Background
Sochor was born February 11, 1938 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Coach Sochor grew up in San Francisco, California.
Sochor was born February 11, 1938 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Coach Sochor grew up in San Francisco, California.
Sochor also served as the athletic director at University of California Davis from 1989 to 1991. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1999. Sochor was a quarterback for San Francisco State from 1957 to 1959 and led them to three league championships.
Jim Sochor played quarterback at George Washington High School in San Francisco.
He also played on the basketball team Sochor started his coaching career as an assistant at San Francisco State from 1960 to 1965.
He then served as an assistant at the University of California, Davis from 1967 to 1969. Sochor became the head coach at University of California Davis in 1970.
Following his first year there, he had a streak of 18 consecutive conference championships, from 1971 to 1988.
The only other college football program in National Collegiate Athletic Association history on any division level for this remarkable streak has been Mount Union College. His overall record between 1970 and 1988 was 156–41–5, a winning percentage of.785. In conference games under Sochor, the Aggies were 92–5.
He had winning streaks of 41 and 38 in conference games.
His Aggies were the final poll leaders at the end of the regular season in 1983 and 1985. He was named national coach of the year in National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II in 1983.
He was the coach of future NFL quarterbacks Mike Moroski and Ken O"Brien and kicker Rolf Benirschke. He was also a mentor to several future head coaches including Dan Hawkins, Paul Hackett, Mike Bellotti, Chris Petersen, and Bob Biggs.
1982 Palm Bowl Sochor led the 1982 Aggies to the Palm Bowl in McAllen, Texas for the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II national football championship against the Jim Wacker-led Southwest Texas State, but lost 34–9.
Aggie Quarterback Ken O"Brien had suffered leg and ankle injuries in the semi-final game two weeks before, and as a result reserve Scott Barry had to lead the offense. He served as the University of California Davis director of athletics from 1989 to 1991. He served as the coach of the golf team for five years starting in 1992.
He served as the offensive coordinator of the Scottish Claymores of NFL Europe for three years.
In 1984 and 1988 he served as the assistant coach in the East-West Shrine Game. Sochor died of cancer on November 23, 2015.