Jim Sweeney, who christened Fresno State a "sleeping giant" when he arrived in 1976 and then awakened not only the school but a region with 19 years of charismatic, firm and witty leadership as a football coach, died Friday. He was 83.

"He was the catalyst, he gave us hope, and he gave us pride," said longtime Bulldogs booster Harry Gaykian. "He took us from being obscure to being somebody."

Photo gallery: Former Fresno State coach Jim Sweeney dies

Mr. Sweeney had been admitted recently for a week at Saint Agnes Medical Center. His failing health had forced him and his wife, June, to move a couple of months earlier from their Clovis home to San Joaquin Gardens, a senior living community with continuing care services in Fresno.

Mr. Sweeney died at San Joaquin Gardens, according to John Wallace, former Bulldogs Foundation president.

First-year Fresno State coach Tim DeRuyter reacted on Twitter to Mr. Sweeney's passing: "My thoughts and prayers are with the Sweeney family. What an honor it is to follow his legacy."

Storify: Twitter lights up with memories of Jim Sweeney

He was born in Butte, Mont., and raised there as the youngest of seven children to a miner -- some say it lent to his tough-as-nails demeanor.

Mr. Sweeney won exactly 200 games in 32 years as coach at Montana State, Washington State and Fresno State.

It's that Bulldogs career (1976-77, 1980-2006, interrupted by one-year NFL stops as an assistant with the St. Louis Cardinals and Oakland Raiders) that he's most remembered for: an-NCAA career record-breaking passing performance by his son, Kevin; eight conference titles; and five bowl wins, including his signature conquest -- 24-7 over USC with nearly 30,000 Fresno State fans present in the 1992 Freedom Bowl at Anaheim Stadium.

"Biggest win in the history of Fresno State football -- by far," Mr. Sweeney said after taking a victory lap around the damp, late-December field while swirling a white towel above his head.

Greater than that, greater than all the statistical data of a program that led the NCAA in scoring three times on Mr. Sweeney's watch, Gaykian and many others say, was the belief and enthusiasm instilled by a coach in the community and beyond into the San Joaquin Valley.

"We had always been feeling kind of down; everybody picked on Fresno," Gaykian said. "But then he came and brought excitement to the community. He was tough. He was a salesman. And he was good -- he was just what we needed."

Fresno State's wild comeback win in 1982 California Bowl

Mr. Sweeney embraced fans new and old, shook hands customarily with a fingers snap from his vice-like grip, climbed atop chairs with an Irish baritone while booming "I've got the Bulldogs spirit," and thrust Fresno State into relevance beyond the West as the program made national ranking appearances in seven of his last 12 seasons.

"He had the personality, the charisma, the confidence -- he had everything going for him," Gaykian said. "He was the first person to make the community feel good about itself. We didn't see anybody wear Bulldogs T-shirts around town until he came."

Walt Reinhardt, like Gaykian a charter member of the Bulldog Foundation, the school's once-powerful fundraising arm, added: "Jim was a real livewire and the kids just loved him. He was a dear, loyal friend who had his faults but was a real blessing to this community and Fresno State athletics."

Mr. Sweeney (1992) and son Kevin (2002) are one of four father/son combinations inducted into the Fresno Athletic Hall of Fame. They followed Justin ('82) and Tim (2001) Simons; Charles ('60) and Tom ('86) Seaver; and Billy ('59) and Bill ('81) Vukovich.