Three months after his mid-contract departure to the New England Patriots of the NFL, Oklahoma was forced to forfeit nine games from the 1972 season after evidence of recruiting violations involving altered transcripts of student-athletes surfaced.

Fairbanks then had a falling-out with quarterback Jim Plunkett, who was traded (in April 1976) for important draft picks to San Francisco,[6] and suffered when hardball negotiating tactics by Patriot ownership led to a team-wide player strike that cancelled a preseason game with the New York Jets.

[7] The team never recovered and fell to 3–11 in 1975, but Fairbanks planted an important seed for the future by drafting quarterback Steve Grogan, who saw his first serious game action later that year.

With Grogan at quarterback, Fairbanks' Patriots erupted to 11–3 in 1976, a reversal of the 3–11 mark from the year before, and traveled to meet the 13–1 Oakland Raiders in the first round of the NFL playoffs.

[8][9][10] New England entered the fourth quarter with a 21–10 lead, but a controversial roughing-the-passer call on defensive end Ray Hamilton by referee Ben Dreith wiped out a late incompletion by the Raiders,[11] and quarterback Ken Stabler's dive into the endzone with eight seconds left gave Oakland a 24–21 comeback victory.

[12][13] Although Dreith insisted after the game that he had to call the penalty because he saw Hamilton hit Stabler on the head, replays showed that "Sugar Bear" had made no illegal contact.

The following year in 1978, tragedy struck during the preseason as Stingley suffered paralysis following a violent hit by Raiders' safety Jack Tatum at Oakland on August 12.

Hours prior to the final regular season game (on Monday night), Sullivan suspended Fairbanks for breaking his contract by agreeing to become head coach for the University of Colorado.

"[26] The legal battle to make Fairbanks the Buffaloes' head coach proved not be worth the effort when he compiled a dismal 7–26 record (.212) in three seasons for Colorado (3–8, 1–10, 3–8).

[31] The Buffalo program sank so low under Fairbanks that his successor, Bill McCartney, posted records of 2–8–1, 4–7 and 1–10 in his first three seasons before finally getting Colorado back on track.

Fairbanks resigned from CU on June 1, 1982, to become president and head coach of the New Jersey Generals of the fledgling United States Football League (USFL).

His departure from the Generals was a result of Donald Trump's purchase of complete control of the franchise from Fairbanks and majority owner J. Walter Duncan on September 22, 1983,[36][37] and was succeeded at head coach by Walt Michaels.

[38] The innovative but scandal-marred Fairbanks never coached again, either collegiately or professionally; he moved on to real estate and golf course development, creating PGA West and launching many other successful California and Arizona ventures.