Calhoun named new football coach at Air Force

Dec 22, 2006 - 10:03 PM COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (Ticker) - Troy Calhoun has decided to try and pick up where Fisher DeBerry left off.

Air Force on Friday announced that Calhoun, the offensive coordinator of the Houston Texans, has been hired as football coach. A 1989 graduate of the Academy, Calhoun replaces DeBerry, who retired last week after 23 seasons.

Calhoun is in his first season as the Texans' offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He went to Houston with Gary Kubiak after serving as a defensive assistant and offense and special teams assistant with the Denver Broncos in 2003 and 2004.

Air Force's starting quarterback in 1986, Calhoun began his coaching career with the Falcons. He also coached at Ohio University and Wake Forest.

Calhoun becomes the sixth coach in Air Force history and will be hard-pressed to match the success of DeBerry, who went just 4-8 in his last season but gave the service academy a national profile.

The 68-year-old DeBerry was the national coach of the year in 1985 and a three-time Western Athletic Conference coach of the year.

DeBerry had a career record of 169-109-1 and dominated the matchups with other service academies. He owns a career record of 35-11 against Army and Navy, guiding Air Force to 14 Commander-in-Chief's Trophies.

Calhoun joins DeBerry, Ken Hatfield, Bill Parcells, Ben Martin and L.T. "Buck" Shaw as those who have coached the Falcons.