UPDATE: Memorial Service Set as Foothill Mourns Unexpected Death of Football Coach

Foothill College on Wednesday announced the unexpected death of football head coach Doug Boyett, credited with helping the program become one of the top community college programs in the Northern California.

Boyett, who was 52, died in his sleep Jan. 27 of undisclosed causes. 

"Doug Boyett has been an outstanding coach and instructor for the Foothill football program for many years," said friend, colleague and Foothill Physical Education Instructor Ron Oburn, who hired Boyett for the top coaching position in 2007. "Foothill student-athletes have greatly benefited from his leadership and his focus on education and athletics."

Coaches and counselors held a private meeting with football team members on Monday. 

"It was so sudden and so unexpected, people are still trying to come to terms with it, said Kinesiology & Athletics Division Dean Susan Gutkind, who just came to Foothill a month ago.

Hearing the young football team members come together and talk, she said, helped her understand just what kind of man Boyett was. "As a coach he rode them very hard because he wanted them to be not just better football players, but better men.

"I hear students saying, 'He saw something in us that we didn't know was inside us, so let's figure out what that is, and become better.'"

Boyett taught physical education and coached for more than two decades for Foothill. Boyett became head coach after Marshall Sperbeck was offered the top coaching position at Sacramento State.

A viewing and memorial service is scheduled next week.

• The viewing is Friday, Feb. 10, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Roller, Hapgood & Tinney, 980 Middlefield Road in Palo Alto
• The memorial is Saturday, Feb. 11, at 1 p.m. at the Foothill College Gymnasium, 12345 El Monte Road in Los Altos Hills. Parking Lot 2-A provides best access to the gym.

Boyett was credited with being part of the team that made the college into the top-ranked community college in Northern California. As defensive coordinator under Sperbeck, he was part of Foothill's 109-53 overall record over that coach's 15-year tenure. When Boyett took the helm, Foothill was ranked fifth nationally by J.C. Grid-Wire. As head coach over the past five years, Boyett had 41 wins and 14 losses over 5 seasons. Last season, the Owls finished 2011 wins 5 wins and 5 losses.

Success wasn't measured only on the football field. Ninety percent of Boyett's student-athletes transferred to four-year universities, according to the college. The Owls have averaged 13 scholarships each season, and in recent years, student-athletes from Foothill's football program have transferred to Boise State University, San Jose State University, Utah State University, Oregon State University, Western Carolina University, University of California Davis, Oklahoma Panhandle State University, Old Dominion University, according to Lori Thomas, media relations and publicity coordinator at Foothill.

Boyett, himself, played as a defensive back at Foothill under Head Coach Jim Fairchild in 1978-1979 and earned an associate of arts degree there. He had a bachelor's degree in physical education at California State University, Chico, and a master's degree in physical education from Saint Mary's College in Moraga.

Services are pending. Foothill College leaders will also organize an on-campus celebration of his life with details to follow, Thomas said.