Remembering Red Raven National Champion Head Football Coach Skip Foster (1960 - 2024)

With the passing of Richard "Skip" Foster, Red Raven Nation remembers the unbelievable career of a great man and coach.

No other player and head coach had the success Skip had with the Coffeyville Red Ravens.  As a player, he started every game in 1979 and 1980 at center and was selected second-team All-American by the Grid Wire his sophomore year.  Skip was selected as one of the team captains for the undefeated 1980 Raven football team.  From CCC, Skip went to Missouri Western State University where he played both guard and center.  After his player career, he became a student assistant at Missouri Western University and later served as a graduate assistant at the University of Memphis.  He returned to Coffeyville to join the CCC football staff in 1985 and was named head coach in June 1989.

Skip led the Coffeyville Community College Red Ravens to an overall record of 83-39-2, including the 1990 National Junior College Athletic Association and J.C. Grid-Wire Championships.  In the 12 years Foster was at the helm of the Red Ravens, his teams played for six conference championships, and he coached 58 first-team All-Conference players, the most of any program in the Jayhawk Conference.  His peers selected him as the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference Coach of the Year in both 1990 and 1991.  The undefeated 1990 season was capped by a 58-20 Raven victory over Montgomery County, Maryland in the Mid-America Bowl game played in Tulsa, OK.  The 1991 team claimed another national title when six starters were named Academic All-Americans, the most of any one school in a single sport.  This feat was duplicated again in 1995 with six more Red Ravens selected to the Academic All-American team, with three of them receiving Distinguished status.

In 1992, Foster led the Ravens to the Shrine Bowl held in Tyler, Texas, and two starters were named Distinguished Academic All-Americans, while two more were All-Americans.  In 1993, the Ravens played in the Dixie Rotary Bowl in St. George, Utah and posted a 60-36 win over the host team.  In 1996, the Ravens were 9-2, winning the conference title and a shot at the National Championship playing in the Mineral Water Bowl in Excelsior Springs, Missouri.  The Ravens lost to two-time National Champions Blinn Community College.

In 1997, Foster led the Ravens to a 9-3 record, dropping a 26-22 decision to Snow College in a return appearance to the Mineral Water Bowl.  Skip also served as the President of the NJCAA Football Coaches Association in 1997-98.

In 2001, his first season as head coach of the Tulsa Talons in the Arena Football League (2), his team went 13-3 in the regular season and advanced to the first round of the playoffs.  The highlight was the upset victory over the Quad City Steamwheelers.  The Talons were the only team to defeat Quad City that season.

Following his stint with Tulsa, Skip went on to coach in the Arena Football League (1) with the Austin Wranglers, Arizona Rattlers, and the San Jose Sharks.

Skip is survived by his wife, Gay, two sons, Spencer and Gage, and daughter, Shelby.