Dan Radakovich (American football)

{{Short description|American football player and coach (1935–2020)}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}

{{Infobox NFL biography

| name = Dan Radakovich

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1935|11|26}}

| birth_place = Duquesne, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| death_date = {{death date and age|2020|2|20|1935|11|26}}

| death_place = Moon, Pennsylvania, U.S.

| pastcoaching =

• Penn State (1957–1969)
  Assistant coach
• Cincinnati (1970)
  Assistant coach
• Pittsburgh Steelers ({{NFL Year|1971}})
  Defensive line coach
• Colorado (1972–1973)
  Defensive coordinator & linebackers coach
• Pittsburgh Steelers ({{NFL Year|1974}}–{{NFL Year|1977}})
  Offensive line coach
• San Francisco 49ers ({{NFL Year|1978}})
  Defensive coordinator & linebackers coach
• Los Angeles Rams ({{NFL Year|1979}}–{{NFL Year|1981}})
  Linebackers coach
• NC State (1982)
  Assistant coach
• Denver Broncos ({{NFL Year|1983}})
  Linebackers coach
• Minnesota Vikings ({{NFL Year|1984}})
  Linebackers coach
• New York Jets ({{NFL Year|1985}}–{{NFL Year|1988}})
  Linebackers coach
• Cleveland Browns ({{NFL Year|1989}}–{{NFL Year|1990}})
  Defensive coordinator & linebackers coach
• Robert Morris (1994)
  Defensive coordinator
• St. Louis Rams ({{NFL Year|1995}})
  Linebackers coach
• London Monarchs ({{NFLE Year|1997}})
  Assistant coach
• Robert Morris (1996–2007)
  Defensive coordinator

|highlights=

• 2× Super Bowl champion (IX, X)
• Second-team All-Eastern (1956)

|pfrcoach=RadaDa0

}}

Dan Radakovich (November 26, 1935 – February 20, 2020){{cite news |title=In Memoriam: Dan Radakovich (1935-2020) |url=https://rmucolonials.com/news/2020/2/20/football-in-memoriam-dan-radakovich-1934-2020.aspx |website=RMUColonials.com |date=February 20, 2020 |access-date=February 20, 2020}} was an American football player and coach. He helped coach the Pittsburgh Steelers to multiple Super Bowl wins in the 1970s as the team's offensive line coach.[https://www.espn.com/college-football/news/story?id=3366014 "Radakovich, coach at college and NFL levels, retires after 48 years", ESPN.com, Apr. 25, 2008] He spent 48 years in collegiate and professional coaching before his retirement in 2008.

Radakovich graduated from Pennsylvania State University in 1957, and immediately began working on the coaching staff of the Nittany Lions, which he continued until 1969. He went to Cincinnati in 1970, and joined the Steelers in 1971.

Described as "lean, and blond, a center in his playing days",Arthur J. Rooney Jr., Ruanaidh: The Story of Art Rooney and His Clan (2008), p. 317. Radakovich was "a Western Pennsylvania guy who had been on Noll's staff in 1971 but resigned to take a coaching job in college football".Arthur J. Rooney Jr., Ruanaidh: The Story of Art Rooney and His Clan (2008), p. 316. Radakovich subsequently returned to working with professional football, where he helped persuade Chuck Noll to draft Franco Harris out of Penn State.

After a stint in Colorado, he coached the Steelers' offensive line from 1974 to 1977. In 1978, Radakovich left Pittsburgh to work on the coaching staff of the San Francisco 49ers, then switched to the Los Angeles Rams in 1979. His last position was as an assistant with Robert Morris University. Radakovich died in 2020 at the age of 84.{{Cite web|url=https://www.post-gazette.com/sports/steelers/2020/02/20/Dan-Radakovich-obituary-football-coach-Steelers-Robert-Morris-Penn-State/stories/202002200171|title = Obituary: Dan Radakovich, a football coach extraordinaire with Steelers, Penn State, RMU}}