Big Blue Report: Former Giants Head Coach Jim Fassel Passes at 71

(Source: New York Giants)

Jim Fassel, who led the Giants to three playoff berths and a Super Bowl and mentored some of the franchise’s greatest players in his seven seasons as the team’s coach, has passed away. He was 71.

According to numerous reports, Fassel, who lived outside of Las Vegas, was taken to a hospital with chest pains and died of a heart attack while under sedation.

Fassel coached the Giants from 1997-2003. His 58 career regular-season victories are the fourth-highest total among the 19 coaches in the 96-year history of the franchise. He was named NFL Coach of the Year after his first season.

On Dec. 17, 2003, with two games remaining in what became a 4-12 year, Fassel announced he would resign after the season, knowing he would almost certainly have been fired had he not been proactive.

Fassel coached at the collegiate and professional levels for 30 years. He was the head coach at the University of Utah from 1985-89 and he coached in four different professional leagues (the World Football League, United States Football League, NFL and UFL). Fassel coached Pro Football Hall of Famer John Elway as an offensive coordinator at Stanford and with the Denver Broncos and he also had NFL stints with the Oakland Raiders and Arizona Cardinals. But it is his seven seasons with the Giants that Fassel most treasured.