Bill Walsh Died..

[Lyion]

Bummer.. He had Luekemia bad, evidently. He was 75.

[Arlos]

One of the Hall of Fame voters wrote that the main criteria they use to judge coaches for the Hall of Fame is: How did he change the game?

I can't think of a single man who has had more impact on the game of football in the modern era than Bill Walsh. How many teams use some variant of the West Coast offense? How many current coaches are part of his coaching tree? Beyond all of that, he fundamentally changed the way coaches approach teaching and researching the game.

He was the driving force behind one of the greatest sports dynasties ever, the 1980s 49ers. He helped resurrect them for a few years in the 90s. He was a top-notch college coach at Stanford as well.

To put it as bluntly as one of the local writers: he was our Vince Lombardi.

-Arlos

[Evermore]

One of the Hall of Fame voters wrote that the main criteria they use to judge coaches for the Hall of Fame is: How did he change the game?

I can't think of a single man who has had more impact on the game of football in the modern era than Bill Walsh. How many teams use some variant of the West Coast offense? How many current coaches are part of his coaching tree? Beyond all of that, he fundamentally changed the way coaches approach teaching and researching the game.

He was the driving force behind one of the greatest sports dynasties ever, the 1980s 49ers. He helped resurrect them for a few years in the 90s. He was a top-notch college coach at Stanford as well.

To put it as bluntly as one of the local writers: he was our Vince Lombardi.

-Arlos

QFT.

[Arlos]

If any "Football Mind" ever deserved the title he bore, "Genius", it was Bill Walsh. He will never be forgotten here. 50 years from now, grandparents will be telling their grandkids what it was like to see the Walsh teams play, just like grandparents now in Green Bay talk about seeing Lombardi's Packers. Not only did he win, he did it with class and style, he helped push for more racial equality in the coaching ranks, and ultimately, lived a life of which anyone could be proud. Goodbye, Bill, Rest in Peace.

-Arlos

[Tikker]

watched an "in their own words" on Walsh tonight


He actually credits the West Coast Offense to Al Davis

[Lyion]

I watched that, too. What I heard was he gave credit to Al Davis for a lot of his offensive ideas, but not the West Coast O. The West Coast actually originated in Cinci.. I think it was said Bill Parcells coined it as such.

Interestingly enough, Walsh said it was his goal to be competitive. He had no early super bowl aspirations, and could easily see himself gone soon.

The guys coaching tree is pretty amazing, and it was interesting to see which coaches he drew a lot of his ideas from, like Paul Brown and his personnel thoughts.

[Tikker]

yup

I didn't realize he'd worked for Marv Levy either

[Xaiveir]

Just an unbelievable person. Rest in peace Bill. Football lost a great man.