Tom Walsh:
CLASS OF 1967
Alhambra High SchoolClass of 1967
Martinez, CA
San Diego State University - Graduate SchoolClass of 1976
San diego, CA
University of CaliforniaClass of 1972
Santa barbara, CA
University of CaliforniaClass of 1971
Santa barbara, CA
Saint Catherine SchoolClass of 1963
Martinez, CA
Tom's Story
Tom Walsh has had quite a unique and storied career in athletics as a NFL position coach and offensive coordinator, head coach and director of football operations for the Regional Football League champion Mobile Admirals, college head coach, college offensive coordinator, QB and WR coach, consultant, broadcaster, sports product designer and featured speaker.
In addition to his NFL and college football consulting, Tom currently serves as Vice-President of Content and Applications for Coast Sports Technologies, Inc., a multi-faceted company he and George Kiss started in March of 2001.
Two of the featured products of CST are an interactive football playbook and a 2D/3D augmented reality animated trainer which features the unique "camera in the helmet" technology, allowing the player to see the field on screen from the same visual perspective as on game day or at practice.
On the field, he was the offensive coordinator for the Los Angeles/Oakland Raiders. His first term of service with the Raiders began at the age of 32 and spanned a total of thirteen years, first serving as receiver’s coach and then quarterback’s coach before being elevated to offensive coordinator.
During this tenure with the Raiders, their record was 134-88. Additionally, the club won the AFC West four times, qualified for the play-offs following six seasons and won the Super Bowl XVIII Championship in 1984 with a 38-9 victory over the Washington Redskins.
Tom also coached on the winning squads in the 1991 AFC-NFC Pro Bowl and in the 43rd Annual Senior Bowl in 1992. At the conclusion of the 1990 post-season, he declined an offer to assume the head coaching position of the Orlando Thunder in the newly formed World League of American Football, now known as NFL – Europe, to remain with the Raiders.
His most recent on-field experience prior to his return to the Raiders in Oakland in February of 2006, again as the offensive coordinator, was as the Head Coach/Director of Football Operations and the league’s Coach of the Year for the Regional Football League champion Mobile Alabama Admirals.
His 1999 team in this spring-time professional league compiled a 10-2 mark, including pre and post-season play, and boasted not only the league’s best record, but also the RFL MVP and eleven first-team and four second-team All-RFL selections.
Seven of his squad members signed contracts for NFL training camps at the conclusion of the 1999 season. Members of his staff included former NFL players and coaches Sam Gruneisen, Kenny Burrough, Tiger Green and James West.
Following the 2009 and 2010 football seasons, Walsh was the head coach, offensive coordinator and QB coach of the West squad for national high school all-star games sponsored by O-D football. His coaching staff, comprised of retired NFL coaches, was fortunate to have some of the top high school talent in the country each year en route to 35-0 and 35-21 victories.
Before his lengthy tenure with the Raiders, Tom was a highly successful college coach and played an instrumental role in revitalizing and restructuring several collegiate programs, beginning with his first position as an offensive assistant at the University of San Diego in 1972. In addition, from 1975 to 1981, Tom worked under the direction of NFL and College Football Halls of Fame coach Sid Gillman. Tom was the Director of Coach Gillman’s summer football camps based in San Diego, CA.
In December of 1978, as Athletics Director at United States International University in San Diego, Coach Gillman hired Tom as the head football coach for the school. Staff members on that 8-3 squad included former and current NFL coaches John Fox, former head coach of the Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos and the Chicago Bears and now the senior defensive consultant for the Detroit Lions; Mike Solari, a 29-year NFL veteran offensive line coach, most recently for the Seattle Seahawks and now with the Dallas Cowboys, and Mike Sheppard, former quarterback coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars and assistant coach for the Chargers and Browns.
Following that season, Tom moved to Murray State University in Murray, KY as the offensive coordinator and QB coach where the Racers finished with a 9-2 mark. Also working on that staff was defensive coordinator Frank Beamer, recently retired as the head coach at Virginia Tech, and secondary coach Ron Zook, former special teams coordinator for the Green Bay Packers and former head coach at the University of Illinois and the University of Florida and defensive coordinator of the New Orleans Saints.
In 1981, Tom served as the offensive coordinator and QB coach at the University of Cincinnati, and the Bearcats had their first winning season in five years, finishing 6-5. His starting quarterback, Danny Barrett, currently is an offensive assistant coach with the Houston Texans. Previously, he was the head coach of the CFL Saskatchewan Roughriders for seven seasons, following a stellar CFL career in which he passed for over 35,000 yards. George Warhop, currently the offensive line coach for the Houston Texans and the starting center and co-captain for the Bearcats, was the crown jewel in Walsh’...Expand for more
s recruiting class.
Following that season where he also coached with Zook, who served as the defensive coordinator, he joined the Raiders. Walsh additionally had a stint in 1997 and 1998 as head coach at Idaho State University, a member of the Big Sky Conference.
He had an eight-year run year as a football analyst for the Westwood One/Host Communications, Inc. NCAA Football Game of the Week. In addition, Tom provided game analysis of CBS/Westwood One Radio NFL regular season and play-off broadcasts and continues to contribute football insight weekly as a guest on sports talk shows and web sites throughout the country.
He and Mike Grace co-hosted SEC Insider on the Alabama Radio Network, and Tom and Mike Wood anchored from Mobile, AL the weekly-aired Crimson Connection radio show. His Saturday evening coaches’ show on WJTC-UPN 44 TV, during his championship RFL season with the Mobile Admirals, drew over a 1.0 rating in the Nielsen’s.
He also remains in frequent demand as an off-season consultant to college and professional football personnel in addition to providing on-field technique and fundamentals sessions and contributed a series of instructional DVDs for Coaches Choice.
Besides regular season action, he has broadcast the 1995 SEC Championship Game (Florida vs. Arkansas); the 1996 Big 12 Championship Game (Nebraska vs. Texas); the 1997 WAC Championship Game (New Mexico vs. Colorado State); the 2000 Big 12 Championship Game (Oklahoma vs. Kansas State); the 2001 Big 12 Championship Game (Colorado vs. Texas), and the 2002 SEC Championship Game (Georgia vs. Arkansas).
In addition to NFL regular and post-season play, he also has provided color commentary for three Fiesta Bowls (Florida vs. Nebraska - January 2, 1996), (Penn State vs. Texas - January 1, 1997), (Kansas State vs. Syracuse - December 31, 1997); two Music City Bowls (Kentucky vs. Syracuse – December 29, 1999), (West Virginia vs. Mississippi – December 28, 2000), and the New Year’s Day 2000 Citrus Bowl (Michigan vs. Auburn).
Off the gridiron, Tom’s partnership as a principal and design consultant with BlueSky Software, a San Diego based research and development enterprise, originated from his coaching relationship with George Kiss, the CEO/President of BlueSky Software. He and Kiss, a record-setting place kicker at UC Davis and with the Los Angeles Rams for two training camps, coached together at University of San Diego in the early 1970’s, and then Kiss served as Walsh’s kicking game coach at USIU in 1979. Kiss, an innovative senior executive for years with several internationally prominent software companies, founded BlueSky Software in 1985.
Included among the numerous, high-selling sports products developed on several platforms over a twelve-year period by BlueSky Software were the popular Sega Genesis Joe Montana Sports Talk Football series, which sold over 30 million units, the Sega Genesis NCAA Football Game, the Philips Media Total Control Football CD-Rom and the Sega Genesis World Series Baseball series. In addition, their company also developed many entertainment and educational products for Disney, Data East USA, Psygnosis and other prominent national and international software publishers.
In the fall of 2000, Walsh served as the football technical consultant and advisor for the movie Hometown Legend, a January 2002 release produced by Dallas Jenkins and directed by James Anderson that was filmed in Foley, AL. A Warner Books publication originally penned by Jerry B. Jenkins, author of the phenomenal Left Behind series and eight New York Times best-selling titles, Hometown Legend is an inspirational tale placed firmly in the nation’s heartland, where football, family and faith are everything, and where for one town, the greatest contest has begun.
Tom’s strong academic background features a Bachelor’s degree in US History from UC Santa Barbara in 1971; a life-time California Standard Secondary Teaching Credential in 1972 and a Masters degree in Education Administration and Leadership from San Diego State University in 1976.
In addition, he has other published post-graduate doctoral work and research, including Project LEAP (Leaders, Educators and Athletes for Progress) which is a program structured around mentoring and internships to assist student-athletes and former professional athletes in transitioning successfully to post-athletic careers and lifestyles and also wrote the curriculum for a new major in a college department of education.
He also was a councilperson and the mayor for the city of Swan Valley, the founder and director of the Swan Valley Business Association and a member of the Greater Swan Valley Planning and Zoning Commission.
Tom’s contributions to eastern Idaho communities also included serving as president/chairman during his 16 years as an executive board member of the Yellowstone-Teton Territory Tourism Organization, an eastern Idaho regional arm of the state of Idaho Travel Council. During his 5-year tenure as president and chairman, lodging revenues in the region grew from approximately $36M annually to over $89M.
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