COLUMBIA, Mo. — Former University of Missouri head football coach Warren Powers died Tuesday night after a battle with Alzheimer's disease. He was 80 years old.
Powers was a Kansas City native and played college football at Nebraska before a six-year career as a defensive back for the Oakland Raiders in the NFL. He amassed 22 interceptions and two touchdowns in his professional career.
Powers spent a year at Washington State as a head coach before coming to Missouri ahead of the 1978 season. From 1978 to 1984 Powers went 46-33 and had just one losing season with the Tigers. He led Mizzou to five bowl games in his tenure, winning the Liberty Bowl in his first year and landing the Tigers a top-15 ranking by the end of the season.
Powers was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.
"Just learned from Gus Otto that former Mizzou head coach, Warren Powers, passed away late last night….only weeks after his wife, Linda, passed away. Godspeed coach," former Missouri Tiger offensive lineman under Powers Howard Richards said on Twitter.