Former Steelers assistant Dan Radakovich dies at 84

Dan Radakovich, a Duquesne native and Penn State linebacker who was an assistant coach on the Pittsburgh Steelers’ first two Super Bowl championship teams, died Thursday. He was 84.

Radakovich’s death was announced by Robert Morris, where he spent 13 seasons as defensive coordinator and assistant head coach. Radakovich retired from Robert Morris in 2008 but returned as offensive line coach and football consultant for Division III Westminster. He was listed on Westminster’s staff for the 2019 season.

Radakovich played center and linebacker at Penn State, earning the nickname “Bad Rad.” He then joined the Penn State coaching staff in 1957, and during the next 13 seasons, he became the patriarch of “Linebacker U” with his work coaching that position. Among the linebackers he coached there were All-Americans Dennis Onkotz and Jack Ham.

“He was by far the best technique coach I ever saw, and I am indebted to him,” Ham wrote in the foreword to Radakovich’s 2012 autobiography, “Bad Rad: Football Nomad.” “I have more respect for Rad as a coach than anybody I’ve been around, and I’ve been around a lot of them.”

Radakovich’s versatility carried over to the NFL, where he coached on both sides of the ball.

Radakovich joined the Steelers in 1971 as defensive line/linebackers coach, then returned to college after one year to join the staff at Colorado. He returned to the Steelers as offensive line coach in 1974, just in time for the team to begin its run to Super Bowl prominence under head coach Chuck Noll.

“We are saddened to learn of the passing of Dan Radakovich,” Steelers president Art Rooney II said in a statement. “During his second stint on Chuck’s staff, Coach Rad became affectionately known as ‘Bad Rad,’ as he also became known as the offensive line coach of one of the best offensive lines of all time.”

After the 1977 season, Radakovich spent one year as defensive coordinator/linebackers coach with the San Francisco 49ers before joining the Los Angeles Rams in 1979. He was with the Rams when they lost to the Steelers in Super Bowl XIV.

Radakovich also had NFL stops with the Denver Broncos, Minnesota Vikings, New York Jets, Cleveland Browns and St. Louis Rams. In New York, he coached under Joe Walton, and they were reunited in the 1990s when Robert Morris hired Walton to construct the football program at the Division I-FCS level.

Radakovich was Walton’s first coaching hire, and he was part of the program’s inaugural staff in 1994. After a return to the NFL and a year with the St. Louis Rams, Radakovich returned to Robert Morris in 1996 and remained with the Colonials through the 2007 season.

“Dan, as much as anybody, is responsible for the building of the Robert Morris football program,” Walton said when Radakovich retired from the program in 2008. “Any success we had goes equally to him. He was the best on-the-field coach I’ve ever seen.”

Radakovich came out of retirement to work with Westminster for six seasons.

“Coach Rad touched so many people’s lives in football,” Westminster coach Scott Benzel said. “I will miss my mentor and friend. His life will live on through the countless stories and memories he created. He was an original, and nobody will ever forget ‘Bad Rad.’ ”

Radakovich was inducted into the Robert Morris Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015. He is survived by his wife, Nancy, and daughters Lisa, Leslie and Lori.