I'm often amazed by the coaching connections that I discover in my football studies. Sometimes I find connections between players at the high school or college levels that are eye-opening. I was stunned to learn that Hall of Famers Bobby Layne and Doak Walker were friends and high school teammates long before their days together with the Detroit Lions. It's the coaching connections that truly intrigue me. You can often view the evolution of football through these relationships.
People often speak of coaching trees. It seems like the term came about to describe the far reaching influence of Bill Walsh. Long before I was sold on his genius, I felt that Walsh should merely be a branch of the impressive Paul Brown coaching tree. Brown most certainly had an impact on Walsh when they were coaching the Cincinnati Bengals in the late '60s and early 70s. Walsh probably learned a great deal about the administrative aspects of being a head coach from Brown. Skills that would benefit him greatly with the 49ers a decade later. When it comes to offensive football, Brown probably learned more than he taught. Walsh's coaching path is a perfect example of the vast connections in the profession. It was a path that was frustrating for Walsh as that head coaching job seemed quite elusive. I think that the path and the connections ended up making him a better coach. He coached for Marv Levy at Cal in the early '60s. That was a nice first step even though Levy still had a long road ahead of him. Walsh coached for Al Davis with the Oakland Raiders soon after. This relationship had a huge impact on Walsh as it brought the offensive football of Sid Gillman into the wheelhouse of the future Super Bowl coach. Gillman influenced so many football coaches during his career and long after. Through Davis, Bill Walsh became another. Gillman stretched the field more than Walsh ever did, but Gillman's ideas led Walsh to spread the field in the passing game like no other before. Walsh then moved to Stanford for the first of many times. There, he worked with Dick Vermeil, Jim Mora Sr. and Mike White on John Ralston's staff. That's an incredible group of coaches. So to was the New York Giants staff of the '50s. Offensive coordinator Vince Lombardi and defensive coordinator Tom Landry made the job of head coach Jim Lee Howell an easy one. It always amazes me when I see these occupational meetings of football minds. The coaching experiences greatly influence the coach one eventually becomes. The richer those experiences the greater the potential for success.
The coaching fraternity is huge in number but very close. The passing of information, techniques and ideas is often done freely. A few years ago, college coaches, often direct competitors, would flock to West Virginia to learn the spread offense from Rich Rodriguez. Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn has long had the same open door policy with his offense. There are position coaching clinics everywhere with NFL, college and high school coaches meeting and bouncing ideas. For years, Clark Shaugnessy went everywhere coaching his T formation. He even coached it in two places at once on occasion. In 1940, he was leading Stanford to a Rose Bowl win and #1 ranking and "advising" the Chicago Bears to the NFL title.
Sometimes simple geography brings coaches together and spreads ideas everywhere. In the early '60s, San Diego was the place to be for coaches. Sid Gillman was in the middle of growing his huge coaching tree with the AFL's San Diego Chargers. At the same time, Don Coryell was starting a tree of his own at San Diego State. These two, together and apart, changed football. Gillman sent Al Davis, Chuck Noll, Chuck Knox, Dick Vermeil and George Allen into the football world. Don Coryell influenced Joe Gibbs, John Madden, John Robinson, Ernie Zampese, Norv Turner and Mike Martz.
Sometimes it seems that all coaches have ties to each other. Those ties create the incredible coaching fraternity. There is nothing new in football, only adaptations. Through the connections between coaches, we can view the evolution of the game. We can see Sid Gillman in the innovations that we see from Mike Martz today. Troy Aikman can step into the huddle of the Chargers and call plays for Phillip Rivers. Perhaps the same plays called by John Hadl 50 years ago. It's amazing to see the evolution of the game in this way.
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