Charlie Taaffe

Charlie Taaffe (April 20, 1950 – October 29, 2019) was an American gridiron football coach who was the head football coach at The Citadel from 1987 to 1996.

He is the winningest head coach in the school's history.

After 4 years as a college quarterback (1 with Clemson, then 3 with Siena College) Taaffe's coaching career began in 1973 as an Offensive Backfield coach at Albany.

He then served two years as a Graduate Assistant at Georgia Tech (Wide Receivers) and North Carolina State (Offensive Backs).

From 1976 to 1980 he was an assistant coach at Virginia, working with the offensive backfield, linebackers, and special teams.

From 1981 to 1983 he was a quarterbacks coach and offensive backfield coach at the U.S. Military Academy.

From 1984 until 1986 Taaffe served a successful stint as an Army's offensive coordinator.

In his three seasons as offensive coordinator, the Cadets had a combined record of 23–13.

In 1987, Taaffe was hired as head football coach at The Citadel.

In 1992, he coached what was arguably the best in The Citadel's history, finishing 11–2 and was the top ranked team at the end of the regular season.

The team however lost to Youngstown State in the quarterfinals.

For his efforts, Taaffe won the Eddie Robinson Award.

In 10 seasons at The Citadel, his overall record was 55–47–1, including six seasons of .500 or better and is the school's winningest head coach.

Taaffe also led the Bulldogs to a 6–5 record against Division I-A teams, with wins against Arkansas, Army, Navy, and South Carolina.

Taaffe was suspended by the school for the entire 1996 season after his second drunken-driven arrest in three years.

Taaffe admitted to the police that he had four to six beers prior to driving.

He was acquitted of the charges on February 6, 1997 after prosecutors failed to prove that Taaffe was under the influence when he was stopped.

It was the second time he had been cleared of drunken driving.

He was fired from the school and was hired in May of 1997 with the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League.

Taaffe was offensive coordinator of the CFL's Montreal Alouettes from 1997 to 1998, helping the Als to a 25–10–1 record.

He was also the head coach of the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes (1999 to 2000) and Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2007 to 2008).

In 1999, he became the team's head coach.

For his efforts in 1999 and 2000, Taaffe won the Annis Stukus Trophy as the CFL's Coach of the Year, making him only the second Montreal coach to win the award (Marv Levy being the first in 1974) and the first coach in CFL history to earn the honor in each of his first two seasons.

While in Montreal, Taaffe's offenses put up some impressive numbers.

Running back Mike Pringle also excelled in Taaffe's system, rushing for a league-best 1,656 yards in 1999.

With Taaffe at the helm, the Alouettes had a combined 25–14 record, including an appearance in the 2000 Grey Cup.

In 2000, the Alouettes broke the CFL's all-time record for points in a regular season as they posted 594.

Taaffe helped quarterback Anthony Calvillo to a 112.9 passer rating in 2000.

In 2001 Taaffe became Maryland's offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach.

In his first year, Taaffe was able to steer Maryland to 390 points (a then school record) and an average of 35.5 points per game.

The Terps' 439.7 yards of total offense per game were the best in the ACC.

Taaffe's option offense helped the team to an average of 220.7 yards per game on the ground, second-best in the league.

Shaun Hill flourished at quarterback and was a second team All-ACC selection.

In 2002, the Terps set a school record for points scored with 451 while finishing second in the ACC in rushing (198.8 ypg) and scoring (32.2 ppg) offense.

In 2004, he led the offense during the school's first-ever victory over Florida State, then ranked No. 5. A year earlier, Taaffe helped guide the Terps through injuries to finish the season ranked in the top 30 nationally in four offensive categories (rushing (24th), total offense (28th), scoring (27th) and pass efficiency (26th).

On December 15, 2006 Taaffe was hired as the head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

With little talent to work with, Taaffe not surprisingly led the Tiger-Cats to a 3–15 record, with only one win against fellow Eastern Division teams.

Despite Taaffe's offensive credentials, the Ti-Cats nearly 80 points fewer than any other team in the league.

Taaffe helped guide quarterback Scott McBrien to an honorable mention all-league performer and finished 12th nationally in pass efficiency.

At Maryland Taaffe's offense earned national respect with a balanced attack that beat opponents both on the ground and through the air.