View source for Gary Durchik

{{short description|Canadian football coach|bot=PearBOT 5}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2024}}
{{Infobox college coach
| name = Gary Durchik
| image = 
| alt = 
| caption = 
| birth_date = 1944
| birth_place = 
| death_date = 
| death_place = 
| alma_mater = 
| player_years1 = 1963–65
| player_team1 = [[Miami RedHawks football|Miami (OH)]]
| player_positions = [[Tight end]]
| coach_years1 = 1969–72
| coach_team1 = [[Chillicothe High School]]
| coach_years2 = 1973
| coach_team2 = [[Miami RedHawks football|Miami Redskins]] (Asst.)
| coach_years3 = 1974–78
| coach_team3 = [[Colorado Buffaloes football|Colorado Buffaloes]] ([[Offensive lineman|OL Coach]])
| coach_years4 = 1979
| coach_team4 = [[Illinois Fighting Illini football|Illinois Fighting Illini]] (Asst.)
| coach_years5 = 1980–83
| coach_team5 = [[Northern Illinois Huskies football|Northern Illinois Huskies]] ([[Offensive coordinator|OC]])
| coach_years6 = 1984–85
| coach_team6 = [[Montreal Concordes]] (OL Coach)
| coach_years7 = 1985–86
| coach_team7 = [[Montreal Alouettes|Montreal Concordes/Alouettes]]
| coach_years8 = 1987–90
| coach_team8 = [[Edmonton Eskimos]] (OL Coach)
| coach_years9 = 1991–94
| coach_team9 = [[Hamilton Tiger-Cats]] (OC/OL)
| coach_years10 = 1995–1996
| coach_team10 = [[Edmonton Huskies]]
| coach_years11 = 1997
| coach_team11 = [[Edmonton Eskimos]](OL Coach)
| coach_years12 = 2002–2010
| coach_team12 = [[Edmonton Wildcats]]
| overall_record = 6-14 (CFL)
| bowl_record = 
| tournament_record = 
| championships = 
| awards = 2006 Norm Kimball Coach of the Year Award
| coaching_records = 
}}
'''Gary Durchik''' (born 1944) is a [[Canadian football]] coach.

==Biography==
A Hall of Fame athlete at [[Mentor High School]], he was a [[tight end]] at [[Miami University]] from 1963 to 1965. He got his first head coaching job in 1969 at the young age of 25. He coached the [[Chillicothe High School (Ohio)|Chillicothe High School]] Cavaliers for four seasons before returning to the [[Miami RedHawks]] in 1973 as an assistant. In his only season with the RedHawks, the team had an undefeated 11–0 season. Miami finished the year with the 17th overall ranking and defeated the [[Florida Gators football|Florida Gators]] 16–7 in the [[Tangerine Bowl (1947–82)|Tangerine Bowl]]. This season also began an 11-year relationship between head coach [[Bill Mallory]] and Durchik.

From 1974 to 1978 Durchik was Mallory's [[offensive line]] coach with the [[Colorado Buffaloes]] [https://web.archive.org/web/20110606160932/http://www.cubuffs.com/pdf3/47574.pdf?DB_OEM_ID=600]. In five seasons at [[Boulder, Colorado|Boulder]] the Buffaloes had a 35–21–1 record, appearing in two bowl games, both losses. He was an assistant coach for Gary Moeller for one year 1979 at the [[University of Illinois]] before joining forces again with Coach Mallory at [[Northern Illinois University|Northern Illinois]], where he was the [[Northern Illinois Huskies|Huskies]] [[offensive coordinator]] from 1980 to 1983. After a brief stint as interim head coach during the off-season between the 1983 and 1984 college football seasons, he was a finalist for the head coaching Job at [[Northern Illinois Huskies football|NIU]] but decided to head to the [[Canadian Football League]] when [[Lee Corso]] got the head coaching job.

Durchik's next coaching position was as the offensive line coach for [[Montreal Alouettes|Montreal Concordes]]. Durchik replaced head coach [[Joe Galat]] for the final two games of the [[1985 CFL season|1985 season]], winning both. He defeated the [[Ottawa Rough Riders]] 30–20 in the East Semi-Final. He returned to coach the team (which restored the Alouettes name) to a 4–14 season the following year. The team would disband shortly after the start of the 1987 CFL season. [http://chl.ca/Slam/Columnists/Jones/2005/08/25/1187590-sun.html]{{Dead link|date=December 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

From [[1987 CFL season|1987]]&ndash;[[1990 CFL season|1990]] he was offensive line coach for the [[Edmonton Eskimos]]. In 1987, the Eskimos defeated the [[Toronto Argonauts]] 38–26 in the [[75th Grey Cup]]. Durchik's second Grey Cup appearance as a coach was a 50–11 loss to the [[Winnipeg Blue Bombers]] in the [[78th Grey Cup]].

Next, Durchik was the OL coach and offensive coordinator for the [[Hamilton Tiger-Cats]] from [[1991 CFL season|1991]]&ndash;[[1994 CFL season|1994]]. The team made the conference Semi-Finals in [[1992 CFL season|1992]] and [[1993 CFL season|1993]], both times losing to the [[Winnipeg Blue Bombers]].

In 1995 Durchik became the head coach of the Edmonton Huskies (CJFL), whom he coached for the 1995 and 1996 seasons.

He returned to the [[Edmonton Eskimos]] in 1997 for one season as an offensive assistant.

In 2002, he was named head coach of the [[Edmonton Wildcats]].  In 2006, he led the team to the [[Canadian Bowl]] but lost to the [[Vancouver Island Raiders]] by two points due to a late field goal.  He also received the [[Norm Kimball]] Coach of the Year award from [[Football Alberta]] in March 2007.  In 2009, Durchik and the Wildcats made a return to the [[Canadian Bowl]] but lost to the [[Vancouver Island Raiders]] again.  Durchik resigned from the Wildcats in November 2010.

Durchik has three grown children (Matt, Jennifer, and Lindsay) and four grandchildren (Kira, Jaxon, Colin and Elena).

{{75th Grey Cup}}
{{AlsCoach}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Durchik, Gary}}
[[Category:1944 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Colorado Buffaloes football coaches]]
[[Category:Edmonton Elks coaches]]
[[Category:Miami RedHawks football coaches]]
[[Category:Miami RedHawks football players]]
[[Category:Northern Illinois Huskies football coaches]]
[[Category:People from Mentor, Ohio]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Lake County, Ohio]]
[[Category:Mentor High School alumni]]