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PROVO — Tommy Hudspeth, who led BYU football to its first-ever conference title, died Tuesday morning from complications due to cancer. He was 83.
Hudspeth led the Cougars to a 39-42-1 record in eight seasons as head coach, including the 1965 Western Athletic Conference title. He was named WAC Coach of the Year that season, which was one of four winning seasons for BYU in his tenure.
Hudspeth, who played and later coached at the University of Tulsa, died at 3 a.m., according to his daughter Melissa McCurdy.
My daddy, former BYU coach, Tommy Hudspeth, passed away June 23 @ 3am. — Melissa McCurdy (@MelissaMcCurdy1) June 23, 2015
The former assistant coach at two Oklahoma high schools, as well as the CFL's Calgary Stampeders, was succeeded by defensive coordinator LaVell Edwards, who went on to become BYU's all-time winningest coach.
Following his career at BYU, Hudspeth coached at UTEP and in the NFL with the Detroit Lions before moving on to the Chicago Fire of the World Football League and the Toronto Argonauts in Canada, before rejoining the staff at Tulsa in 2006 to work in fundraising and development.
"The University of Tulsa lost a man today who lived and breathed Golden Hurricane athletics for nearly his entire life," Tulsa athletic director Derrick Gragg said in a statement. "Anyone who had the pleasure to have known Tommy Hudspeth knows how dedicated he was to his family and to TU. Tommy always had a smile on his face and would help anyone in any way he could."
Former Tulsa assistant and current Penn State offensive line coach Herb Hand expressed his condolences via Twitter.
The Tulsa community lost a GREAT man this morning. RIP Tommy Hudspeth - thanks for always being so kind and gracious. pic.twitter.com/vSLuGwoImn— Herb Hand (@CoachHand) June 23, 2015
Former Tulsa assistant Matt Wells, the current head coach at Utah State, also expressed his condolences on Twitter.
So sad 2 hear the call 2day that Coach Tommy Hudspeth has passed. He is a @TulsaFootball icon. He mentored me when I was a young coach at TU — Matt Wells (@CoachWellsUSUFB) June 23, 2015
**Contributing**: Jeremiah Jensen 
