Bill Walsh has died

[cincrazy]

Bill Walsh has passed away from a battle with leukemia. Awful news. One of the true giants in all of sports. RIP Mr. Walsh

[sonny]

Man, thats terrible news.

[Puffy]

Never really cared that much for Bill Walsh. But, begrugenly, I will admit he was a fantastic coach. And its a shame he passed away - much too young.

[NJReds]

I lived near San Francisco during the mid-to-late 80s. He was a huge sports figure, which bothered me to no end as a Cowboys fan. But when the 49ers offense was clicking it was unstoppable, and amazing to watch.

[Chip R]

A lot of folks don't remember he was the Bengals offensive coordinator and play caller for his last few years here in the 70s. When Paul Brown retired he was up for the gig but Brown picked Tiger Johnson instead. How about that for What if, Bengal fans?

[Chi-Town Red]

I knew he was sick..hard to believe he was 75....sad news

[pedro]

I lived near San Francisco during the mid-to-late 80s. He was a huge sports figure, which bothered me to no end as a Cowboys fan. But when the 49ers offense was clicking it was unstoppable.

Try living out there then as a Bengals fan. It was excruciating. (except for the whole living in California thing)

[NJReds]

Try living out there then as a Bengals fan. It was excruciating. (except for the whole living in California thing)

True. The Cowboys weren't any good at that time. But the Bengals were.

[SunDeck]

From WIkipedia

NFL career

Walsh began his pro coaching career in 1966 as an assistant with the Oakland Raiders. As a Raider assistant, Walsh was groomed in the vertical passing offense of Sid Gillman favored by Al Davis. Walsh would later modify his own offensive philosophy to favor a predominantly horizontal passing approach.

He then moved to the expansion Cincinnati Bengals in 1968, serving under Paul Brown for seven seasons as one of the architects of the team's offense, built around quarterback Ken Anderson and wide receiver Isaac Curtis.

When Brown retired as head coach following the 1975 season and appointed Bill "Tiger" Johnson as his successor, Walsh resigned and served as an assistant coach for Tommy Prothro with the San Diego Chargers in 1976. In a 2006 interview[2] , Walsh claimed that during his tenure with the Bengals, Brown "worked against my candidacy" to be a head coach anywhere in the league. "All the way through I had opportunities, and I never knew about them," Walsh said. "And then when I left him, he called whoever he thought was necessary to keep me out of the NFL."

I had never heard about that stuff with Brown.

[Yachtzee]

From WIkipedia




I had never heard about that stuff with Brown.

Nothing against Bill Walsh, but Paul Brown wasn't exactly around to defend himself against such claims and to date I've only heard Bill Walsh as the source of them. I always got the impression that Paul Brown was very loyal to his coaches, but expected them to "wait their turn." I had heard that Walsh felt he was ready for the head coach's job and Brown intended to give it to him after he gave Tiger Johnson a shot. Unfortunately, both Walsh and Brown, both football geniuses, had egos to match and neither one was willing to budge for the other. So Walsh felt like Brown was trying to hold him back by giving Johnson the HC job ahead of him and Brown thought Walsh was being disloyal by talking to other teams. At least that's the story I was told. I have heard that Brown could get pretty mean if you got on his bad side.

[Puffy]

Nothing against Bill Walsh, but Paul Brown wasn't exactly around to defend himself against such claims and to date I've only heard Bill Walsh as the source of them. I always got the impression that Paul Brown was very loyal to his coaches, but expected them to "wait their turn." I had heard that Walsh felt he was ready for the head coach's job and Brown intended to give it to him after he gave Tiger Johnson a shot. Unfortunately, both Walsh and Brown, both football geniuses, had egos to match and neither one was willing to budge for the other. So Walsh felt like Brown was trying to hold him back by giving Johnson the HC job ahead of him and Brown thought Walsh was being disloyal by talking to other teams. At least that's the story I was told. I have heard that Brown could get pretty mean if you got on his bad side.

I heard this was the inspiration to the coaching controversy in "The Water Boy" (The Fonz being, of course, Bill Walsh)

[Yachtzee]

I heard this was the inspiration to the coaching controversy in "The Water Boy" (The Fonz being, of course, Bill Walsh)

Now I've got an image in my head of a giant puppy wearing Paul Brown's signature fedora and overcoat.

[Dom Heffner]

I have more respect for Walsh than just about anybody in football, ever.

RIP.

[improbus]

Walsh was upset that they call it the "West Coast" Offense. He wanted it to be named after its birthplace, the "Cincinnati" Offense.

True Story

Imagine how different Cincy football would have been if even just the name has stuck.

[westofyou]

Walsh was upset that they call it the "West Coast" Offense. He wanted it to be named after its birthplace, the "Cincinnati" Offense.

True Story

Imagine how different Cincy football would have been if even just the name has stuck.

I was in SF when he died, I was there when he was ruling the game.

His death was treated as if Willie Mays had died... then I remembered how much I hated him when I lived there before.. and it made sense.

Still brought up bad memories.

FWIW Walsh accused PB of keeping him from interviewing for pro jobs around the time he took the Stanford job, that's a pretty valid scenario considering the power PB had, coupled with Walsh's ego and I could see a definite clash of personalities. Given that they both come from eras that didn't talk out of class I can see why we all know so little about the issue the might have had.

That said Tiger Johnson was crappy coach.