Remembrances of Carm Cozza

Members of the Yale community and beyond share their memories of beloved football coach Carmen “Carm” Cozza, who died on Jan. 4, 2018. To submit your own remembrance, send an email to news@yale.edu.

On behalf of the Laidley family, our thoughts and prayers are with the Cozza family. My dad, Forrest David Laidley ‘66, was Coach Cozza’s first team Captain in 1965. Dad revered Coach Cozza. He recounted the story many times of how Coach Cozza would say, “Lesson number one in coaching is you learn more from your kids than you do from any book or any clinic.” Dad was ever grateful to Coach Cozza for teaching him countless life lessons.

When my dad passed away from a heart attack on Oct. 3, 2016, Coach Cozza called my mom, Diane, to share his condolences, and they spoke at length. This was a remarkable act of kindness. Coach Cozza cared deeply for his players throughout their entire lives. He was the best. We love you Coach Cozza. — The Laidley family (Diane Laidley, Mary Irene Sachs, Jeanne Whirry, Michael Laidley, Anne Sondalle, Luke Laidley, and Maura Ziemann)

One of my favorite memories: During practice Carm would sometimes run 40 yard sprints with the team. We ran in groups of 10; the fastest ten players were “ones,” the next fastest group were “twos,” and so on. Carm would run with the “ones” and stayed with them with ease. I ran with the “twos” and would watch Carm’s joy as he ran, and his wry smile on finishing the sprint with our fastest players.

I love you, Carm; save a place for me on your team if I'm lucky enough to meet you there. — Mike Bouscaren ‘69

Following the death of his broadcast partner Dick Galiette, I invited Carm to ride up front in the team bus with me to away games. I will always cherish the memories of those conversations, many of which had nothing to do with football. He was all about family and football. Just a wonderful man. — Jack Siedlecki, former head coach, Yale Bulldogs