Gary Durchik

College coach infobox


Name = Gary Durchik
Caption =
Title =
Sport = Canadian football
CurrentRecord =
DateOfBirth = 1944
Birthplace =
OverallRecord = 6-14 (CFL)
Contract =
Championships =
Awards =
CoachingRecords =
Player = yes
Years = 1963-65
Team = Miami (OH)
Position = Tight End
Coach =yes
CoachYears = 1969-72
1973
1974-78
1979
1980-83
1984-85
1985-86
1987-90
1991-94
2002-Present
CoachTeams = Chillicothe High School
Miami RedHawks Assistant Coach
Colorado Buffaloes Offensive Line Coach
Illinois Fighting Illini Assistant Coach
Northern Illinois Huskies Offensive Coordinator
Montreal Concordes Offensive Line Coach
Montreal Concordes/Alouettes
Edmonton Eskimos Offensive Line Coach
Hamilton Tiger-Cats Offensive Coordinator/Offensive Line Coach
Edmonton Wildcats
career_highlights=
Awards= 2006 Norm Kimball Coach of the Year Award

Gary Durchik (Born 1944) is a Canadian football coach who is currently the head coach of the Edmonton Wildcats of the Prairie Football Conference, which itself is part of the Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL).

Biography

A Hall of Fame athlete at Mentor High School, he was a tight end at Miami University from 1963-1965. He got his first head coaching job in 1969 at the young age of 25. He coached the Chillicothe High School Cavaliers for four seasons before returning to the Miami RedHawks in 1973 as an assistant. In his only season with the RedHawks, the team had an undefeated 11-0 season. Miami finished the year with the 17th overall ranking and defeated the Florida Gators 16-7 in the Tangerine Bowl. This season also began a 11 year relationship between head coach Bill Mallory and Durchik.

From 1974-1978 Durchik was Mallory's Offensive Line Coach with the Colorado Buffaloes [http://www.cubuffs.com/pdf3/47574.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=600] . In five seasons at Boulder the Buffaloes had a 35-21-1 record, appearing in two bowl games, both losses. He was an assistant coach for Gary Moeller for one year 1979 at the University of Illinois before joining forces again with Coach Mallory at Northern Illinois, where he was the Huskies Offensive Coordinator from 1980-1983. After a brief stint as interim head coach during the off-season between the 1983 and 1984 college football seasons, he was a finalist for the Head Coaching Job at NIU but decided to head to the Canadian Football League when Lee Corso got the head coaching job.

Durchik's next coaching position was as the Offensive Line Coach for Montreal Concordes. Durchik replaced head coach Joe Galat for the final two games of the 1985 season, winning both. He defeated the Ottawa Rough Riders 30-20 in the East Semi-Final. He returned to coach the team to a 4-14 season the following year. [http://chl.ca/Slam/Columnists/Jones/2005/08/25/1187590-sun.html]

From 1987-1990 he was Offensive Line Coach for the Edmonton Eskimos. In 1987, the Eskimos defeated the Toronto Argonauts 38-26 in the 75th Grey Cup. Durchik's second Grey Cup appearance as a coach was a 50-11 loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the 78th Grey Cup.

Next, Durchik was the OL Coach and Offensive Coordinator for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats from 1991-1994. The team made the conference Semi-Finals in 1992 and 1993, both times losing to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

In 2002 he was named head coach of the Edmonton Wildcats. In 2006, he led the team to the Canadian Bowl. He also received the Norm Kimball Coach of the Year award from Football Alberta in March of 2007.