Jack Lengyel

About Jack Lengyel

Jack Lengyel (born 1935) is a software executive and former sports official. He is best known as having been head coach of the Marshall University Thundering Herd football team from 1971 until 1974, having taken over following the Southern Airways Flight 932 plane crash that killed nearly the entire team in 1970. He graduated from The University of Akron, where he was an assistant coach in 1959, and was a member of Lone Star Fraternity. He was an assistant coach at Heidelberg College (1961–62) and Cornell (1963–65) before becoming head football and lacrosse coach at The College of Wooster from 1966–1970.

Lengyel was hired by Marshall athletic director Joe McMullen after head coach Rick Tolley was killed along with most of the Marshall coaches and players in the crash. When Lengyel arrived at Marshall he was forced to recruit athletes from other sports (baseball and basketball) as well as allow a large number of walk-ons in order to rebuild the devastated football program. Although the team struggled in Lengyel's first season at the helm, it managed to win a stunning 15–13 victory over Xavier, scoring a touchdown on the final play of the game. His overall record at Marshall as the head coach was 9–33.

After leaving Marshall, Lengyel went into the private sector before returning to sports as associate director of athletics at Louisville (1980) and Missouri (1981–84). He then went to Fresno State as director of athletics for two years before returning to Missouri to become their athletic director.