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I actually think Don’s odds are pretty low to get in. its been wayyyy too long and alas - he did not win the big one.
Essentially, nothing has changed. Unless someone has been doing a lot of behind-the-scenes lobbying, he faces the same hurdles now that he has not been able to get over.
I think a big part of the problem is I think he is being considered as a coach by many of the HOF voters. His contributions as the guy who invented a lot modern offensive football, making it a lot of what it is today, is getting missed by the voters.
None of these players ever won a Super Bowl either... but all (except JJ) are in the HOF.
If Super Bowls are the measure for a HOF coach, then look to Coryell's coaching tree...
"Tony Dungy, a Super Bowl head coach, says that "If you talk about impact on the game, training other coaches -- John Madden, Bill Walsh, Joe Gibbs to name a few -- and influencing how things are done, Don Coryell is probably right up there with Paul Brown. He was a genius."
You forgot the I-formation and sight adjustments for pass patterns. Coryell developed the "I" it when he was coaching HS football in Hawaii, and then brought it to Southern California where he and other coaches adopted it and developed the offense.
Paul Brown was systematic in terms of getting players prepared. The classroom sessions, film study, testing players on game plans and playbooks, 2 a day TC. He spent a bunch of time on intelligence and personality tests for draft picks, and just a lot of the modern idea of scouting players. The term "Taxi Squad" was developed because the Browns would get the owner's other businesses to employ players so they could be kept in reserve (NFL rosters where only 30 players at the time, so 1 backup per position group). And Brown was the first team to have "position" coaches, while most teams had 3 coaches, an offensive coach, defensive coach and the HC.
However, Brown really only developed 2 things on the field. One is the draw play, which was observed that when there was a botched handoff, sometimes his RB would get a big gain. Brown also formally developing the idea of the pocket, although it is kinda the natural outcome of having faster players outside.
Brown was certainly a better coach (one of the top couple ever), but didn't really come up with as much in terms of X's & O's. His big advance, he often doesn't get much credit for, is how he integrated football.
I have heard speculation that it is because of not winning a championship. If you judge him just as a coach, then that matters. Of the coaches in the Hall of Fame, the only coach who never won a championship is George Allen. Bud Grant and Marv Levy never won an NFL title, but both won multiple CFL titles. The rest all won either an NFL title or SB, except for Sid Gilman, who won an AFL title, pre-SB.
The other knock is the lack of a place to get him in. Contributor's tend to be owners or front office types. The only ones who aren't are the Sabols (NFL films). But there isn't anyone in the hall of fame who got there as a contributor because of their innovations as to how football was played. The guys who did that were all coaches, and then the championship thing kicks in.
The interesting thing will be Clark Shaunessy, also a finalist. He was the father of the T-formation football, even though he didn't invent it (that was Robert Zubke from the University of Illinois). Prior to his innovations, everyone ran the single wing or box backfield offenses. He took a lot of gimmicks others had come up with and figure out how to really take advantage of them in multiple ways. But he always had very big playbooks, and his teams struggled to learn them, even when he coached professionally. He was ahead of his time and Bill Walsh said he got a lot of ideas from Shaunnessy's Stanford team that won the Rose bowl. But that was the only "championship" he ever won, and his teams were inconsistent. He ended up with a 150-117-17 record, with a lot of his wins at Tulane, Loyola and his 2 years at Stanford. He had a 14-7 record with the Rams, and lost the NFL Championship in 1949. He was someone who heavily influenced Sid Gilman, Paul Brown and eventually Bill Walsh, and a lot of what he did is very similar to what the West Coast offense became, although Bill Walsh re-fined it a lot.
Shaunnesy is really the only similar coach to Coryell, where their technical aspects out their game-day achievements.
I don't know how he isn't already in. The style of play in the league today is his vision. He was so ahead of the times it's not even funny.
totally agree. he created the original "pass first" offense in the league (and was successful with it). the Air Coryell offense was literally named after him. to me, that is a bigger deal than having the stars line up and winning one super bowl.
There is nobody around to champion for Don to get in the HOF anymore. Nobody. No coaches, sportswriters, owners or even a City. Only a few of us old guys who still remember him. And we don’t count.
Now, if you excuse me, I have some Charger memories to suppress.
The Wasted Decade is done.
Build Back Better.
There is nobody around to champion for Don to get in the HOF anymore. Nobody. No coaches, sportswriters, owners or even a City. Only a few of us old guys who still remember him. And we don’t count.
Sad but true.
If they don't have official advocates for each nominee, they should consider that.
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