Here's a quiz based on materials from out Pillars of the NFL: Coaches Who Have Won Three or More Championships.
1.
Who was the only coach and owner who was present at the beginning of
the NFL and helped bring it into the modern TV age? The only man who
could rightfully be called: Father of the NFL.
2.
Who brought football coaching into the modern age. Didn't care about
skin color, but cared about most every detail of running a football
team. Ran his organization like a business. Successful at every level
of football coaching from high school to college to professional.
Learned about timeliness and discipline from his father who was a
railroad man.
3.
Very tough man for a very tough city. Never thought the press needed
to know everything about a man's personal life. Thought players and
coaches needed a life outside of football--he had many interests
himself. Grew up in Cleveland. Who was this coach who led many Hall
of Famers to a dynasty in the 1970s.
4.
Little man who managed two superstar quarterbacks in two different
cities to NFL championships. His people were Quakers. He worked
towards results, not notoriety. Who was this cradle of coaches favorite
who lived until age 91?
5.
Very tough coach who was influenced by his tight knit family and the
Jesuits at Fordham. Another coach who embraced diversity and mandated
respect for everyone in the locker room. In fact, he mandated a lot of
things. His team practiced fundamentals until they knew them in their
sleep. He was so tough some players said they hated him while playing
for him, but all seemed to love him for what he helped them become. Who
was this coach who created a small city dynasty in the 1960s?
6.
A master at coaching quarterbacks. This man was very good with his
fists as a young man, but he looked like he walked off the country club
on the sideline of a football game. Who was this man who many came to
call the Genius?
7.
Nebraska farm boy who was himself one of the top professional players
when he coached and played to four championships in the 1920s for three
different teams. He did not see a long term future in professional
football so he went back to his family farm outside of Lincoln.
8.
His daddy was in law enforcement in North Carolina. The family moved
out west to California where he went to school and began his coaching
career. He was a master at adaptation and although he had learned Don
Coryell's wide open offensive schemes, he based his game plan on the
talent at hand. When he and his coaches prepared for games, they worked
incredibly long hours developing master plans for victories. He was
also a master at making adjustments during a game and was always willing
to toss out things that weren't working and incorporate the new. This
coach was super competitive in everything he did. Who was this man who
is also a member of the professional auto racing community?
9.
His father was an exceptional football thinker who settled into a life
time of scouting at the Naval Academy. This coach has always displayed a
military mindset that mandates that each player focuses on doing his
job and the team is always more important than any player. Although his
coaching approach is somewhat old fashioned in our Super Star age, he
is the most successful NFL coach of the 21st Century. Who is he?
10.
A superb athlete and demanding coach, he competed against George Halas
in the early days of professional football through World War II. He
had a great eye for talent and brought some of the greatest football
players of the era to his small city club. Newspapers from all over the
world covered his David and Goliath sports story that featured a small
city team winning championships against the big city teams. Who was
this man?
Answers Below
1. Papa Bear George Halas is the father of the NFL.
2.
Paul Brown saw the importance of discipline in most every aspect of
running a football team. He could have run General Motors.
3. Chuck Noll was the Pied Piper of Hall of Fame players at Pittsburgh and the perfect coach for the Steel City.
4.
Weeb Ewbank lived a joyful life and was always prepared to let his
players take the top billing in the papers. But he was vastly
underestimated as a tremendous coaching talent and manager of men who
built teams from the ground up.
5.
Lombardi wanted his men to become the best they could be and he drove
them to it. Like the Jesuits, he believed each person's talent should
be developed for maximum use.
6.
Bill Walsh was a dashing figure on the side lines and he knew how to
develop quarterbacks. He focused on what his players could do and
coached them to become consistent. Despite his outward appearance,
Walsh was boxer all his life and he took every loss personally.
7.
Guy Chamberlin stepped off a Nebraska farm to become one of the best
athletes and coaches in professional football. He played end on offense
and defense. He was extremely fast and although the early football's
bloated rugby ball shape made it difficult to develop a passing game,
the end around was used liberally--he excelled at it. On defense he was
known as a disruptor of the first order. He was tall, lean, and mean
on the field.
8.
Joe Gibbs just seemed to be smarter, more hardworking, and more
adaptable than most other coaches. If there was a plan that could
spring victory from defeat, Gibbs was generally the man who could come
up with it.
9.
Belichick has a military no-nonsense coaching persona that has made old
fashion management schemes seem new again. Everyone in Belichick's
Patriot's organization is responsible for their piece of the pie--no
excuses.
10.
Lambeau's name is well known because the Packers named their stadium
after him, but not much is understood about him now. He learned
coaching on the job and he managed and willed his team to greatness. He
was a scrapper and his fight was needed to keep the Green Bay franchise
alive. He is credited with managing the only surviving small city
professional football team in the game. Few men were his coaching equal.
Copyright 2014, Sporting Chance Press
Copyright 2014, Sporting Chance Press
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