Coaching Legend Bill Walsh Passes Away
Jul 30, 2007 NFL
3-time Superbowl winning coach Bill Walsh died today after a long battle with leukemia. He was 75 years old. Walsh was best known for his 10 year stint as Head Coach of the San Francisco 49ers, winning six division titles to go along with the Superbowls. His offensive ideas live on in a legion of protégés.
Even a short list of Walsh’s adherents is stunning. Seifert, Mike Holmgren, Dennis Green, Sam Wyche, Ray Rhodes and Bruce Coslet all became NFL head coaches after serving on Walsh’s San Francisco staffs, and Tony Dungy played for him. Most of his former assistants passed on Walsh’s structures and strategies to a new generation of coaches, including Mike Shanahan, Jon Gruden, Brian Billick, Andy Reid, Pete Carroll, Gary Kubiak, Steve Mariucci and Jeff Fisher.
One interesting fact I wasn’t aware of, Walsh started the Minority Coaching Fellowship program in 1987 to help minorities break into the coach ranks of the NFL. In many ways Walsh is responsible for what the game looks like today.
Walsh also is widely credited with inventing or popularizing many of the modern basics of coaching, from the laminated sheets of plays held by coaches on almost every sideline, to the practice of scripting the first 15 offensive plays of a game.
It is a sad day for pro football. :(
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