Perhaps the greatest offensive football coach of my youth is finally on the doorsteps of Canton. Former St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Chargers head coach Don Coryell was announced on Wednesday as the coach/contributor finalist for the Pro Football Hall Fame Class of 2023. He’s been close to that gold jacket and bronze bust before but never this close. He faces one more vote early next year from the Hall’s 49 selectors. If he receives 80% of the vote, he’ll be enshrined next August in Canton. Finally.
Coryell impacted football like few coaches ever have. It’s been more than 35 years since he coached an NFL game. Yet, his impact is felt every Sunday, Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of the football season. One-back formations, receiver option routes, moving the tight around the formation, running back screens, pre-snap motions were all innovations credited to Coryell. His innovations changed the game. So did his offensive approach. He attacked the entire field. Former St. Louis Rams head coach Mike Martz has called Coryell “the father of the modern passing game.” John Madden, Joe Gibbs, Ernie Zampese, Jim Hanifan, Rod Dowhower, and Al Saunders are among the coaches that learned directly from him.
“Air Coryell”
His offenses in San Diego were ridiculous. High-flying and wide-open, the Chargers led the league in passing yards an NFL record six consecutive years from 1978 to 1983. They did it again in 1985. It felt like tight end Kellen Winslow was playing a new position. Dan Fouts, Charlie Joiner, and Winslow are in Canton. If things go as they should, Coryell will finally join them.
A championship is probably they only thing that’s kept Coryell out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He took the Chargers to AFC title games in 1980 and 1981. If his team didn’t have to play in frigid Cincinnati a week after suffering from dehydration in Miami, maybe the Chargers are playing the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XVI.
The coach/contributor process:
The coach/contributor committee considered 12 candidates on Tuesday.
Roone Arledge
Don Coryell
Mike Holmgren
Frank “Bucko” Kilroy
Robert Kraft
Art Modell
Buddy Parker
Dan Reeves
Art Rooney Jr.
Mike Shanahan
Clark Shaugnessy
John Wooten
The 12 candidates were cut to four:
Don Coryell
Mike Holmgren
Robert Kraft
John Wooten
I was a little surprised and very impressed that John Wooten made it to the Final Four, let alone the Final 12. I’m at a loss as to how the coach/contributor committee can keep ignoring the Hall of Fame-worthy coaching career of Buddy Parker.
Despite those thoughts, I do believe that the committee got it right with the selection of Don Coryell. My only disappointment is that this honor didn’t happen before his passing in 2010.
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