John Madden: College football, SEC world reacts to death of legendary coach, broadcaster

John Madden passed away at the age of 85, the NFL announced Tuesday. The former Raiders head coach, who won Super Bowl XI with the team, later became one of the most respected commentators in sports history while lending his name to the popular “Madden NFL” video game series.

Following his retirement from coaching, Madden joined CBS in 1979 and remained with the network through the 1993 season. He and his CBS partner, Pat Summerall, were then hired by FOX when it gained NFL rights in 1994. In 2002, Madden paired with Al Michaels in ABC’s “Monday Night Football” booth for 4 seasons, with the 2 working together for the first 3 seasons of NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” broadcasts before Madden retired.

Reaction from both the college football and SEC world poured in on Tuesday:

So sad to hear this.
Such a fan of his-Growing up in my era it was Pat Summerall & John Madden on Sunday.
No matter who your team was-changed the game of how football games were broadcasted.
Legend as a coach and a broadcaster-My thoughts & prayers with his family & friends. ?? https://t.co/wVKbWySrtF

— Kirk Herbstreit (@KirkHerbstreit) December 29, 2021

RIP to an absolute football legend #JohnMadden pic.twitter.com/HdyllvXECo

— Mike Uva (@Mike_Uva) December 29, 2021

Very sad. Rest In Peace to a legend. https://t.co/TEYCEbNfWr

— Tyler Thompson (@MrsTylerKSR) December 29, 2021

This is where my love of football began.

John Madden was responsible for incredible grow of the game spanning multiple generations.

RIP to the legend pic.twitter.com/okLOTDqFy8

— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) December 29, 2021

So many fun games for the last 33 years! #RIPJohnMadden pic.twitter.com/E8gshHu8bo

— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) December 29, 2021

Who did more to make the NFL fun than John Madden? It's hard to think of someone, really. https://t.co/zjrC8YvTKm

— Scott Rabalais (@RabalaisAdv) December 29, 2021

RIP champ pic.twitter.com/LlDSdJiwDU

— Jason Marcum (@marcum89) December 29, 2021

Nooooo. https://t.co/6v6bRxv4Ki

— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) December 29, 2021

Sydney Hunte

Sydney is an Atlanta-based journalist who has covered everything from SEC and ACC football to MLS, the U.S. men's national soccer team and professional tennis. His work has appeared on such platforms as SB Nation, Cox Media Group and FanSided.