“Uncle Al” spent 20 years on the Missouri football coaching staff, first as the architect of Dan Devine’s rock-solid defenses from 1958-70, then succeeded Devine as head coach for a term that ran from 1971-77. During that time, he established MU as the upset king of college football, leading the Tigers to dramatic victories over Notre Dame at South Bend, Southern Cal at Los Angeles, Alabama at Birmingham, Ohio State at Columbus, Arizona State at Tempe and Nebraska at both Lincoln and in Columbia. Onofrio took teams to the 1972 Fiesta Bowl and the 1973 Sun Bowl. He coached four all-Americans and had more than 30 of his players go on to professional careers in the NFL. He returned to Mizzou as a special consultant to Athletic Director Devine in 1993. He was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
