falconeyed
Footballguy
Just heard it on the local radio. Bill Walsh died this morning due to complications from leukemia. FYI.
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Bill Walsh Dead (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter falconeyed
- Start date
Godsbrother
Footballguy
Very sad news.
Ford Prefect
Footballguy
Ron_Mexico
I Love Doggies
Goodbye legend.
derek19
Footballguy
Urinal Mint
Footballguy
A true innovator.
djb916420
Footballguy
Long time 9er fan.
Its a sad day in sunny california today.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c...AG57LR8OK21.DTL
Its a sad day in sunny california today.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c...AG57LR8OK21.DTL
Fullback Fro
yesno
Sat next to him a sf giants game. He was very nice and didn't mind chatting up the niners a bit. RIP Bill. You'll be missed.
badmojo1006
Footballguy
benson_will_lead_the_way
Footballguy
Great coach and man.
I have some of his tapes on the West Coast offense...pure innovater.
I have some of his tapes on the West Coast offense...pure innovater.
On The Rocks
Footballguy
Bill Walsh Coaching Tree
Yeah..I would say Legend is a good description.
At a quick glance...it looks like 13 of these coaches have been a Head Coach in a Super Bowl.
Yeah..I would say Legend is a good description.
At a quick glance...it looks like 13 of these coaches have been a Head Coach in a Super Bowl.
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mightyeskimo
Footballguy
Lord please welcome this legendary football mind into Your kingdom. Please be with his family, friends, and students. We'll miss you coach. Thanks!
Ministry of Pain
Footballguy
Tom Snyder died of Leukemia this morning too...San Fran as well. Weird.
Walsh revolutionized the modern game of football, one of the great all time head coaches.
Walsh revolutionized the modern game of football, one of the great all time head coaches.
His effect on the game is impossible to capture with words... it's like the game of football has absorbed his DNA into its own. The family tree is just another example of how omnipresent he has become and will remain. RIP
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Sleeper 43
Footballguy
Not many people top Bill in the dedication dept.
QuizGuy66
Footballguy
well it's all under Paul Brown if we want to go back, regardless Walsh was a legendary coach and a true great. Seemed like a great guy to boot. RIP
-QG
Silver & Black
Footballguy
Wow, sad news this.
RIP Bill.
RIP Bill.
cobalt_27
Footballguy
I'm of the same era, so I can't speak to Lombardi or Brown, but...in my lifetime, there is no single individual who has shaped the way the game is played on the field more than Walsh. I am completely comfortable putting him up there will the rare immortals of the game...and in sports. A friggin genius. Sad to hear this news.
KnowledgeReignsSupreme
Footballguy
Sucks.
AnonymousBob
Footballguy
Footballhead
WWPRD?
We lost a legend. RIP Bill.
BaBastage
Footballguy
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Everyone talks about Lombardi being the consummate NFL coach. Walsh can't be far behind, if not equal or ahead.Peace, Bill, and thanks for everything.
All at the same time.
Hairy Snowman
Footballguy
I specifically came to my computer to find this thread here.
As a long time Bears fan I hated seeing the Bears go against his 49ers teams. He was a true genius in the game. His offenses were never really stopped. He coached some of the greatest games ever played, and won almost all of them. As a person, a coach and a mentor - he will be missed by all.
RIP sir. You've earned the respect and admiration of everyone associated with this great game. You'll be sorely missed.
As a long time Bears fan I hated seeing the Bears go against his 49ers teams. He was a true genius in the game. His offenses were never really stopped. He coached some of the greatest games ever played, and won almost all of them. As a person, a coach and a mentor - he will be missed by all.
RIP sir. You've earned the respect and admiration of everyone associated with this great game. You'll be sorely missed.
Wow, I just got in from work,...this is a sad day for NFL fans like us. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Walsh family.
A great Head coach, person, competitor, and friend for those who knew him.
RIP Bill Walsh, you'll truly be missed.
The competitive fire within him reminded me of a good pool shot,... such as 1-pocket, or maybe side or snooker.
I bet he could have played a good game of chess.
A great Head coach, person, competitor, and friend for those who knew him.
RIP Bill Walsh, you'll truly be missed.
The competitive fire within him reminded me of a good pool shot,... such as 1-pocket, or maybe side or snooker.
I bet he could have played a good game of chess.
Cecil Lammey
Footballguy
RIP
Thoughts and prayers to his family.
Thoughts and prayers to his family.
pettifogger
Footballguy
RIP to a great coach, a great leader, a great spokesman for the game.
MarshallRob
Footballguy
For me, my favorite part of the game is the chessmatch aspect of it and Bill Walsh was just the master. If you had to pick a coach to win one big game for you in my book it's got to be Walsh, at least in the post-merger era. In the 1984 Super Bowl SF trailed after a quarter but Walsh made adjustments, Shula didn't, and the Niners rolled to a huge lead and had it locked up by halftime. I didn't even like the Niners but man they played so brilliantly on offense when everything was clicking (as it usually did). His teams performed ridiculously well on the road too. I also loved how Walsh succeeded despite his atypical cool brainy personality. He was about as far away from that Lombardi/Ditka intimidator-type as it gets. Walsh's players knew they'd win because their coach was smarter than the guy on the opposite sideline.
RIP Bill
RIP Bill
When you stop and realize what Walsh did to change the game of football, you quickly realize that it will or could be impossible for another coach to bypass his legacy. He was an innovator and, as mentioned by MarshallRob, atypical of his immediate peer group and predecessors. In sport built upon archetypes and stereotypes he was his own man. He will be sadly missed.
chook
Footballguy
RIP Bill.
It was his Niners that started my love affair with American Football around 20 years ago, as a young kid on the other side of the planet. Very little coverage was given to the game here, but Walsh's boys were the one team my friends and I knew about back then.
It's a pity he won't be around to see this next crop of 49ers continue to develop into a championship-calibre team over the next year or so. He would've been proud to see them become a force to be reckoned with once again.
What an awesome person for the game to have. He will be sorely missed.
It was his Niners that started my love affair with American Football around 20 years ago, as a young kid on the other side of the planet. Very little coverage was given to the game here, but Walsh's boys were the one team my friends and I knew about back then.
It's a pity he won't be around to see this next crop of 49ers continue to develop into a championship-calibre team over the next year or so. He would've been proud to see them become a force to be reckoned with once again.
What an awesome person for the game to have. He will be sorely missed.
Jene Bramel
Footballguy
From the FBG Blog
One Bengal fan's tribute to a legendary innovator and coach.
July 30, 2007
Bill Walsh and Greg Cook: What the Bengals could have been
By: Jene Bramel
Every team has their share of coulda, shoulda, wouldas. Cleveland fans have The Fumble and The Drive. Raider fans are left to wonder about the Immaculate Reception, the Tuck Rule and Bo. Buffalo fans, well, let’s not dredge up those memories again. Bengal fans have their own painful memories. Pete Johnson stuffed on 4th and 1 or Lewis Billups dropping an interception in the end zone at crucial points in separate Super Bowls, Carson Palmer lying in a heap in a 2005 playoff game and any number of failed top draft picks. The passing of offensive innovator and former Bengal assistant coach Bill Walsh may have reminded long time Cincinnati homers of possibly the biggest what could’ve been in franchise history.
Everyone knows the Bill Walsh story. Primary architect of one variation of the West Coast offense, three time Super Bowl winning head coach of the San Francisco 49ers and widely considered among the most innovative coaches of all time. Casual football fans may not know the rest of the story. Walsh got his start in the NFL as an assistant with the Oakland Raiders but made his name as an assistant offensive coach in Cincinnati after joining Paul Brown’s staff in 1968. Walsh brought the vertical passing game of another of the game’s offensive architects, Sid Gillman, to Cincinnati and soon had the perfect quarterback to run his playbook, Greg Cook.
Who the heck is Greg Cook you ask? As a rookie in 1969 in Walsh’s vertical offense, Cook rode his freakish combination of arm strength, touch and deep accuracy to an amazing 17.5 yards per completed pass. Put in perspective, Daunte Culpepper averaged 12.4 yards per completion in his historic 2004, Peyton Manning 13.6. Some of the best deep receiving threats in the league today fall short of that number. Unfortunately, Cook, the 1969 AFL Rookie of the Year blew out his shoulder in third game of the year. Although he finished the year, Cook was never the same and attempted only three more passes after the 1969 season — four seasons later.
In later interviews, Walsh still lamented what could have been with Cook. In fact, Walsh himself wonders if he would’ve created the West Coast offense if Cook had stayed healthy and fulfilled his promise. Paul Zimmerman asked Walsh how things would’ve been different if he had Cook for more than one season. Things would have been “completely different,” Walsh said. “It would’ve started off the deep strike and everything else would’ve played off that. It would’ve set records that would have never been broken.” This from the man who coached Joe Montana and Jerry Rice.
Unfortunately for Bengal fans, that’s only half the story.
Although Walsh’s version of the vertical offense could have been sick with Greg Cook and Isaac Curtis, the innovator found a way to modify his passing attack with short, precise passes and mulitple wide receiving options putting pressure on the defense with timing routes — what is now known as the West Coast offense but could rightly be called the Cincinnati offense. Walsh again found a near perfect fit for his new playbook in Ken Anderson, a smart, calm, precise passer. Walsh’s offense was clicking for the Bengals in the early 1970s. By the end of the 1975 season, Anderson was running the offense to perfection with a 60% plus completion rate and 8 yards plus per passing attempt. Curtis had been to three consecutive Pro Bowls and was a star. The Bengals had made the playoffs in 1973 and 1975. The future was ridiculously bright.
Then Bengal head coach and patriarch Paul Brown retired and handed the reins to long time offensive assistant Tiger Johnson instead of Walsh, who resigned in disappointment. The rest, as they say, is history. Walsh spent a season in San Diego as an assistant and coached Stanford for two seasons before taking the head coaching job in San Francisco where his offense flourished under Joe Montana. Johnson’s Bengal teams steadily declined and he was fired in 1978. Cincinnati made two Super Bowls in the 1980s, only to lose both to the franchise Bill Walsh built.
Rest in peace, Bill Walsh. This Bengal fan still longs for what could’ve been.
One Bengal fan's tribute to a legendary innovator and coach.
July 30, 2007
Bill Walsh and Greg Cook: What the Bengals could have been
By: Jene Bramel
Every team has their share of coulda, shoulda, wouldas. Cleveland fans have The Fumble and The Drive. Raider fans are left to wonder about the Immaculate Reception, the Tuck Rule and Bo. Buffalo fans, well, let’s not dredge up those memories again. Bengal fans have their own painful memories. Pete Johnson stuffed on 4th and 1 or Lewis Billups dropping an interception in the end zone at crucial points in separate Super Bowls, Carson Palmer lying in a heap in a 2005 playoff game and any number of failed top draft picks. The passing of offensive innovator and former Bengal assistant coach Bill Walsh may have reminded long time Cincinnati homers of possibly the biggest what could’ve been in franchise history.
Everyone knows the Bill Walsh story. Primary architect of one variation of the West Coast offense, three time Super Bowl winning head coach of the San Francisco 49ers and widely considered among the most innovative coaches of all time. Casual football fans may not know the rest of the story. Walsh got his start in the NFL as an assistant with the Oakland Raiders but made his name as an assistant offensive coach in Cincinnati after joining Paul Brown’s staff in 1968. Walsh brought the vertical passing game of another of the game’s offensive architects, Sid Gillman, to Cincinnati and soon had the perfect quarterback to run his playbook, Greg Cook.
Who the heck is Greg Cook you ask? As a rookie in 1969 in Walsh’s vertical offense, Cook rode his freakish combination of arm strength, touch and deep accuracy to an amazing 17.5 yards per completed pass. Put in perspective, Daunte Culpepper averaged 12.4 yards per completion in his historic 2004, Peyton Manning 13.6. Some of the best deep receiving threats in the league today fall short of that number. Unfortunately, Cook, the 1969 AFL Rookie of the Year blew out his shoulder in third game of the year. Although he finished the year, Cook was never the same and attempted only three more passes after the 1969 season — four seasons later.
In later interviews, Walsh still lamented what could have been with Cook. In fact, Walsh himself wonders if he would’ve created the West Coast offense if Cook had stayed healthy and fulfilled his promise. Paul Zimmerman asked Walsh how things would’ve been different if he had Cook for more than one season. Things would have been “completely different,” Walsh said. “It would’ve started off the deep strike and everything else would’ve played off that. It would’ve set records that would have never been broken.” This from the man who coached Joe Montana and Jerry Rice.
Unfortunately for Bengal fans, that’s only half the story.
Although Walsh’s version of the vertical offense could have been sick with Greg Cook and Isaac Curtis, the innovator found a way to modify his passing attack with short, precise passes and mulitple wide receiving options putting pressure on the defense with timing routes — what is now known as the West Coast offense but could rightly be called the Cincinnati offense. Walsh again found a near perfect fit for his new playbook in Ken Anderson, a smart, calm, precise passer. Walsh’s offense was clicking for the Bengals in the early 1970s. By the end of the 1975 season, Anderson was running the offense to perfection with a 60% plus completion rate and 8 yards plus per passing attempt. Curtis had been to three consecutive Pro Bowls and was a star. The Bengals had made the playoffs in 1973 and 1975. The future was ridiculously bright.
Then Bengal head coach and patriarch Paul Brown retired and handed the reins to long time offensive assistant Tiger Johnson instead of Walsh, who resigned in disappointment. The rest, as they say, is history. Walsh spent a season in San Diego as an assistant and coached Stanford for two seasons before taking the head coaching job in San Francisco where his offense flourished under Joe Montana. Johnson’s Bengal teams steadily declined and he was fired in 1978. Cincinnati made two Super Bowls in the 1980s, only to lose both to the franchise Bill Walsh built.
Rest in peace, Bill Walsh. This Bengal fan still longs for what could’ve been.
John Black
Footballguy
ebcpastor2004
Footballguy
Great Article!
I recently read "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game" by Michael Lewis & it was awesome. Really credits Bill Walsh and the West Coast Offense for the development of the left tackle position (playing off of their legendary tangles with NYG & LT). Alot of good info and history. It is the story of an up-and-coming left tackle at Ole Miss, Michael Oher. Great Read!Bill Walsh was an innovator and made huge changes in the game that we all love. RIP Bill, you were awesome!
Saints-Man
Footballguy
RIP, Coach Walsh. The best Saints teams were unfortunately contemporaries of your juggernaut team. I will always remember you fondly and admired you for your coaching ability and the class and dignity you displayed.
