I first heard of this guy when my college education shifted from a community college in Central California to an agricultural school in Southern California. My sophomore year at College of the Sequoias was highlighted by the fact that our small college (around 3,000 students, and that seemed huge to me as my graduating class in high school had just over 100 students!) had just won the California State Championship in football by defeating Fullerton Junior College, a large community college from Orange County with an enrollment around 20,000 students.
It was quite a come down to enroll at a school where sports had very little importance. There was a small group of us from Central California in the School of Agriculture at California Polytechnic University, Pomona, because it offered the only Bachelor of Science degree in Citriculture anywhere in the country. We were a bunch of bumpkins in the BIG city where we all must have walked around with wide eyes and mouths agape for at least two months after first showing up in smog land. One Saturday early that fall we all decided to take in our first Cal Poly football game. I was amazed! There were bigger crowds at my high school games than the number of fans in the stands for this Saturday night home game against Cal State Los Angeles! Other than the lack of support for our football team, the next biggest impression I recall centered on this young quarterback who was forced to scramble around as the opposing team’s defense continually collapsed the Cal Poly Broncos’ pass protection. The QB reminded me of the Viking’s Fran Tarkenton. He’d roll this way and that, stop and look downfield, no one open, dodge a defensive end, roll back this way and finally break downfield for a few yards. Next play, same thing. It got real old, but this young scrambler had the Broncos in front by four points with time running out. LA State had the ball and on their last desperation play of the game, their tailback ran into a big pile up on a surprise draw play. The players on the field actually began standing and everyone in the stands thought the game was over when all of a sudden this little guy comes out of the far side of the pile and sprints (wearing only one shoe!) all the way down the far sideline for a touchdown to win the game! My buddies and I just looked at each other and shook our heads while sharing a sour expression… So this was Cal Poly Pomona football… Over the balance of that season and the next, while I continued taking courses toward my degree, I went ahead and attended a few other games as one of the song girls and I were seeing each other and I felt like it was the thing to do… I know, I know… Anyway, this same quarterback continued to try and carry the team on his back, but with very little success. He was personally rewarded for his efforts by being named the Southern California College Division player of the year despite playing for a 4-6-1 team. That's because he passed for 2,367 yards and 16 touchdowns. I graduated before the next season and moved on, but that quarterback stuck around and ended up setting 10 school passing records, most of which will never be broken as Cal Poly Pomona eventually dropped intercollegiate football due to lack of interest in 1982…
The next time I heard about this guy I was surprised to find that he had been picked up by the NFL’s fledgling Seattle Seahawks. He was signed as an undrafted free agent and had beaten out a couple of older, established quarterbacks and he was actually
starting for them! Jim Zorn had come out of literally nowhere to be named the AFC Offensive Rookie of the Year following the Seahawk’s inaugural season in 1976 under Head Coach Jack Patera. Over the years, the left hander went on to make quite a name for himself as he continued to play his Houdini routine so that he could eventually hookup with his favorite receiver out of the University of Tulsa (and future Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee), Steve Largent. Jim’s NFL playing career saw him remain with the Seahawks for a total of nine seasons (seven as the starter) during which time he was honored as the team’s MVP and as a Pro Bowler in 1978. From 1978 to 1980, the left-handed QB passed for more than 3,000 yards each year and was only the third player in NFL history to throw for more than 10,000 yards in his first four seasons. After new Seahawks’ Head Coach Chuck Knox was brought in and had Jim playing back-up to Dave Krieg for the 1983 and 1984 seasons, he moved on to the Green Bay Packers where he played back-up and intermittently started for the Packers in 1985. Jim played his last full season of professional football for the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1986 and then came back for a few games in 1987 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a strike replacement player. When asked in an interview what the highlight of his professional playing career was, Jim didn’t hesitate as he responded, “The thing I remember most about playing the Raiders and this truly was a highlight, was how spent everyone was after those particular games. Every time we played them it was an absolute fight to the finish. There wasn't much left when you came into the locker room. Everyone expended their energies onto the field and it was very grueling type of game mentally and emotionally. Physically it was just a real battle.”
Steve Largent and Jim Zorn
In 1991 Jim Zorn’s name was added to the Seattle Seahawk’s Ring of Honor where he once again joined his old teammate and close friend, Steve Largent, along with four other former Seahawks.
Jim naturally moved from playing football to coaching it as he began down that road as the Quarterbacks Coach for Boise State University. This lasted from 1988 through 1991 and then he was off to Utah State University as their Offensive Coordinator for a three year stint. His final collegiate coaching position was with the University of Minnesota under Head Coach Jim Wacker, where he once again served as Quarterback Coach for the Golden Gophers for two years through the end of the 1996 season.
In 1997, Dennis Erickson hired Zorn to his first professional football coaching position as an Offensive Assistant with the Seattle Seahawks. This lasted for two seasons before he became the Quarterbacks Coach for a two year term with the Detroit Lions under Bobby Ross and then Gary Moeller. Then, in 2001 Jim was again reunited with the Seattle Seahawks organization as the Quarterbacks Coach under Mike Holmgren. Jim was schooled by one of the best quarterback coaches in recent NFL history and developed into a disciple of the Holmgren version of the “West Coast” offense. Jim continued on in this capacity for seven full seasons until last year.
With Coach Holmgren’s announcement that 2008 will be his last as the Seahawk’s Head Coach making a coaching shake up inevitable before the 2009 season when Jim Mora takes over, Jim began looking for a new challenge. On January 26th, he accepted the Offensive Coordinator job with the Washington Redskins, in a move that left many wondering what was going on. Following the team’s opening playoff game defeat and the subsequent second retirement of Head Coach Joe Gibbs, team owner, Dan Snyder, and the team’s upper management group immediately began filling out the team’s coaching staff before a new Gibb’s replacement had been hired. Now I’m not sure if these moves were unprecedented or not, but as a longtime NFL fan, I’ve never heard of such a thing. I always thought the hiring of assistant coaches was considered sacred ground, an entitlement left to an incoming head coach and understandably so since it’s his neck on the line…
So here we are, the playoffs are continuing and the Redskins are filling out the team’s coaching staff while a search for a new Head Coach was continuing. Prospective Coaches were being interviewed with much fanfare, and the month long search went on.
The candidates for the job included New York Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, Jim Fassel, Steve Mariucci, Jim Mora and Ron Meeks.
Suddenly, on February 9th, the Redskins announced their search had ended as Jim Zorn was elevated from his new position as the Redskin’s Offensive Coordinator to become the sixth coach hired during Dan Snyder’s Redskin ownership tenure which began in 1999.
Throughout Jim Zorn’s football career as a player and coach, he has turned to his strong Christian faith as he has confidently faced his critics and proved himself a winner. If he continues to follow this script, Dan Snyder and his Redskins may well have finally found their coach for many years to come.
I’m a little biased when it comes to Jim Zorn as he represents the last bastion of the Cal Poly Pomona Bronco’s football legacy and I wish him nothing but smooth sailing as he leads one of the NFL’s most storied franchises, the Washington Redskins!
I'm a sports fanatic living on the west coast of Florida. I'm a rare bird that moved here from the left coast a couple of years ago. I advocate an even playing field in all of life's endeavors.
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year at College of the Sequoias was highlighted by the fact that our small college (around 3,000 students, and that seemed huge to me as my graduating class in high school had just over 100 students!) had just won the California State Championship in football by defeating Fullerton Junior College, a large community college from Orange County with an enrollment around 20,000 students. 
because it offered the only Bachelor of Science degree in Citriculture anywhere in the country. We were a bunch of bumpkins in the BIG city where we all must have walked around with wide eyes and mouths agape for at least two months after first showing up in smog land. One Saturday early that fall we all decided to take in our first Cal Poly football game. I was amazed! There were bigger crowds at my high school games than the number of fans in the stands for this Saturday night home game against Cal State Los Angeles! Other than the lack of support for our football team, the next biggest impression I recall centered on this young quarterback who was forced to scramble around as the opposing team’s defense continually collapsed the Cal Poly Broncos’ pass protection. The QB reminded me of the Viking’s Fran Tarkenton. 
He’d roll this way and that, stop and look downfield, no one open, dodge a defensive end, roll back this way and finally break downfield for a few yards. Next play, same thing. It got real old, but this young scrambler had the Broncos in front by four points with time running out. LA State had the ball and on their last desperation play of the game, their tailback ran into a big pile up on a surprise draw play. The players on the field actually began standing and everyone in the stands thought the game was over when all of a sudden this little guy comes out of the far side of the pile and sprints (wearing only one shoe!) all the way down the far sideline for a touchdown to win the game! My buddies and I just looked at each other and shook our heads while sharing a sour expression… So this was Cal Poly Pomona football… Over the balance of that season and the next, while I continued taking courses toward my degree, I went ahead and attended a few other games as one of the song girls and I were seeing each other and I felt like it was the thing to do… I know, I know… Anyway, this same quarterback continued to try and carry the team on his back, but with very little success. He was personally rewarded for his efforts by being named the Southern California College Division player of the year despite playing for a 4-6-1 team. That's because he passed for 2,367 yards and 16 touchdowns. I graduated before the next season and moved on, but that quarterback stuck around and ended up setting 10 school passing records, most of which will never be broken as Cal Poly Pomona eventually dropped intercollegiate football due to lack of interest in 1982… 
as a Pro Bowler in 1978. From 1978 to 1980, the left-handed QB passed for more than 3,000 yards each year and was only the third player in NFL history to throw for more than 10,000 yards in his first four seasons. After new Seahawks’ Head Coach Chuck Knox was brought in and had Jim playing back-up to Dave Krieg for the 1983 and 1984 seasons, he moved on to the Green Bay Packers where he played back-up and intermittently started for the Packers in 1985. Jim played his last full season of professional football for the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1986 and then came back for a few games in 1987 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a strike replacement player. When asked in an interview what the highlight of his professional playing career was, Jim didn’t hesitate as he responded, “The thing I remember most about playing the Raiders and this truly was a highlight, was how spent everyone was after those particular games. Every time we played them it was an absolute fight to the finish. There wasn't much left when you came into the locker room. Everyone expended their energies onto the field and it was very grueling type of game mentally and emotionally. Physically it was just a real battle.”
out the team’s coaching staff before a new Gibb’s replacement had been hired. Now I’m not sure if these moves were unprecedented or not, but as a longtime NFL fan, I’ve never heard of such a thing. I always thought the hiring of assistant coaches was considered sacred ground, an entitlement left to an incoming head coach and understandably so since it’s his neck on the line… 
