Former Northern Illlinois University assistant football coach and University of California head coach Roger Theder died Saturday because of complications from Parkinson’s disease at age 77, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Renown for his expertise on offense, Theder served three seasons (1965-67) on Hall of Fame head coach Howard Fletcher’s Huskies football staff when NIU went a combined 22-5, plus captured the Interstate Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship and earned a Mineral Water Bowl bid, both in 1965.
Theder also was instrumental in recruiting NIU Hall of Fame receiver John Spilis, the program’s highest NFL draft choice for almost four decades (third-round pick of the Green Bay Packers in 1969).