by joining the Houston Oilers. He spent five years coaching a team which made the playoffs each of his first four years there, led by Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon. In 1991, the Oilers won their first division title since 1967 in the American Football League. It was during his time with the Oilers that Pardee fell victim to NFL notoriety during the 1992 season, when in that season's playoffs, the Oilers surrendered a 35-3 third quarter lead to the Buffalo Bills, losing in overtime to the eventual conference champions 41-38. The Oilers won another division title in 1993 on the strength of winning their last 11 games. However, after losing in the second round of the playoffs, owner Bud Adams made good on a threat to hold a fire sale if they didn't make the Super Bowl. The highest-profile loss was Moon, who was traded to the Minnesota Vikings. Without Moon, the Oilers were a rudderless team. Pardee was fired following a 1-9 start to the 1994 season, and was replaced by defensive coordinator Jeff Fisher. CFL comes to America He continued his coaching career in the Canadian Football League. In 1995, he was named head coach of the CFL Expansion Team, the Birmingham Barracudas. Canadian football is more wide-open than American football, with a field that has an additional 10 yards added to each endzone, as well as a 55 yardline and wider field. Birmingham owner Art Williams thought Pardee's roots in the six-man game made him a natural fit. The "Cudas" were part of a failed experiment to expand the CFL into the United States. With Matt Dunigan at quarterback, Birmingham made the playoffs, but lost in the first round. However, due to dreadful attendance late in the season and the league's refusal to approve the team's proposed relocation to Shreveport, Louisiana, for 1996, the 'Cudas were shuttered at the end of the season along with the CFL's other American teams. Return to coaching In December 2007, Pardee, then 71, was contacted by athletic director Dave Maggard about the vacant head coaching job at the University of Houston. Signaling interest, he made it as far as a finalist for the position, but the school moved forward with Oklahoma co-offensive coordinator Kevin Sumlin. Personal life Pardee was married for 50 years to Phyllis Lane Perryman and had five children and 12 grandchildren. Pardee's youngest son, Ted, is