Jul 31 2007
Bill Walsh, RIP
Gridiron haters who don’t understand the über-strategic nature of American football there like to complain about the fact that some coaches actually script their first 20 plays in a game, as if this fact somehow makes the game less watchable.
Scripting plays was just one gridiron concept pioneered by Bill Walsh, who passed away yesterday at the age of 75. Walsh is best remembered as the innovative head coach of the San Francisco 49ers. He brought the West Coast Offense into vogue in the NFL in the 80s, using short passes as a common substitute for running plays and, in the process, turning guys like Joe Montana and Jerry Rice into Hall-of-Famers.
His biggest legacy, though, was in the coaching fraternity. As you can see from this coaching tree, more than a dozen coaches who were tutored by either Walsh himself or one of Walsh’s protégés are now head coaches in the NFL, and many of them have built upon the offensive concepts Walsh used to win three Super Bowls in San Francisco.
Walsh may have done more than any head coach ever could in making the National Football League what it is today. He will be missed.
(Additional tributes to Walsh can be found at NFL FanHouse.)
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I made sure that I dug up my 49ers ball cap today and I wore it all day long. A small gesture on my part but still something to show respect to a great coach. RIP Mr. Wlash.