Total Pro Sports
Longtime NFL assistant and NCAA football coach Wayne Geis, who worked with some of the game’s most prominent superstars of the ’90s, has passed away.
According to the Altoona Mirror newspaper in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Wayne “Buddy” Geis passed away at the age of 79 on Wednesday morning after a battle with leukemia. He is survived by his wife Jere, two children and multiple grandchildren.
Wayne Geis was a star athlete in baseball and football at Altoona Area High School before entering a career of coaching. Per the Altoona Mirror, Geis began coaching at Tulane in 1977 and stayed there through 1982, before stints with the University of Kansas and Memphis State.
He also spent two seasons (1984-1985) with the short-lived Jacksonville Bulls of the USFL before the league folded in 1986. Geis got his big break in 1988, when he was hired as the Green Bay Packers’ wide receivers coach under HC Lindy Infante.
Hall of Famer Sterling Sharpe, the younger brother of fellow Canton member Shannon Sharpe, emerged as a superstar under Wayne Geis. He exceeded 1,000 receiving yards five times before his illustrious career was sadly cut short by a neck injury in 1994.
After four years with the Packers, Geis was hired by the Indianapolis Colts as an assistant under Infante, who replaced Ted Marchibroda as HC in 1996. Geis was there for two years and oversaw the development of another future Hall of Famer in Marvin Harrison Jr.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Mr. Geis during this difficult time.
The Dallas Cowboys were at the end of their dynastic run in the late ’90s when Geis was hired as their quarterbacks coach in 1998. But Geis got some strong production out of Troy Aikman, whose career was also cut short due to injury.
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