John D. Payne is a former Gridiron football

Gridiron football

Gridiron football , sometimes known as North American football, is an umbrella term for related codes of football primarily played in the United States and Canada. The predominant forms of gridiron football are American football and Canadian football...

 coach.

After serving as an assistant with Central High School

Central High School (Tulsa, Oklahoma)

Central High School is the oldest high school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was founded in 1906 as Tulsa High School, and located in downtown Tulsa until 1976. The school now has a campus in northwest Tulsa. Tulsa Central is part of the Tulsa Public Schools, Oklahoma's largest school district, and is a...

  and BYU, Payne moved to the Canadian Football League

Canadian Football League

The Canadian Football League or CFL is a professional sports league located in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football, a form of gridiron football closely related to American football....

 in 1968. He served as an assistant with the Edmonton Eskimos

Edmonton Eskimos

The Edmonton Eskimos are a Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. They currently play in the West Division of the Canadian Football League . Edmonton is currently the third-youngest franchise in the CFL, although there were clubs with the name Edmonton Eskimos as early as 1895...

 and Saskatchewan Roughriders

Saskatchewan Roughriders

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a Canadian Football League team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. They were founded in 1910. They play their home games at 2940 10th Avenue in Regina, which has been the team's home base for its entire history, even prior to the construction of Mosaic Stadium at Taylor...

 before becoming the Roughriders head coach in 1973. In his four season as head coach, Payne had a 40-23-1 record and led Saskatchewan to the 1976 Grey Cup

64th Grey Cup

The 64th Grey Cup was played on November 28, 1976, before 53,467 fans at the Exhibition Stadium at Toronto. The Ottawa Rough Riders defeated the Saskatchewan Roughriders by the score 23 to 20 in what is considered one of the most thrilling Grey Cup games and with perhaps the most exciting plays in...

.

In 1977, Payne left the Roughriders and joined the Detroit Lions

Detroit Lions

The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...

 coaching staff. Payne and the rest of the coaching staff was fired at the end of the season. Payne returned to the CFL, replacing Tom Dimitroff

Tom Dimitroff, Sr.

Thomas George Dimitroff was a Gridiron football player and coach. He is the father of current Atlanta Falcons general manager Thomas Dimitroff....

 as head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats

Hamilton Tiger-Cats

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a Canadian Football League team based in Hamilton, Ontario, founded in 1950 with the merger of the Hamilton Tigers and the Hamilton Wildcats. The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Ivor Wynne Stadium...

 five games into the 1978 season. He had some success with Hamilton, compiling a 18-24-1 record over three seasons and leading the team to the 1980 Grey Cup

68th Grey Cup

The 68th Grey Cup was played on November 23, 1980 before 54,661 fans at the Exhibition Stadium at Toronto. The Edmonton Eskimos demolished the Hamilton Tiger-Cats by the score 48 to 10, in one of the Grey Cup's most lopsided victories.-Scoring:...

. After the Tiger-Cats thirty point loss in the Grey Cup, owner Harold Ballard

Harold Ballard

Harold E. Ballard was an owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League as well as their home arena, Maple Leaf Gardens. A member of the Leafs organization from 1940 and a senior executive from 1957, he became part-owner of the team in 1961 and was majority owner from February...

 indicated that he preferred recently fired Arizona State football

Arizona State Sun Devils football

The Arizona State Sun Devils' football program represents Arizona State University in college football, and competes in NCAA Division I FBS as a member of the Pacific-12 Conference....

 coach Frank Kush

Frank Kush

Frank Joseph Kush is a former American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Arizona State University from 1958 to 1979, compiling a record of 176–54–1...

 over Payne, which lead to his resignation.

Payne returned to football in 1985 as the head coach at Abilene Christian University

Abilene Christian University

Abilene Christian University is a private university located in Abilene, Texas, affiliated with Churches of Christ. ACU was founded in 1906, as Childers Classical Institute...

 located in Abilene, Texas

Abilene, Texas

Abilene is a city in Taylor and Jones counties in west central Texas. The population was 117,063 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Abilene Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2006 estimated population of 158,063. It is the county seat of Taylor County...

. He was the Wildcats head coach for six seasons and had a coaching record of 26-34-2.

Payne returned to the CFL in 1993 as the offensive line coach for the Sacramento Gold Miners

Sacramento Gold Miners

The Sacramento Gold Miners were a Canadian football team based in Sacramento, California. The franchise was the first American team in the Canadian Football League. The Gold Miners were originally the "descendants" of the Sacramento Surge from the defunct World League of American Football...

. In 1996, Payne, then an assistant with the Ottawa Rough Riders

Ottawa Rough Riders

The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded in 1876. One of the oldest and longest lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup championship nine times. Their most dominant era was the 1960s and 1970s, a...

, was promoted to head coach. He coached the team to a 3-11 record. The Rough Riders ceased operations after the season and Payne became the final coach in the 120 year history of the team.

On November 18, 1997, the New York CityHawks of the Arena Football League named Payne offensive coordinator.

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