Pete Kettela

Peter P. "Pete" Kettela (May 28, 1938 – September 29, 2013) was an American football executive and coach who served the head coach of the UC Riverside Highlanders and the Edmonton Eskimos.

Athletic career

Kettela played football, baseball, and basketball at UC Riverside from 1959 to 1961. He was the starting quarterback for the Highlanders during their undefeated 1960 season and was named to that year's Small College All-American team. He also played on the school's baseball and basketball teams. He was inducted into the UC Riverside Athletic Hall of Fame on June 12, 1986 as a member of the Hall's first class.[1]

Coaching career

Kettela served as the offensive coordinator at University of California, Santa Barbara before returning to Riverside in 1966 as the head football coach.[2] He was an assistant coach at University of the Pacific in 1971 before spending five seasons as a member of the Stanford Cardinal coaching staff and one season as the offensive coordinator at San Jose State. In 1978, Kettela moved joined the Green Bay Packers organization as a scout. In 1981, he joined the coaching staff as special offensive assistant and was promoted to offensive backfield coach the following year.[3]

In 1983, Kettela replaced Hugh Campbell as the head coach of the Edmonton Eskimos. He was fired after the defending Grey Cup champions got off to a 4-4 start and was replaced by former Eskimos quarterback Jackie Parker.[4]

The following season, Kettela served as an assistant coach with Arizona Outlaws of the United States Football League. In 1985 he was the offensive coordinator of the USFL's Portland Breakers.[5] Kettela served as an assistant at UNLV in 1989 and in 1990 he was the offensive coordinator under Pro Football Hall of Famer George Allen at Long Beach State. Following Allen's death, he was a candidate for the head coaching job that ultimately went to Willie Brown.[6] In 1991, Kettela was named head coach of Carolina Cougars of the Professional Spring Football League.[7] The league folded before a game was ever played.

From 1992-2007, Kettela was the Arizona Rattlers Director of Player Personnel and an assistant coach.[8] During his tenure with the Rattlers, the team appeared in the ArenaBowl five times, winning twice.

Kettela retired to Flagstaff, Arizona. He died on September 29, 2013.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "PETE KETTELA, FORMER UC RIVERSIDE FOOTBALL COACH & STUDENT-ATHLETE PASSES AWAY". UC Riverside. Retrieved October 4, 2013.
  2. ↑ http://www.athletics.ucr.edu/administrative/HOF.html
  3. ↑ "Packers Name Kettela". The Hour. March 4, 1982. Retrieved 2010-10-09.
  4. ↑ Terry Jones (July 26, 2010). "Eskimos jobs in jeopardy: Team president". Edmonton Sun. Retrieved 2010-10-09.
  5. ↑ "Transactions". the Associated Press. January 12, 1985. Retrieved 2010-10-09.
  6. ↑ "Brown vows to be his own man". Press-Telegram. January 16, 1991.
  7. ↑ Geoffrey Wilcox (January 9, 1992). "Carolina Cougars set for inaugural PSFL season". The Herald. Retrieved 2010-10-09.
  8. ↑ Richard Obert (May 8, 2007). "League Still Strong Entering 21st Year". Arizona Republic.
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