Former Redskins Executive, UCLA HC Pepper Rodgers Dies at 88

GB/Associated Press

Pepper Rodgers, a former college football head coach and Washington Redskins front office executive, died Thursday in Virginia. He was 88.

His son, Rick Rodgers, told Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times that Rodgers suffered a fall in his home Saturday that led to arterial bleeding and further complications, including a stroke and a heart attack.

"The doctors told us this would be a serious thing for a 19-year-old, much less an 88-year-old," Rick said. "He had movements and he stabilized, but he never responded to sight or sound."

Rodgers' coaching career included stops at Kansas, UCLA and Georgia Tech.

The Atlanta native was a quarterback and kicker for the Yellow Jackets during his collegiate playing career before joining the Air Force. He then started coaching at the Academy, serving as a Falcons assistant beginning in 1958.

After working on the staffs at Florida and UCLA, his first head coaching opportunity came with the Jayhawks in 1967. In all, he posted a 73-65-3 record across 13 years with KU, the Bruins and the Yellow Jackets.

"I proved everything: I can coach good players, I can't coach bad ones," Rodgers joked during a 2018 interview with Bolch.

He also had short stints as head coach of the Memphis Showboats (USFL) and Memphis Mad Dogs (CFL) at the end of his coaching career.

Rodgers worked as the Redskins' vice president of football operations from 2001 until his 2004 retirement.