08/18/2025
We forget Coach Hall was a quarterback.
August 14, 1940 – Galen Hall Born
Happy 85th Birthday to Galen Hall who was born on this day in 1940 in Altoona, Pennsylvania. Several months after his birth, Hall’s father passed away and he moved in with grandparents and was raised in Williamsburg, Pennsylvania.
Hall played collegiately at Penn State University under head coach Rip Engle and assistant coach Joe Paterno and was the team’s starting quarterback for the 1960 and 1961 seasons, both ending with bowl victories. In the 1961 Gator Bowl, Hall threw for three touchdowns in a 30-15 win over Georgia Tech.
Despite being named the Most Outstanding Player in the only playing of the U.S. Bowl, a college all-star game that was played in Washington, DC, Hall went undrafted. He would sign as a rookie free agent with the NFL’s Washington Redskins where he would play in three games before being released. In 1963, Hall appeared in 13 games and made two starts for the AFL’s New York Jets. His 73-yard touchdown pass to Don Maynard on December 14, 1963, was the last touchdown pass thrown in the Polo Grounds and would be his lone passing touchdown as a pro quarterback.
After two years of professional football, Hall became a college coach starting at the West Virginia University in 1964 for two seasons before joining Jim Mackenzie’s staff at the University of Oklahoma in 1966. Hall would stay at Oklahoma through the 1983 season and rise to the rank of offensive coordinator when Barry Switzer was promoted to head coach, replacing Chuck Fairbanks who replaced Mackenzie after Mackenzie’s death following a heart attack.
In 1984, Hall was hired as the new offensive coordinator at the University of Florida replacing Mike Shanahan who left to become an assistant coach with the Denver Broncos and who had previously been on staff with Hall at Oklahoma. Hall installed the I formation offense for Charley Pell who was heading into his sixth season as head coach at Florida.
However, after a 63-21 win over Tulane, Pell was fired and Hall was promoted to head coach amid an investigation by the NCAA over rules violations. Hall led the Gators to eight wins including a perfect 5-0 mark in Southeastern Conference play after being promoted. Despite being on probation for two years, Hall led the Gators to a 9-1-1 record in 1985 and a 6-5 mark in 1986.
With probation having passed, Hall led the Gators to back-to-back bowl appearances including a 14-10 win over Illinois in the 1988 All-American Bowl. The MVP of the All-American Bowl that year was running back and future Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Emmitt Smith who had two rushing touchdowns.
Following a 4-1 start in 1989, Hall was relieved of duties as another NCAA investigation came to Gainesville. Two years of probation would follow and, after the Gators finished the season 7-5 with a loss to Washington in the Freedom Bowl, former Florida quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Steve Spurrier was brought on as the new head football coach. Joe Paterno said of Hall that he was “a good coach who got screwed.”
In 1991, Hall returned to coaching football as the offensive coorindator of the Orlando Thunder win the World League of American Football. The following season, he took over as the team’s head coach and led them to an 8-2 record and a berth in World Bowl II where they lost to the Sacramento Surge. Though he was named WLAF Coach of the Year, the WLAF would fold after the season.
Following a one-year stint coaching the Charlotte Rage in the Arena Football League, Hall became the head coach of the Rhine Fire in NFL Europe. He would lead the Fire to three World Bowl berths and to victory in two of them. Twice he was named NFL Europe Coach of the Year. He would also win Coach of the Year honors in the XFL during their 2001 season having led the Orlando Rage to an 8-2 record and the Eastern Division title.
Hall became the running backs coach of the Dallas Cowboys in 2002, leading to a reunion with Smith. It would be in that season where Smith would break the career rushing record of Walter Payton. Hall was dismissed by incoming head coach Bill Parcells following the season.
After sitting out the 2003 football season, Hall was reunited with Paterno as the team’s new offensive coordinator and running backs coach in 2004. In just his second season back at his alma mater, Hall’s offense helped lead Penn State to an 11-1 record, a tie for the Big Ten championship, and a win in the Orange Bowl over Florida State.
From 2005 to 2009, the Nittany Lions won no fewer than nine games, shared two Big Ten titles, and went 4-1 in bowl games. At home against Northwestern on November 6, 2010, Penn State helped deliver Paterno his 400th career win as head coach despite a down year in which they finished 7-6.
Following an 8-1 start in 2011, scandal rocked the Penn State football program as former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was indicted on November 4, 2011, for 40 separate counts of s*xually abusing young boys. Five days later, Paterno was dismissed as the school’s head coach and defensive coordinator Tom Bradley served as the interim head coach for the rest of the season as the Nittany Lions went 1-3 and lost the Cotton Bowl to Houston.
Prior to the 2012 season, Bill O’Brien was hired as the new head football coach at Penn State and Hall was dismissed from the coaching staff despite having no connection to the child s*x abuse scandal. At age 71, Hall retired and made Groveland, Florida, his home. He and several other coaches would file a lawsuit against Penn State in 2015 over allegations of failing to pay the totality of severance packages that were due to them.
