Football is a tough sport. Even if you’re on the sidelines as coach, the pressure mounts, players’ confidence and attitude in your hands, and it’s all about the results. There’s quite a turnover after each, sometimes even during the season.
“Old School” coaches have seemingly always been held to a higher standard, largely due to the foundations they built while advancing the sport.
Today. we’re going to take a look at the best “Old School” coaches in NFL history, using as barometers…
- Super Bowls and NFL Championship title
- Conference titles and playoff appearances
- Innovations and impact on the sport
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3. Weeb Ewbank
Weeb Ewbank was on the winning side in two of the truly historic games in pro football.
First, in the “Greatest Game Ever Played,” the 1958 NFL title game between Ewbank’s Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants. Baltimore was the victor by a score of 23-17.
Then, in Super Bowl III, where his AFL New York Jets defeated Don Shula’s massively-favored Colts, 16-7.
Ewbank doesn’t get nearly his share of credit in either instance.
The ‘58 game, while not well-played, had a big impact on the popularity of the sport. It was the first sudden-death overtime, televised to a huge national audience and featuring many future Hall of Famers on both sides. Colts’ quarterback Johnny Unitas led his team to both the tying (Steve Myrha) field goal in regulation, then the winning (Alan Ameche) touchdown in overtime.
Super Bowl III and the performance by the Jets–underdogs by 17-18 points-featured quarterback Joe Namath and his guarantee of victory. However, Ewbank was key in developing the Matt Snell-led run game (30 carries, 121 yards, one touchdown). Namath didn’t throw a pass in the final quarter as the Jets consistently gained ground yards and controlled the clock.
Ewbank was rather conservative and generally patient with the media. He never sought much of attention. He wasn’t a success at either place at the outset. In his first season with the Colts–1954–they were 3-9. In his first season with the Jets–1963–they were 5-8-1.
So, difficult seasons before (and after) the titles, but Ewbank had the meticulous planning needed to build (or rebuild) moribund franchises.
There were many “degrees of separation” between Ewbank’s former Colts and his current Jets that January Sunday in 1969. Winning the Super Bowl gave the AFL its long-sought credibility, which would only increase after the Kansas City Chiefs handily whipped the Minnesota Vikings a year later in Super Bowl IV.
Ewbank is the only coach to win titles in both the NFL and AFL.
2. Tom Landry
Tom Landry, hat and all, left his role as the Giants’ defensive coordinator (see the above ‘58 title game) to helm the expansion Dallas Cowboys in 1960. He was there 29 years, which wasn’t all that bad considering he did not win a single game (0-11-1) in the first season with the Cowboys. Before they became “America’s Team,” one of the best, and best-branding teams in the NFL, there were lean years.
So after that 0-11-1 record in his first season (the late awarding of the franchise meant no picks in the 1960 draft), 18-35-3 in the next four. Playing second fiddle at the Cotton Bowl to the fledgling AFL’s Dallas Texans (who subsequently relocated to Kansas City), there wasn’t much going right with the Cowboys.
Instead of losing faith in Landry, he was given a 10-year extension. Landry returned the favor with winning records in 20 consecutive seasons (1966-85), contending seemingly each year.
He and the Cowboys went to five Super Bowls, winning a pair
Landry was the architect of the Flex defense, adjusting in real time with the pre-snap movement of the opposition offense. He was a proponent of the “shotgun” formation, giving quarterback Roger Staubach more time to scan the field.
If nothing else, Landry will be remembered as an innovator, his quiet, calm demeanor belying someone who always seemed to be at least one step ahead of the competition.
1. Paul Brown
Paul Brown was the father of pretty much everything associated with football, making his eponymous Cleveland Browns a dynasty in the short-lived All-America Football Conference (winning the title in all four seasons of the league’s existence), then the NFL. Upon joining the NFL, Brown’s Browns appeared in six consecutive title games (1950-55), going 3-3.
Brown was the first to create a playbook, dating back to his high-school coaching days (team lost just 10 games in 11 seasons). He was the coach of Ohio St.’s first NCAA title team (1942).
He used game film to scout the opposition, introduced the draw play, the practice squad, the face mask and hired the first assistant coaches. The aforementioned Weeb Ewbank coached under Brown. Brown’s inclusion of African-American players (with no fanfare) was key to his teams’ success.
Brown was continually pushing the sport into the future at each turn, though his controlling style bristled more than a few players.
He lost an internal battle with owner Art Modell, and was fired early in 1963.
Brown’s second act was as part-owner/coach of the AFL’s expansion Cincinnati Bengals. It wasn’t a surprise that Cincinnati found success much faster than the average “rookie” team, becoming a solid addition to the NFL with the merger of 1970.
Ranking Paul Brown atop the countdown of “Old School” football coaches is a given.
