Joe Yukica

Joe Yukica

Sport(s)	Football
Biographical details
Born	May 27, 1931
Playing career
1949–1952	Penn State
Position(s)	Tight end
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1954–1960	Central Dauphin HS (PA)
1961–1965	Dartmouth (OL)
1966–1967	New Hampshire
1968–1977	Boston College
1978–1986	Dartmouth
Head coaching record
Overall	111–93–4 (college)
Statistics College Football Data Warehouse
Accomplishments and honors
Championships
3 Ivy (1978–1979, 1981)

Joe Yukica (born May 27, 1931) is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the University of New Hampshire (1966–1967), Boston College (1968–1977), and Dartmouth College (1978–1986), compiling a career college football record of 111–93–4. Yukica played at Pennsylvania State University from 1949 to 1952.

Lawsuit

Yukica was terminated by Edward Leland, the athletic director for Dartmouth College, after back-to-back disappointing seasons in 1984 and 1985. Although Yukica was offered standard compensation for the remaining 18 months of his contract, he instead chose to file suit against Leland in New Hampshire Superior Court for breach of contract. Based on various procedural irregularities regarding Yukica's dismissal, Judge Walter Murphy, a former football coach, issued two temporary injunctions against Leland and Dartmouth College. With the case gaining increased press, partly due to testimony at preliminary hearings by coach Joe Paterno of Pennsylvania State University, and college football recruitment already under way, Dartmouth settled out of court and Yukica went on to coach Dartmouth for another season before resigning.

Although the case never went to trial, Yukica v. Leland has been hailed by the American Football Coaches Association and others as setting an important precedent in sports law. The case also affected how coaching contracts were written, particularly at the college level.^[1]

Head coaching record

College

Year	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Bowl/playoffs
New Hampshire Wildcats (Yankee Conference) (1966–1967)
1966	New Hampshire	2–6	1–4	6th
1967	New Hampshire	5–3	2–3	4th
New Hampshire:		7–9	5–7
Boston College Eagles (NCAA University Division / Division I independent) (1968–1977)
1968	Boston College	6–3
1969	Boston College	5–4
1970	Boston College	8–2
1971	Boston College	9–2
1972	Boston College	4–7
1973	Boston College	7–4
1974	Boston College	8–3
1975	Boston College	7–4
1976	Boston College	8–3
1977	Boston College	6–5
Boston College:		68–37
Dartmouth Big Green (Ivy League) (1978–1986)
1978	Dartmouth	6–3	6–1	1st
1979	Dartmouth	4–4–1	4–3	T–4th
1980	Dartmouth	4–6	4–3	T–3rd
1981	Dartmouth	6–4	6–1	T–1st
1982	Dartmouth	5–5	5–2	T–1st
1983	Dartmouth	4–5–1	4–2–1	T–3rd
1984	Dartmouth	2–7	2–5	T–6th
1985	Dartmouth	2–7–1	2–4–1	6th
1986	Dartmouth	3–6–1	3–3–1	4th
Dartmouth:		36–47–4	36–24–3
Total:		111–93–4
National championship         Conference title         Conference division title

References

1. Mather, Lynn. Contemplating Courts, Lee Epstein ed. (Washington, DC: CQ Press, 1995)

External links

• Joe Yukica at the College Football Data Warehouse