Paul Wiggin, the Kansas City Chiefs coach who followed Hank Stram, dies at 91
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- Paul Wiggin, who died at 91, succeeded Hank Stram as KC Chiefs coach in 1975.
- Chiefs fell to 5-9, 5-9 and 1-6 in 1977, and owner Lamar Hunt fired him.
- He starred as a Pro Bowl end, coached Stanford and served decades with the Vikings.
The second head coach in Kansas City Chiefs history has died.
Paul Wiggin, who succeeded Hank Stram in 1975 and spent three years leading the Chiefs, died Friday. The passing was announced by the Minnesota Vikings, where Wiggin spent the final 21 years of his NFL career.
He was 91.
Wiggin came to the Chiefs from the San Francisco 49ers, where he had served as defensive coordinator the previous year. He understood his task in Kansas City, which after nine straight winning seasons slipped to 5-9 in 1974. Stram was fired after the season.
“We have some rebuilding to do here,” Wiggin said upon taking the job.
He took over a team with several future Hall of Fame players like Len Dawson, Willie Lanier, Buck Buchanan and Emmitt Thomas. But that was the last season for Dawson and Buchanan along with Otis Taylor. Lanier and Thomas were close to the end of their careers. Bobby Bell had finished in 1974.
The transition didn’t go well. Wiggin’s teams finished 5-9, 5-9, and the Chiefs stood 1-6 when he was fired midway through 1977, even though the team had added two years to his contract entering the season.
“We were no longer moving toward the top,” Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt said then. “There was something missing. I can’t say it was any one thing.”
The firing was not popular with Chiefs fans, who blamed poor drafts and personnel moves more than the coach for the franchise’s demise.
“I bit the bullet during a very rough time in this team’s history,” Wiggin told Sports Illustrated.
Tom Bettis, the defensive backs coach, took over to complete the season. He gave way to Marv Levy in 1978. The Chiefs did not have a playoff season between 1971 and 1986.
Wiggin rejoined his former 49ers coach Dick Nolan in New Orleans and became the Saints’ defensive coordinator. He became the head coach at his alma mater, Stanford, in 1980 and coached John Elway.
Wiggin became the Vikings’ defensive line coach in 1985 and from 1992-2015 served as a senior consultant for the organization.
He was a Pro Bowl defensive end for the Cleveland Browns, winning an NFL championship in 1964