Ignoring the dire warnings, Rauch was a three-sport star at Yeadon High School, then put together an outstanding college football career.

On an individual level, he won first-team All American accolades following his senior year in 1948, and left the school as college football's all-time passing leader with 4,044 yards.

Rauch was the second overall pick in the 1949 NFL draft, taken by the Detroit Lions, but then sent to the transplanted New York Bulldogs in exchange for the rights to SMU's Doak Walker.

[1] After leading the Raiders to an 8–5–1 mark in his first year, Rauch's squad lost just once during the 1967 regular season and faced the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl II in Miami.

He expected Simpson to become an all-around running back, necessary in Professional Football, by also blocking and receiving passes out of the backfield, as Rauch had coached successfully at Oakland.

However, on July 20, 1971, he abruptly resigned following a heated discussion with team owner Ralph C. Wilson Jr.[4][5] The source of the argument stemmed from Rauch's comments about former Bills' players Ron McDole and Paul Maguire.

Less than three weeks later, Rauch was hired as head coach of the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts, leading the team to a playoff berth in his first year.

Returning to the NFL the following year, Rauch served as backfield coach for the Atlanta Falcons, but then resigned on February 18, 1976, to become offensive coordinator of the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The same day he resigned from Tampa, Rauch returned to Atlanta to work under interim coach Pat Peppler, but the staff was not retained after the team won three of its final nine games.

When his search proved fruitless, Rauch felt an obligation to the school, and accepted the position as head coach for one season, on September 10, 1977; during that time, a successor was found.

Rauch also served as a part-time writer for the St. Petersburg Independent, a local newspaper that had him cover his old team, the Raiders, when they reached Super Bowl XV.