Manny Crisostomo/Detroit Free Press, via Associated Press
George Perles, who coached Michigan State to two Big Ten titles and a Rose Bowl victory in 1988 and was an assistant for the dominant Pittsburgh Steelers teams of the 1970s, died on Tuesday at his home in East Lansing, Mich. He was 85.
The university announced his death. He had been treated for Parkinson’s disease since 2017.
Perles played football at Michigan State and was later an assistant coach before leaving to join the Steelers’ coaching staff in 1972. He returned to Michigan State a decade later as head coach and later became athletic director and a member of the school’s governing body.