New Orleans Saints Coaching History—Hank Stram (1976-1977)

Having gone through three head coaches and an Interim head coach in nine years, New Orleans Saints owner John Mecom was trying to make a splash in 1976.

To make his young franchise relevant, the feeling was that he needed a big name to transform a struggling team and to excite a fan base in a new stadium.

Hank Stram certainly had the pedigree and the skins on the wall.

Stram began his coaching career at Purdue in 1948, serving for eight seasons.

Stram then went to SMU for one year as an assistant before moving to Notre Dame for two seasons. A year at Miami (FL) followed.

With 12 years on the college level under his belt, Stram got his big break.

The new American Football League had formed.

Lamar Hunt was the owner of the Dallas Texans.

Hunt tried to hire Bud Wilkinson away from Oklahoma but Wilkinson declined.

Hunt then had the good sense to try to hire New York Giants assistant Tom Landry to coach his team. Landry also turned it down.

Then, Hunt turned to a past connection to get his man.

Hunt was a player on the team at SMU in 1956 when Stram was an assistant coach. Hunt never forgot Stram.

Hunt tabbed Stram to coach his team. It was a brilliant move.

Stram went on to coach the Texans, who moved to Kansas City in 1963 and became the Chiefs, for 15 seasons. Stram posted an impressive 124-76-10 record.

More impressively, Stram led the Chiefs to three AFL championships and to a pair of Super Bowls, winning Super Bowl IV in the 1969 season.

That was the peak, the pinnacle of Stram’s career.

While Kansas City had winning records for the next four seasons, they never again threatened to win a title. In 1974, with the talent pool having retired and dwindling, the Chiefs went 5-9 and Hunt dismissed Stram.

After spending a year out of the game, Mecom made the splash, hiring Stram as the new coach of the Saints in 1976.

Stram never really had a chance with the Saints.

He and Mecom, each of whom had big egos, clashed immediately and never got a long.

Stram made three-a-day practices famous, working his players to the brink of their beings.

Stram was still a smart strategist but his strategy to build a winner in the new Louisiana Superdome was built around the athletic ability of Archie Manning.

Unfortunately, Stram never had Manning, for the most part.

Manning missed the entire 1976 season and part of the 1977 season with a shoulder injury

The Saints went 4-10 in 1976. The highlight of the season was a 27-17 victory at Kansas City in week three, the first win of the season and for Stram as coach of the Saints. It brought Stram great pleasure as his players sought to carry him on the field.

Stram had the foresight to draft Chuck Muncie and Tony Galbreath in the first and second rounds that year and they became a dynamic duo, the most talented running back duo in the NFL. In the win at Kansas City, Galbreath rushed for 146 yards and two touchdowns while Muncie ran for 126 yards.

Without Manning, Stram had to make due with Bobby Douglass and Bobby Scott at quarterback. Each won a pair of games but could not fill the void.

Muncie accounted for 931 yards and a pair of touchdowns while Galbreath accounted for 990 yards and eight touchdowns. Galbreath lead the team with 51 catches. Henry Childs was an asset at tight end. Jim Merlo and Joe Federspiel were solid at linebacker. Rich Szaro and Tom Blanchard gave New Orleans a good kicking game.

In 1977, Stram failed miserably in the draft with his selections of defensive linemen Joe Campbell and Mike Fultz in the first and second rounds.

Manning was still not completely healthy, missing four games and starting nine of the 10 games he played in. New Orleans won two games by a point each, beating the Rams 27-26 and the Falcons 21-20.

Not back to full health and form and without a sufficient supporting cast, the Saints were just 1-8 with Manning at the helm and 3-11 overall.

The kill shot to the Stram regime came when the Saints lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 33-14 in the Superdome. New Orleans trailed 26-0 in the fourth quarter. Manning and Scott were each intercepted three times in the game.

The Bucs had lost 26 straight games over two seasons. The loss was a tremendous embarrassment, one which moved Mecom to decide to fire Stram.

Muncie accounted for 1,059 yards and seven touchdowns while Galbreath amassed 909 yards and three scores total. Childs caught nine touchdown passes. It was not enough.

Following his dismissal by the Saints, Stram never coached again. He became a very good, popular broadcaster of NFL games on radio and television for many years and made his home in Covington, never departing the area that he had fallen in love with.

I was blessed to get to know Stram well, a delightful person, and had him on radio shows on several occasions.

Stram was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003. He deserved it. He deserved a better fate with the Saints. Some of his moves and a healthy Manning would pay dividends for his successor, Dick Nolan.