[3] He enrolled at Kent State University and began coaching at Akron area high schools.
[5] In 1959, he began a five-year stretch as an assistant with Navy under Hall of Fame coach Wayne Hardin.
As an assistant, he helped recruit Heisman Trophy winner and Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach to Navy.
[9][10] Returning to Ohio in 1968, he served one year in that same role as a Cincinnati Bengals assistant under Paul Brown.
[6] After putting together a 10–33 record with three defeats against rival Army, Forzano resigned on February 1, 1973, to become an assistant coach with the Detroit Lions under Don McCafferty,[12] who had worked with him at Kent State in the late 1950s.
[14] Forzano gave Bill Belichick his first full time coaching job with the Detroit Lions.