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John Pettas begins his fifth season at Arizona State University and his first as the Sun Devils' offensive coordinator. Pettas replaces the departed Dan Cozzetto.
In addition to overseeing an offense that racked up nearly 400 yards per game in 1999, he will tutor a group of quarterbacks that includes Ryan Kealy, Jeff Krohn, Griffin Goodman, Matt Cooper and Andrew Walter. In 1995 and '96, Pettas coached first-team all-Pacific-10 Conference quarterback Jake "The Snake" Plummer. Plummer earned All-America accolades in '96 and finished third in the Heisman Trophy balloting.
Pettas has tutored Kealy the past three seasons, who set several freshman passing records both at ASU and within the Pac-10. Kealy was the quarterback on The Sporting News all-Freshman squad in 1997 and went on to throw for 2,161 yards in 1998 while playing in only in only eight games. Last year the signal-caller collected 1,976 yards and 10 touchdowns, and now sits in third place on ASU's all-time passing list.
In 1995, Pettas coached a stable of running backs that registered almost 2,000 yards - 1,912 to be exact. Senior tailback Chris Hopkins led the way with 646 while sophomore Michael Martin tallied 566. Sophomore Terry Battle added 474.
Pettas, who was the quarterbacks and kickers coach at The University of the Pacific in 1994, would have been the offensive coordinator in 1995, but came to ASU. The Tigers posted a 6-5 won-loss record in 1994, their best record in 17 years.
Pettas followed former ASU assistant Lyle Setencich to Pacific from Cal Poly SLO, where Setencich was the head coach. He served as the offensive coordinator at Cal Poly and also served as coach of the quarterbacks, running backs and kickers. In 1992-93, Pettas served as a coaches' assistant on defense for the San Francisco 49ers.
Pettas has also served as the offensive coordinator at Kent State University (1990-92), as the running backs, kickers and special teams coach at the University of New Mexico (1988-90) and as the offensive coordinator and assistant head coach at the University of Nevada (1978-88). At Kent State, Pettas also coached quarterbacks, running backs and kickers. At Nevada he also coached running backs, kickers and special teams. Nevada played in the 1978, '79, '83, '85 and '86 I-AA National Championship Playoffs. The 1978 and '86 teams led the nation in scoring offense and the '86 squad led the country in total offense.
From 1975 through 1978, Pettas was a graduate assistant and head freshmen coach at the University of Colorado. Prior, he had served as the offensive coordinator and head freshman baseball coach at Gonzales Union High School in Salinas, Calif. (1974-75). He also was a graduate assistant for quarterbacks at Cal Poly SLO in 1973.
A 1974 graduate of Cal Poly SLO, Pettas quarterbacked the 1971 and 1972 Mustang teams. He helped guide them to an 8-1-1 record and an appearance in the Camelia Bowl in '72. As captain of that squad, Pettas earned the team Most Valuable Player Award as well as all-West Coast Conference honorable mention honors.
The 1969 graduate of Monterey (Calif.) High School earned a master's degree in physical education from Colorado. He and his wife Lynn have two children, Amanda (10) and Mallory (8).
Born: January 3, 1951 in Monterey, Calif.
High School Education: Monterey High School, Monterey, Calif., 1969
College Education: California Polytechnic-SLO, 1974; Master's Degree, University of Colorado, 1977
College Football: California Poly-SLO, 1971-72
Coaching Career: Cal Poly-SLO, 1973-74; Gonzales High School, Salinas, Calif., 1974-75; University of Colorado, 1975-78; University of Nevada, 1978-88; University of New Mexico, 1988-90; Kent State University, 1990-92; San Francisco 49ers, 1992-93; Cal Poly-SLO, 1993-94; University of the Pacific, 1994; Arizona State University, 1993-present
Recruiting Area: Inland Empire area, Las Vegas area
Family: Wife Lynn Pettas and daughters Amanda and Mallory
