Darryl Rogers, whose tenures as a football head coach spanned, locally, from Michigan State to the Detroit Lions, died Tuesday at age 83.
The death was sudden and confirmed by Eddie Smith, who was a MSU quarterback on Rogers’ best team, the 1978 Spartans, when Smith and receiver Kirk Gibson helped push MSU to a Big Ten co-championship the same year that Gibson signed a baseball contract with the Tigers.
Rogers coached the Spartans from 1976-79 before bolting for Arizona State in tandem with then-athletic director, Joe Kearney.
The Lions, whose owner William Clay Ford, was enamored with Rogers’ pass-heavy offense, brought on Rogers as head coach in 1985.