Bobby Ross
Following a tour of duty in the U.S. Army as a first lieutenant (1960-62), Bobby Ross found work coaching high school football. He coached at Colonial Heights High School and at his own alma mater of Benedictine, both located near Richmond, Va. He then moved on to coaching at the college level, starting with assistant coaching stints at the Virginia Military Institute, William & Mary, Rice, and Maryland, before accepting his first head coaching job in 1973 at The Citadel.
Ross was the 16th head college football coach for the Citadel Bulldogs and held that position for five seasons, from 1973 until 1978.
Ross then spent four years as an assistant coach with the Kansas City Chiefs (1978-81) before returning to the collegiate ranks as head coach at Maryland. He won three Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Championships while at Maryland. After four years, Ross left Maryland to coach the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. As head coach of Georgia Tech in 1990, he won the National Championship, the ACC Championship, the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award, and the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award.
Ross then left to become head coach of the San Diego Chargers, where the highlight of his tenure was San Diego's first trip to the Super Bowl. Ross' first season in San Diego (1992) saw the Chargers earn a playoff berth and claim the AFC West title, their first since 1981.
Following the 1996 season, Ross left the Chargers to become the head coach of the Detroit Lions, a position he held until the middle of the 2000 season.
In 2004, Ross began a three-year term as head coach for Army before retiring from coaching in 2007.
Ross has been inducted into the San Diego Chargers Hall of Fame, Virginia Sports Hall of Fame, VMI Hall of Fame and the Georgia Tech Hall of Fame. One of his most cherished awards came in 1990 when he was named Coach of the Year by the Walter Camp Football Foundation.
Ross and his wife, Alice, have three sons, two daughters, and 18 grandchildren. Their sons Chris and Kevin graduated from the United States Air Force Academy and Naval Academy, in 1984 and 1988, respectively.