John Mazur

Who is John Mazur?

John Edward Mazur was a former football player and coach who was a quarterback for the University of Notre Dame and also served as head coach for the New England Patriots from 1970 to 1972.

Mazur's outstanding quarterback skills at Plymouth High School in Pennsylvania caught the attention of Notre Dame coaches, leading him to play for the Fighting Irish from 1949 to 1951, starting for the 1951 squad that finished 7-2-1. The following year, Mazur went into the Marine Corps, playing quarterback for both the Quantico and Camp Pendleton Marines. Upon his discharge in 1954, Mazur headed to Canada, where he spent one year with the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League before suffering a career-ending ankle injury.

In 1955, Mazur entered the coaching ranks, spending the first of three years as an assistant at the Tulane University. He followed that with one year at Marquette University in 1958, before heading east to work three years in a similar capacity for Boston University.