Former Iowa/ISU football coach Bob Elliott dies

Bob Elliott, former University of Iowa football player who was an assistant football coach at Iowa and Iowa State, died of cancer Saturday night while in hospice care in Iowa City. He was 64.

Elliott was hired to be the University of Nebraska's safeties coach in February, but relinquished that job in June and became a defensive analyst because of what were termed 'personal reasons.' He was a college coach for 38 years.

He was the son of former Iowa athletic director Chalmers 'Bump' Elliott. He graduated from Iowa City West High School, then played at Iowa from 1972 to 1975. He twice was named an Academic All-American.

He was a graduate assistant coach at Iowa in 1976, beginning a life in coaching. He was an assistant coach at Kent State, Ball State, North Carolina, Kansas State, San Diego State and Notre Dame between 1977 and 2016, but much of his time in that period was in Iowa.

Elliott coached for three different head coaches (Donnie Duncan, Dan McCarney, Paul Rhoads) in separate stints covering three different decades. His longest tenure, however, was at Iowa. There, he was on Hayden Fry's staff as defensive secondary coach from 1987-1994 and defensive coordinator from 1996-1998.

Eight of those teams went to bowl games. The 1990 Hawkeyes shared the Big Ten title and played in the Rose Bowl.

'He was a great coach, a great man, a great father,' Fry said Sunday from his Mesquite, Nev., home. 'He had a wonderful family.

'I know this is truly sad for everyone who had the opportunity to have Bobby as their coach, and his fellow coaches.'

It's distinctly possible Elliott would have succeeded Fry as Iowa's head coach when Fry retired after the 1998 season, but Elliott's health didn't allow him to be a candidate for the job that eventually went to Kirk Ferentz. It was late in his time on Fry's staff when Elliott learned he had polycythemia vera, a disorder of the bone marrow. He received chemotherapy during the 1998 season.

'When I was coaching the team in 1998, I was going in the back elevator at the University of Iowa at 5 in the morning to get chemotherapy treatments (for prostate cancer),' Fry said. 'He was going in for treatments at 5:30 or 6. I had no idea. Neither one of us told anyone else.

'Many years afterward we discussed that, and it surprised both of us.'

Elliott got a blood marrow transplant from a cousin in 1999, and was hired by McCarney, his college roommate at Iowa, the following spring.

In 2001, damaged blood cells returned. But medicine worked for Elliott and no second marrow transplant was necessary. He became Bill Snyder's defensive coordinator at Kansas State the following year.

Months after coaching with Brian Kelly's Notre Dame staff in the 2013 BCS championship game, Elliott had a kidney transplant. He recovered and remained on staff at Notre Dame. Elliott was hired earlier this year by Nebraska head coach Mike Riley and defensive coordinator Bob Diaco, a former Iowa player when Elliott coached there.

Like McCarney, Elliott was one of the few coaches who was liked and appreciated by fans of both Iowa and Iowa State, as well as fellow coaches nationwide.

'I didn't need the doctors' or professionals' advice, because I couldn't hire him fast enough,' McCarney told ESPN in 2012 about adding Elliott to his staff in 2000.

Iowa State was 16-8 over the two seasons Elliott was with McCarney in Ames. The Cyclones' first bowl win in school history was their 2000 triumph over Pittsburgh.

Pittsburgh's defensive coordinator at that time was Rhoads, who hired Elliott to join his Iowa State staff 10 years later. Elliott got hired by veteran coaches and young coaches, at established programs and fledgling programs.

'Bob has left an impact on and off the field that will be remembered for many years to come,' Riley said Sunday. 'In his short time with our program, Coach Elliott developed a great relationship with the young men in our football program and our staff. Our thoughts and prayers are with Bob's wife, Joey, and his entire family during this difficult time.'

'What a wonderful man,' said Fry.

Elliott is survived by his wife, Joey, their children, Grant and Jessica, and his father.