Titans' Original Memphis Man, Pepper Rodgers, Dies

Former USFL and CFL head coach could not generate initial interest for an NFL team in Nashville

Pepper Rodgers, an instrumental – if not influential – figure during the early days of the Tennessee Titans’ transition from Houston, died Thursday. He was 88.

A colorful and highly successful college coach during the 1960s and 1970s, he is closely associated with the Titans’ disastrous decision to play home games in Memphis for two years while their permanent home in Nashville was under construction. The team ultimately changed course after one season in which average attendance at the Liberty Bowl was 28,095 (capacity was 62,380).

The late K.S. “Bud” Adams hired Rodgers, who had close ties to Memphis at the time, in 1997 to serve as a liaison – he once described his role as a trouble-shooter – in that city and to help generate state-wide interest in the team as it moved from Houston, where it was founded in 1960 as the Houston Oilers. Unsuccessful in building a fan base in the city 200 miles west of Nashville (the Memphis football community wanted its own NFL franchise), Rodgers was dismissed after a little more than a year.

Rodgers had been head coach of Memphis’ short-lived entries in the United States Football League (1984-85) and the Canadian Football League (1995).

The team, then known as the Tennessee Oilers, played its home 1998 games at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville. In 1999, it was rebranded as the Titans and took up residence in what is now Nissan Stadium.

After the Oilers, he became vice president of football operations with the Washington Redskins in 2004. That was his final job in football.

“I was terribly saddened to hear the news about the passing of Pepper Rodgers,” Washinton owner Daniel Snyder said in a statement. “Anyone who knew Pepper knew what a genuinely good person he was. He was a kind and gentle man who helped guide me as a young owner in the NFL. He had an incredible knowledge of the game and was beloved by everyone in the organization.”

Rodgers is best known as a college coach with Kansas (1967-70), UCLA (1971-73) and Georgia Tech, where he starred as a player (1974-79). In 13 seasons, his career record was 73-65-3 with two bowl appearances. His 1968 Kansas team finished seventh in the AP top 25 and played in the Orange Bowl. His final two UCLA teams also finished in the top 15.

As a player, he was part of an undefeated Georgia Tech team in 1951 and, as a senior in 1952, a star on a team that finished 9-2-1.

Georgia Tech announced his passing. No cause of death was provided.

“We have lost a great Tech man,” Georgia Tech athletics director Todd Stansbury said.