George Yarno

George Anthony Yarno (born August 12, 1957) is a former professional football player, a guard with the NFL's Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Atlanta Falcons, and Houston Oilers. He also played two seasons with the Denver Gold of the USFL.

Yarno has worked as an offensive line coach for a number of collegiate and professional teams, most recently for the Detroit Lions. After his release from the Lions following the 2012 season, Yarno accepted the offensive line coach job with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Playing career
Yarno was born and raised in Spokane, Washington, the younger brother of John Yarno, an All-American at Idaho. He attended Ferris High School as a freshman, then spent two years in Alaska with his father and went to East Anchorage High School. He returned to Ferris for his senior year and graduated in 1975, then played four years at Washington State University under head coaches Jim Sweeney and Jim Walden, as a nose tackle on defense. Unselected in the 1979 NFL Draft, Yarno was signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a rookie free agent in 1979 and made the team on the other side of the ball, as a reserve offensive lineman. He was a starting offensive lineman a majority of his career, including starts at tackle, guard, and center.

Despite being an offensive lineman, Yarno scored one point in his NFL career, a (left-footed) extra point at Detroit on Dec. 18, 1983. Yarno, the team's emergency kicker, entered the game after head coach John McKay removed the regular kicker.

College assistant
Following his career as a player, Yarno entered the coaching ranks as a collegiate assistant at his alma mater, Washington State; he coached the offensive line under head coach Mike Price from 1991 to 1994. He moved eight miles (13 km) east to Idaho in 1995 as offensive coordinator and line coach under first-year head coach Chris Tormey. After three seasons in Moscow, Yarno left for Houston in 1998 to become the assistant head coach (and offensive line coach) under head coach Kim Helton. In 2000, he was the offensive line coach for Arizona State for a season, Bruce Snyder's last as head coach, then spent two seasons at LSU under head coach Nick Saban, again as offensive line coach. In 2003, Yarno returned to Washington State to coach the offensive line under first-year head coach Bill Doba. Following Doba's dismissal after the 2007 season, Yarno became a coach at the professional level.

NFL assistant
In 2008, he became an NFL assistant coach as the assistant offensive line coach with Tampa Bay, his first professional team as a player. After a season in Tampa, Yarno joined the coaching staff of the Detroit Lions in 2009 as offensive line coach. He was recommended by offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, whom Yarno had been recommended to by Nick Saban. Following a disappointing 4-12 season from the Detroit Lions after making the playoffs the year prior, Yarno was released as an assistant coach after the 2012 season. He was named the Jaguars offensive line coach on January 24, 2013.