(STATS) -- Bob Spoo, the winningest coach in Eastern Illinois history, died at age 80 early Monday in Rockford, Illinois, the university athletic department announced.
Spoo won 144 games during a 25-year career from 1987-2011. He led EIU to five conference championships and nine FCS playoff appearances.
Some of the quarterbacks who played for Spoo were Sean Payton, Tony Romo and Jimmy Garoppolo.
A 1960 graduate of Purdue, where he was a quarterback, Spoo earned four conference coach of the year awards and was the runner-up for the STATS FCS Eddie Robinson Award in 2000. He was inducted into the Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Eastern Illinois Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015.
Spoo is survived by his wife, Suzie, and one daughter, Katie, as well as other family and friends.