Background
Gansz, Frank was born on November 22, 1938 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, United States.
Gansz, Frank was born on November 22, 1938 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, United States.
In his first year, a strike-shortened season, he finished 4–11.
At the college level, Gansz served as an assistant at Colgate, Oklahoma State, SMU, Army, University of California, Los Angeles, Air Force and Navy, his alma mater (1960). In January 1986, Gansz was named assistant head coach and special teams coach for the Kansas City Chiefs. He took over as head coach of the Chiefs in January 1987 after John Mackovic was fired.
The following year, he went 4–11–1.
In January 1989, Gansz was fired and replaced by Marty Schottenheimer. Once called "the best special teams coach ever" by former NFL head coach Dick Vermeil, Gansz twice earned special teams coach of the year honors, including 1999 when he helped the Saint Louis Rams to a Super Bowl victory.
A native of Altoona, Pennsylvania, Gansz retired as an NFL coach in 2001 after coaching in the league for 24 seasons, including stops in San Francisco, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Detroit, Atlanta and Jacksonville. On February 20, 2008, Gansz came out of retirement to join SMU as its special teams coach under head coach June Jones, with whom he had worked in Atlanta and Detroit.
Gansz was inducted into the Western Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1999.
He was an assistant coach at Navy from 1969 to 1972. Gansz died in Dallas on April 27, 2009, from complications following knee replacement surgery. He is interred at the United States Naval Academy Cemetery in Annapolis, Maryland.
The teams are currently scheduled to play every year from 2015 onwards as members of the American Athletic Conference West Division.
Married Barbara Gansz. Children: Frank Junior, Jennifer.