Chan Gailey

Thomas Chandler "Chan" Gailey, Jr. (born January 5, 1952) is an American professional and college football coach. Gailey is the current head coach of the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL); he was formerly the head coach of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets college football team.

Gailey previously served as offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins in 2000–01 when the Dolphins posted consecutive 11–5 records. He was on the Pittsburgh Steelers staff from 1994-97 when the Steelers won four straight AFC Central titles and coached in one Super Bowl (XXX). He was offensive coordinator in 1997 when Pittsburgh ranked sixth in the NFL in total offense and seventh in scoring. Gailey served as the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs in 2008 and three games of the 2009 pre-season before he was relieved of duties by Chiefs head coach Todd Haley.

Early life and education
Gailey was born in Gainesville, Georgia in 1952. He attended Americus High School in Americus, Georgia, where he was an Eagle Scout, and a letterman in high school football, basketball, baseball and golf. In football, he was an all-state selection as quarterback. Gailey graduated from Americus High School in 1970.

Gailey attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he was a three-year letterman for coach Doug Dickey's Florida Gators football team as a quarterback from 1971 to 1973. Gailey graduated from Florida with a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1974.

Troy State, Air Force, Troy
Gailey stayed with Florida as a graduate assistant for two years before taking his first actual coaching job as the secondary coach for the Troy Trojans of Troy State University in Alabama. After two seasons there, he spent four seasons with the Air Force Academy, including two as defensive coordinator under head coach Ken Hatfield. In 1983, he took over the head coaching duties at Troy, where he led the Trojans to a 12-1 record in 1984 en route to the Division II championship.

Professional leagues (1984-1992, 1994-2001)
Gailey moved to the National Football League the next year, when the Denver Broncos signed him as a defensive assistant and special teams coach. The team made three Super Bowl appearances during his six-year tenure. In 1991, Gailey left the NFL to become the head coach of the Birmingham Fire of the World League of American Football, where the team made the playoffs in both years that he was coach.

After a one-year stint as head coach at Samford University, he returned to the NFL with the Pittsburgh Steelers. After starting off as coach for the wide receivers, then moved up to offensive coordinator for the 1996 and 1997 NFL seasons. The Steelers won their division all four years, and made one Super Bowl appearance.

In 1998, Gailey was hired to take over a struggling Dallas Cowboys squad, one that had faltered under Barry Switzer during his last year. Gailey's Cowboys won the NFC East in 1998, and made the playoffs under his two years at the reins, although they failed to win a playoff game. Gailey is the only Cowboys coach to make the playoffs every season with his team.

Gailey returned to the offensive coordinator role, this time with the Miami Dolphins for the 2000 and 2001 seasons.

Georgia Tech (2002-07)
Gailey was hired by the Yellow Jackets in 2002 to replace George O'Leary who left to become Head Coach at the University of Notre Dame. In his first five years at Georgia Tech, he had compiled a 37-27 record. Georgia Tech went to bowl games each year under Gailey, and won two: the 2003 Humanitarian Bowl (a 52-10 win over the University of Tulsa), and the 2004 Champs Sports Bowl (a 51-14 victory over Syracuse University). Gailey compiled six winning seasons in six years at the helm. However, he never defeated Tech's biggest rival, the University of Georgia, never won the ACC, never went to a BCS bowl, never won more than 9 games, and never finished in the top 25. The 2006 season was his most successful at Georgia Tech winning the ACC Coastal Division, but losing his last 3 games to rival UGA, Wake Forest in the ACC Championship Game and West Virginia in the Gator Bowl.

Gailey's name was mentioned for both the Pittsburgh Steelers and Miami Dolphins head coaching jobs following the 2006 season, two teams for which he was offensive coordinator. Gailey got neither job. On January 19, 2007 Gailey announced he would return to Georgia Tech.

After a 7-5 2007 regular season and losing for the sixth straight year to the Georgia Bulldogs football team, it was announced on November 26, 2007 that Gailey had been dismissed and his $1 million/year contract bought out.

Back to the NFL (2008-2009)
Gailey was hired on January 16, 2008 to become the offensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs. Gailey inherited a Chiefs offense that ranked at the bottom of the league in almost every category the previous season. He was demoted after three pre-season games in 2009 and relieved of play-calling duties by head coach Todd Haley. Gailey was out of football in 2009.

Buffalo Bills (2010)
He was introduced as the 15th head coach of the Buffalo Bills on January 19, 2010, replacing interim Head Coach Perry Fewell and becoming their fifth head coach in 10 years.

World League of American Football
Record with Birmingham Fire

!Totals || 12 || 7 || 1
 * 1991 || 5 || 5 || 0 || 1st North American West || Lost Semifinals (Dragons)
 * 1992 || 7 || 2 || 1 || 2nd North American West || Lost Semifinals (Thunder)
 * 1992 || 7 || 2 || 1 || 2nd North American West || Lost Semifinals (Thunder)
 * 1992 || 7 || 2 || 1 || 2nd North American West || Lost Semifinals (Thunder)
 * colspan="2"| (excluding playoffs)

Coaching tree
NFL head coaches under whom Chan Gailey has served:
 * Dan Reeves, Denver Broncos (1985–1990)
 * Bill Cowher, Pittsburgh Steelers (1994–1997)
 * Dave Wannstedt, Miami Dolphins (2000–2001)
 * Herman Edwards, Kansas City Chiefs (2008)

Assistant coaches under Chan Gailey who became NFL head coaches:
 * Dave Campo, Dallas Cowboys (2000–2002)