Former Army Coach Cahill Dies

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. —  Tom Cahill, former football coach at Army, has died of a heart attack at 73.

Cahill died Thursday night in the emergency room at Ellis Hospital after being stricken while bowling, hospital officials said.

Cahill, hired in 1959 by Earl (Red) Blaik to coach freshman football and baseball, was elevated to head coach in 1966 when Paul Dietzel resigned to take over at South Carolina.

Cahill coached the Cadets to an 8-2 record in his first season, including an 11-0 victory over Penn State in Joe Paterno’s first year there. Cahill was voted 1966 Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches and the Football Writers and Touchdown Club of Washington, D.C.

“Life can change so quickly,” Cahill said that first season. “For 20 years I put my shoes on the same way, then all of a sudden people want to know--’How does it look, Tom?’--people who never asked me anything before.”

Army was 8-2 again in 1967 and 7-3 in 1968. But Cahill closed out the 1960s with a 4-5-1 mark and his 1970 squad went 1-9-1. Army was 6-4 in each of the next two seasons, then went winless in 1973.

Before the 1973 finale against Navy, West Point administrators assured reporters that Cahill would return as coach, no matter the outcome. However, after Navy won by 51-0, the worst defeat in the history of the rivalry, Cahill was fired.

His coaching record at Army was 40-39-2 in eight years, including a 5-3 mark against Navy.

Cahill later coached five seasons at Union College in Schenectady, going 12-27-1.

In 1984, Cahill returned to West Point and became a fixture in the press box at Michie Stadium as an analyst on the Army radio network. He was scheduled to broadcast today’s game against Eastern Michigan.

Cahill, born in Fayetteville, N.Y., was a three-sport star in football, baseball and basketball at Niagara.

Cahill is survived by his wife and four children. Funeral arrangements were incomplete Friday.