Dan 'Mad Rad' Radakovich, Father of Linebacker U

Correction: Lou Prato is co-authoring the book with Radakovich

Dan "Bad Rad" Radakovich (RMU Photo)

Earlier this week, I asked all of you Penn State "Who is 'The Father of Linebacker U'?" I'm thinking that this will become some sort of regular thing here, as it's always fun to chat some Penn State history/trivia. But there is an interesting influence to this idea and the first question I asked you all. See, a few days ago I got an email from Lou Prato, the most official unofficial Penn State football historian. Seeing how LBU plays on one of Penn State football's proudest traditions, Lou suggested I test your--the readers'--Nittany knowledge on just where the "Linebacker U" moniker came from, starting with the man responsible for building Penn State's reputation for producing the best linebackers in college football.

Ok, ok, so who the heck is the father of Linebacker U?

[drum roll...] Dan "Bad Rad" Radakovich

50 years of football...
Radakovich graduated from Penn State in 1957, where he later coached from 1957-69, he also was an assistant at Cincinnati (1970), Colorado (1972-73) and North Carolina State (1982). In the NFL, coached with the St. Louis Rams (1995), Cleveland Browns (1989-90), the New York Jets (1985-88), Minnesota Vikings (1984), Denver Broncos (1983), Los Angeles Rams (1979-81), San Francisco 49ers (1978) and the Pittsburgh Steelers (1971, 1974-77). Rad returned to the college ranks, as an assistant coach for Robert Morris until retiring in 2008.

Most of you western Pennsylvanians will probably know the name more from his tenure with the Steelers, winning two Super Bowls coaching up the legendary "Steel Curtain." But for Penn Staters, his name is probably not known well enough. That's all going to change, right now...