Rice Remembers Homer Rice
6/11/2024 2:03:00 PM | Football
Former AD and head football coach/Architect of Tommy Kramer's historic 1976 season.
Houston-Homer Rice, whose innovative offensive scheme meshed perfectly with the talents of senior quarterback Tommy Kramer in 1976 to produce a record-setting season that eventually led to a berth in the College Football Hall of Fame for Kramer, passed away on Monday at age 97.
Rice came to Houston in 1976 to take over as head football coach at athletic director of the Owls after spending seven years guiding the athletic department at North Carolina, looking to install the same passing attack he had refined as the head coach for two seasons at Cincinnati.
Cincinnati led the nation in passing in his final season at the helm in 1968, and quarterback Greg Cook developed into the fifth overall pick in the NFL Draft. Rice's offensive schemes with the Owls sparked Kramer's memorable season in 1976, setting passing standards that stood for 40 years and led to his selection by Minnesota with the 27th pick in the first round of the 1977 draft.
He earned consensus All-America honors and finished fifth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy in 1976 after leading the nation in passing (3,317) and total offense (3,272), the second-best totals in NCAA history. The leader of the "Rice Air Corps" as they were known, Kramer was the first player in Southwest Conference history to top 3,000 yards in total offense and set SWC single-season records for attempts (501), completions (269) and touchdown passes (21) and total plays (562) in addition to his passing and total offense marks. He recorded four of the top eight passing games in conference history in 1976.
Despite Rice's 3-8 record, Kramer was the consensus choice for All-America honors as a senior, joining John Elway as the only quarterbacks since 1970 to be honored while playing for teams with a losing record. Those postseason honors paved the way for Kramer to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012.
Rice left the Owls after the 1977 season to return to Cincinnati as head coach of the Bengals. Rice returned to athletic administration after two seasons in the NFL, beginning a 17-year tenure as the A.D. at Georgia Tech (1980-97).
He revitalized the athletics program at Georgia Tech, as the football team won a national championship in 1990, the men's basketball team won its first AAC Championship in 1985 and reached its first final four in 1990, while baseball reached the College World Series for the first time in 1994.
However, perhaps Rice's biggest legacy is the Total Person Program, which he developed and implemented at Tech and became the model for the NCAA Life Skills Program that is now practiced across college athletics. He continued to teach a leadership class at Georgia Tech until recently. He wrote several books on leadership success, including Leadership for Leaders in 1984, Lessons for Leaders in 2000, and Leadership Fitness in 2004.
Rice came to Houston in 1976 to take over as head football coach at athletic director of the Owls after spending seven years guiding the athletic department at North Carolina, looking to install the same passing attack he had refined as the head coach for two seasons at Cincinnati.
Cincinnati led the nation in passing in his final season at the helm in 1968, and quarterback Greg Cook developed into the fifth overall pick in the NFL Draft. Rice's offensive schemes with the Owls sparked Kramer's memorable season in 1976, setting passing standards that stood for 40 years and led to his selection by Minnesota with the 27th pick in the first round of the 1977 draft.
He earned consensus All-America honors and finished fifth in the voting for the Heisman Trophy in 1976 after leading the nation in passing (3,317) and total offense (3,272), the second-best totals in NCAA history. The leader of the "Rice Air Corps" as they were known, Kramer was the first player in Southwest Conference history to top 3,000 yards in total offense and set SWC single-season records for attempts (501), completions (269) and touchdown passes (21) and total plays (562) in addition to his passing and total offense marks. He recorded four of the top eight passing games in conference history in 1976.
Despite Rice's 3-8 record, Kramer was the consensus choice for All-America honors as a senior, joining John Elway as the only quarterbacks since 1970 to be honored while playing for teams with a losing record. Those postseason honors paved the way for Kramer to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2012.
Rice left the Owls after the 1977 season to return to Cincinnati as head coach of the Bengals. Rice returned to athletic administration after two seasons in the NFL, beginning a 17-year tenure as the A.D. at Georgia Tech (1980-97).
He revitalized the athletics program at Georgia Tech, as the football team won a national championship in 1990, the men's basketball team won its first AAC Championship in 1985 and reached its first final four in 1990, while baseball reached the College World Series for the first time in 1994.
However, perhaps Rice's biggest legacy is the Total Person Program, which he developed and implemented at Tech and became the model for the NCAA Life Skills Program that is now practiced across college athletics. He continued to teach a leadership class at Georgia Tech until recently. He wrote several books on leadership success, including Leadership for Leaders in 1984, Lessons for Leaders in 2000, and Leadership Fitness in 2004.
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