Appointment in January 2018 of Thomas Ford Jr. as head football coach of Canada’s Simon Fraser
University makes at least three Linfield grads/former Wildcat student-athletes as
(one currently, two formerly) collegiate head football coaches in Canada.
In addition to Ford, Linfield Class of 2004, they are Bob Laycoe, Class of 1968, and Don Wilson, Class of 1945.
Ford and Wilson are Americans. Laycoe is Canadian.
Wilson is a former head football coach at the University of
British Columbia (UBC). Laycoe was formerly head football coach at both the
University of Saskatchewan and the University of Toronto (U of T).
Thomas
Ford Jr., Linfield Class of 2004
Mountlake Terrace, Wash., High
School and Linfield grad, he also earned degree from Southeastern Oklahoma
State University.
He played football -- member of
Linfield’s 2004 NCAA D3 national champion team - and ran track for Linfield.
He played professional indoor football
in Tri-Cities, Wash. and Anchorage, Alaska.
Prior to becoming head football
coach in 2018 …
… of Simon Fraser University
(Burnaby, British Columbia , Canada) Clan football, he was head football coach
at Stadium High School in Tacoma; and an assistant football coach at the
University of Puget Sound and Southeastern Oklahoma State (Durant, Okla.) and Linfield.
As head football coach of Tacoma’s
Stadium High 2014-2018, he took it to post-season playoffs for the first time
in school history in 2016 and did it again in 2017.
Bob
Laycoe, Linfield Class of 1968
Cleveland High School of
Portland and Linfield grad, also earned degree from UBC.
He was head football coach of the University
of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) 1972 (1) season
He became head football coach of
the U of T Blues after a long tenure as assistant coach of UBC (Vancouver,
British Columbia) Thunderbirds football. He is also a former UBC head wrestling
coach.
As head football coach of the U
of T (Toronto, Ontario) 1988-2001 (14 seasons), one of his U of T Blues teams
won the coveted Vanier Cup as champ of Canadian university football.
For Linfield football he was a guard
and a starter on the Wildcats’ famous 1967 team which upset the University of
Hawaii in Honolulu before 20,000 fans, the most to ever see a Linfield athletic
contact. He also wrestled for Linfield.
He played his fifth year of
football at UBC and also wrestled for UBC.
Don
Wilson, Linfield Class of 1945
McMinnville High School and
Linfield grad, also attended University of Oregon (UO).
He was UBC head football coach in
1948 (1 season).
Following McMinnville High
graduate, he ran track for UO. Then, World War II and military service
intervened. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Linfield for which he was a
men’s basketball team member.
While attending Linfield,
1944-1945, he was McMinnville High boys’ head basketball coach. After Linfield
he coached a variety of high school sports for nine years at Molalla, Sherwood,
Scappoose and for 25 years at Wallowa.
He died in 2015.
Photos: Ford (wearing necktie), Laycoe (Linfield football uniform), Wilson (coaching jacket).
