LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — George Darlington, the longest-serving assistant coach in Nebraska football history and a member of three national championship teams under Tom Osborne, died Sunday at the age of 87.

The Nebraska athletic department announced Darlington’s death but did not provide a cause. Despite declining health in recent years, Darlington regularly attended practices and was a fixture in the Nebraska press box on game days.

Darlington was an assistant with the Cornhuskers from 1973-2002, coaching defensive ends for 13 years before becoming defensive backs coach in 1986. The Huskers were 304-65-3 over his 30 years on the staff, with national titles in 1994, ‘95 and ’97.

Born in West Virginia, Darlington played college football at Rutgers in the 1950s before earning two degrees at Stanford. He was an assistant at San Jose State when Osborne hired him. He was the only assistant who was on staff for the entirety of Osborne’s 25 seasons as head coach. Darlington worked five years under Osborne’s successor, Frank Solich.

Darlington was an assistant at Marshall, Louisiana Tech, Southeast Missouri State and San Diego before retiring in 2010.

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