Hall of Fame
The first former Towson football player to be named the program’s head coach, Gordy Combs’ affiliation with Tiger Football spanned 39 seasons, marking his tenure the longest of anyone in the team’s history.
A product of nearby Calvert Hall High School, Combs spent his first two years in college football at the University of Dayton. In 1970 he transferred to Towson sitting out the season due to the NCAA transfer rule. In 1971, in Towson’s third year of football, he earned a starting job at linebacker. The following year he was named a tri-captain and was selected to the All Mason-Dixon Conference and All State teams.
After graduating with a degree in physical education Combs returned to Towson in 1973 as a part-time assistant coach while teaching elementary school in Anne Arundel County where he also coached boys basketball and lacrosse at Meade High School. During his first four years as a Tiger assistant he was the defensive line coach and also directed the junior varsity squad.
In 1979, when Towson moved up from NCAA Division III to Division II, Combs was named the program’s first full-time assistant football coach. Two years later then head coach Phil Albert elevated his former player to the position of assistant head coach and tabbed him as the program’s defensive coordinator. Combs served in this position during Towson’s Division II glory days. In 1983 his defensive unit was ranked number one in the nation, allowing just 64 points in 11 games (5.8 per game) while posting four shutouts and holding seven opponents without a touchdown. From 1983 through 1986 the Tigers made three NCAA post-season appearances and were named Lambert/Meadowlands Trophy winners. Two of the four Tigers named first team All-Americans during that stretch were defensive players.
Following the 1991 season Coach Albert stepped down. Combs was immediately named to replace his mentor, becoming the third head coach in the program’s 23-year history. It ended 19 years as an assistant. He would serve as Towson’s head coach for the next 17 seasons.
In his first three years at the helm the Tigers posted a 21-9 record that included back-to-back 8-2 records as Towson achieved its first national rankings as a Division I-AA program. In those two years the Tigers set or tied 84 team and player records. In 1995 the program went non-scholarship. Towson joined the Patriot League as an associate member for football where the Tigers spent seven years. In 1999 the Tigers came very close to winning the conference title but fell short. Nonetheless Combs was honored as the Patriot League Coach of the Year. At the time of Towson’s departure Combs was the Patriot League’s winningest active coach.
The 2004 season produced another change of direction for Combs when the Tigers joined the Atlantic-10 Football Conference, featuring the return of scholarship football to Towson that had to face a host of established I-AA programs. With the youngest offense in the A-10 the Tigers struggled through an 0-8 campaign in the conference but were 3-0 against non-league opponents. In just their second season the Tigers showed remarkable improvement, going 6-5 including wins over Delaware, Villanova and Rhode Island.
In 2007 the A-10 morphed into the Colonial Athletic Association Football Conference, marking the fifth significant change for the program during Combs’ tenure. The 2008 season was his last as Towson’s head coach. He closed out his head coaching career with a 92-90 overall record that included nine winning seasons and two .500 seasons.
Combs was honored as Towson’s Coach of the Year for men’s sports four times. He was a member of the board of directors for the Greater Baltimore Chapter of the National Football Foundation and Hall of Fame as well as the National Junior Lacrosse Association. He was recognized by the NFF in 1994 and 2000 with special achievement awards. In 2003 he was the recipient of the Baltimore Touchdown Club’s George Young Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also recognized by the All-American Football Foundation with its Johnny Vaught Head Coach Award.
