me that it's Parkinson's Disease, which is afflicting Coach Nelson....not Alzheimer's.

[GoMeanGreen1999]

Very sad to hear - very good man and you are right, he was very under rated. Where does he live now?

[drex]

The coach who probably did the most with the least to work with. Remember, he had Al Hurley as President. Corky was a complicated, but good man. I enjoyed working with him. I had heard some time ago that he was in poor health. I think that he lives in Seguin. He coached at Mary Hardin Baylor after leaving NT. He worked here with lots of restrictions by the administration.

[jdennis82]

this is sad news

[UNT_playmaker]

The coach who probably did the most with the least to work with. Remember, he had Al Hurley as President. Corky was a complicated, but good man. I enjoyed working with him. I had heard some time ago that he was in poor health. I think that he lives in Seguin. He coached at Mary Hardin Baylor after leaving NT. He worked here with lots of restrictions by the administration.

Restrictions from the adminstration, thats STILL nothing new

Corky Nelson from what I heard was a good fit here UNT, sad news

[SilverEagle]

Restrictions from the adminstration, thats STILL nothing new

Corky Nelson from what I heard was a good fit here UNT, sad news

He was a good fit. Not only because he was a great coach (and a great evaluator of talent), but he took the job with his eyes wide open. He had previously been the DL coach under Rod Rust, before Rust was fired. Corky then went on to be the head coach at Tyler, where he coached Earl Campbell. As I've mentioned several times before, it was Corky who made the decision to put Earl at RB. Before that, Earl had been playing LB. Earl was just sure that his chances of playing college ball were over when he agreed to make the switch.

After Tyler, Corky then went on the be the DC for Baylor during the time when they made their last appearance in the Cotton Bowl.

When they hired Corky, my comment was "well, he at least knows what he's getting himself into". And until Todd Dodge was hired, Corky (and Hayden Fry) were the only coaches that you could say that about.

I used to write him letters, and he used to take the time to write back. He was a very intelligent and thoughtful guy.

Like drex, I felt that he did the most with less resources than just about any coach we ever had. Some say that (emotionally) he went down hill and had a drinking problem. I don't know about that. But like I've commented before, I'd have had a drinking problem too if I had worked my ass off like he did with little appreciation from the administration, alumni, and students.

If he had been coaching North Texas during our bowl run years, I guarantee you we would have won more than one of those four games.

[GreenBat]

I Hear 'YA

[GreenAlums]

If he had been coaching North Texas during our bowl run years, I guarantee you we would have won more than one of those four games.

I couldn't agree more....And more non-conference games!!

[DallasGreen]

What I liked best about Corky was how fierce a competitor he was, and also how he actually wanted this job even though he was in line to succeed Grant Teaff at BU. I remember after the 1983 1-AA playoff game @ Reno against a Nevada team that beat us in O/T when we would have beaten them by 2 TDs @ Fouts, he was so mad after the game that he kicked the grill of a NVHP car. The trooper told him one more move and he'd use his nightstick. We had first possession in O/T and drove to the one yard line ( the whole game was played either in mud, blizzard, or frozen conditions depending on time of day). Greg Carter our QB took the snap on 4th down and their LB was blitzing. Greg had been told to pitch if the blitz came. He did and the back's hands were so cold and the ball so slick that he fumbled and NV promptly kicked a FG with one of the Zendahas bros. and won the game. Sadly had Greg not pitched, he could have walked into the end zone, but he was doing what he was coached to do, but the conditions were far too bad to chance a pitch. The sad thing was we had the option of playing the game in Denton, but Fred McCain and Walt Parker would not make a pitifully small attendance guarantee to get the game ( something like 7,500). I feel had we played in Denton for that game we stood a very good chance of going all the way in 1-AA that year. This is what Corky was up against. I was at his house many times. He was very personable and a great guy. I last ran into him in Ruiodosa about 7 years ago, but I had since heard about the Parkinson's.

[GrandGreen]

A couple of thoughts, Corky along with Fry were the very best NT coaches for getting the team ready for the "Big Games". Corky was wise enough to know that beating a Southwest conference team was a lot better than beating a SFA or McNeese State. Despite what many may think, NT was at a severe disadvantage during most of their stint in 1-AA due to the differences in admissions standards between NT and the majority of the Southland. Corky and Dennis Parker were in a box, they couldn't successfully recruit against the 1-A teams for academically qualified recruits. At the same time, NT could not rely on getting sub-standard academic but 1-A quality athletes that made up the vast majority of the out of state and East Texas Southland rivals' squads.

The 26 straight conference wins were a major accomplishment that will probably never be broken at NT. Whatever you may think of DD, the facts are that NT is the only Belt team that has won an outright championship and NT has three. I am not sure NT ever won an outright Southland championship much less three in a row.

I do remember the monumental foul-up by the AD in not getting a home game in the first round and causing NT to play at Nevada. I am not the RV fan that many on this board are, but you newer fans would not believe the kind of incompetence, NT fans put up with the "good ole boys" NT used to have fill the AD post.