Dick Jauron, defensive backs coach of the Green Bay Packers from 1986-94, died early Saturday morning, Feb. 8, following a brief battle with cancer, the Daily Item of Lynn, Mass., reported.
Jauron, who grew up in Lynn and attended nearby Swampscott High School, was 74. In the last week or so, he was diagnosed with brain cancer that had spread to other parts of his body, a daughter said.
Jauron was hired by head coach Forrest Gregg and retained by two successors, Lindy Infante and Mike Holmgren, which was a rarity and still is in the NFL, and a testament to his coaching abilities.
"You don't get retained unless you're a pretty good coach, and even then that's no guarantee," Dick Steinberg, then general manager of the New York Jets, told Sharon Raboin of the Green Bay Press-Gazette when Holmgren retained Jauron in 1992.
Holmgren agreed.
"I chose him because he was the absolute best man for the job," he also told the Press-Gazette back then. "He's a quality person, and I think we're very similar in coaching philosophy."
Jauron played college football at Yale and eight years in the NFL, including the first five, from 1973-77, with Detroit, where he faced the Packers twice a season. A free safety in the pros, Jauron finished his career with Cincinnati.
Jauron began his coaching career in 1985 as a defensive assistant with the Buffalo Bills. After spending nine years with the Packers, he served as defensive coordinator in Jacksonville from 1995-98, Detroit from 2004-05 and Cleveland from 2011-12.
Jauron also was a head coach for Chicago from 1999-2003 and with Buffalo from 2006-09. In addition, he was interim head coach in Detroit for five games in 2005 and also an assistant head coach and defensive backs coach for Philadelphia in 2010.
