Coreyell HOF Finalist Once Again...

[Hard Charger]

http://espn.go.com/blog/san-diego-chargers/post/_/id/14655/don-coryell-selected-hall-of-fame-finalist

I hope he gets the love he deserves this time around!

HC

[Lightningwill_420]

kellenandjj.jpgcoryell.jpgnfl_g_coryell_sy_576.jpg

[6025]

Not holding my breath. I imagine he'll eventually get in the seniors committee vote. Maybe.

[ArtistFormerlyKnownAsBKR]

No expectations. Tired of the blindness. Might as well not even put him on the ballot anymore.

[Steve]

You would think with as pass happy as people have become, and how much everyone likes to pay lip service to progressive thinkers, Coryell would be a shoe in. Sadly he is still waiting. It's a crime that it has taken this long. No other coach was as innovative as he was, at least in the last 80 years.

[Lightningwill_420]

You would think with as pass happy as people have become, and how much everyone likes to pay lip service to progressive thinkers, Coryell would be a shoe in. Sadly he is still waiting. It's a crime that it has taken this long. No other coach was as innovative as he was, at least in the last 80 years.

Paul Brown?
Sid Gillman?

[chargerkdb]

Needs to happen. Sadly he will probably be overlooked again

[Steve]

Neither Gillman and Brown is even close.

Brown did a lot of organizational stuff. A lot of the study habits, watching film, game planning all come from things he did. He was strict and a disciplinarian, but he really didn't do much but coach plays and techniques that others pioneered. He also was famous for making sure that he got credit for everything his team did, even though a lot of his assistants were big innovators themselves, and he NEVER spoke up about how good an assistant was.

Gillman invented the idea of deep throws to stretches defenses, and to throw to everyone, short medium and long off the deep patterns. But he just took the pass patterns and plays from other people. He did incorporate other formations that had already been used before and turn them into passing formations (like Lance Alworth lining up at TE to gain mismatches).

Don Coryell developed the I formation running game (the basis of all modern run concepts, even the single RB backfield is designed off the I formation), timing patterns (throwing before the receiver comes out of their breaks), route organizations/grouping, building in automatics into passing plays (hot/quick routes, as well as big play opportunities to every play), route adjustments vs different defenses, route releases (the forerunner of bunch passing), motion, formations. Modern football looks like it does today in large part because of things that Coryell either invented or refined into his system. Even how many teams call plays are based on the system that Coryell invented off the top of his head as soon as he was hired at SDSU and has been the staple of many offenses ever since (numbering the pass patterns).

If voters don't want to vote Coryell in as the Chargers and Cardinals coach, I totally get it. He doesn't deserve to get in based on his coaching record alone. He just didn't win enough games or titles. But his innovations were huge, and are more than enough to get him in alone.

[Geezbolt]

Thanks Steve. Your list of Don Coryell's innovations brought back a lot of memories. In my youth, I was fortunate enough to see many of those ideas of Coryell's come to fruition at Aztec Bowl. At the time I didn't know how unique they were. All I knew was the Aztecs scored a lot of touchdowns and it was really fun to watch.

[Lightningwill_420]

Neither Gillman and Brown is even close.

Brown did a lot of organizational stuff. A lot of the study habits, watching film, game planning all come from things he did. He was strict and a disciplinarian, but he really didn't do much but coach plays and techniques that others pioneered. He also was famous for making sure that he got credit for everything his team did, even though a lot of his assistants were big innovators themselves, and he NEVER spoke up about how good an assistant was.

Gillman invented the idea of deep throws to stretches defenses, and to throw to everyone, short medium and long off the deep patterns. But he just took the pass patterns and plays from other people. He did incorporate other formations that had already been used before and turn them into passing formations (like Lance Alworth lining up at TE to gain mismatches).

Don Coryell developed the I formation running game (the basis of all modern run concepts, even the single RB backfield is designed off the I formation), timing patterns (throwing before the receiver comes out of their breaks), route organizations/grouping, building in automatics into passing plays (hot/quick routes, as well as big play opportunities to every play), route adjustments vs different defenses, route releases (the forerunner of bunch passing), motion, formations. Modern football looks like it does today in large part because of things that Coryell either invented or refined into his system. Even how many teams call plays are based on the system that Coryell invented off the top of his head as soon as he was hired at SDSU and has been the staple of many offenses ever since (numbering the pass patterns).

If voters don't want to vote Coryell in as the Chargers and Cardinals coach, I totally get it. He doesn't deserve to get in based on his coaching record alone. He just didn't win enough games or titles. But his innovations were huge, and are more than enough to get him in alone.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Brown

"Brown is credited with a number of American football innovations. He was the first coach to use game film to scout opponents, hire a full-time staff of assistants, and test players on their knowledge of a playbook. ... He invented the modern face mask, the taxi squad and the draw play. He also played a role in breaking professional football's color barrier, bringing some of the first African-Americans to play pro football in the modern era onto his teams."

"Cleveland won the AAFC championship again in 1947 behind an offensive attack that employed the forward pass more frequently and effectively than was typical at the time. ... The Browns' offensive success was driven by Brown's version of the T formation, which was gradually replacing the single-wing formation as football's most popular and effective scheme."

"He developed detailed pass patterns that were designed to exploit vulnerabilities in the defense. Brown is also credited with the creation of the passer's pocket, an offensive line protection scheme that is designed to buy a quarterback a few extra precious seconds to find the open receiver."

"Before Brown, football was seen as a chaotic affair where winning was a product mostly of physical prowess. Few coaches took strategy and preparation seriously. ... Brown, by contrast, hired a full-time staff of assistants, tested his players on their intelligence and their knowledge of plays, instituted strict organization of practices and analyzed game film to get an edge on opponents. ... Brown created a detailed system for scouting college talent as a means to improve the Browns' college draft."

"Paul Brown didn't invent the game of football. He was just the first to take it seriously," declared Sport Magazine in a December 1986 story ... Sid Gillman, Brown's coaching contemporary for many years in the NFL, told the magazine he always felt that "before Paul Brown pro football was a 'daisy chain.' He brought a system into pro football. He brought a practice routine. He broke down practice into individual areas. He had position coaches. He was an organizational genius. Before Paul Brown, coaches just rolled the ball out on the practice field."

— Chuck Heaton, Plain Dealer sportswriter

[Lightningwill_420]

Neither Gillman and Brown is even close.

Brown did a lot of organizational stuff. A lot of the study habits, watching film, game planning all come from things he did. He was strict and a disciplinarian, but he really didn't do much but coach plays and techniques that others pioneered. He also was famous for making sure that he got credit for everything his team did, even though a lot of his assistants were big innovators themselves, and he NEVER spoke up about how good an assistant was.

Gillman invented the idea of deep throws to stretches defenses, and to throw to everyone, short medium and long off the deep patterns. But he just took the pass patterns and plays from other people. He did incorporate other formations that had already been used before and turn them into passing formations (like Lance Alworth lining up at TE to gain mismatches).

Don Coryell developed the I formation running game (the basis of all modern run concepts, even the single RB backfield is designed off the I formation), timing patterns (throwing before the receiver comes out of their breaks), route organizations/grouping, building in automatics into passing plays (hot/quick routes, as well as big play opportunities to every play), route adjustments vs different defenses, route releases (the forerunner of bunch passing), motion, formations. Modern football looks like it does today in large part because of things that Coryell either invented or refined into his system. Even how many teams call plays are based on the system that Coryell invented off the top of his head as soon as he was hired at SDSU and has been the staple of many offenses ever since (numbering the pass patterns).

If voters don't want to vote Coryell in as the Chargers and Cardinals coach, I totally get it. He doesn't deserve to get in based on his coaching record alone. He just didn't win enough games or titles. But his innovations were huge, and are more than enough to get him in alone.

Coryell worked for, possibly, the two worst owners in professional sports at the time, Bidwell and Klein, and won multiple division titles. I know he didn't win Super Bowl titles, but nobody else did as well as he did under those owners. I mean, technically, Whisenhunt got further with Bidwell, but Bidwell wasn't running things at the time - his son was.

[Steve]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Brown

"Brown is credited with a number of American football innovations. He was the first coach to use game film to scout opponents, hire a full-time staff of assistants, and test players on their knowledge of a playbook. ... He invented the modern face mask, the taxi squad and the draw play. He also played a role in breaking professional football's color barrier, bringing some of the first African-Americans to play pro football in the modern era onto his teams."

"Cleveland won the AAFC championship again in 1947 behind an offensive attack that employed the forward pass more frequently and effectively than was typical at the time. ... The Browns' offensive success was driven by Brown's version of the T formation, which was gradually replacing the single-wing formation as football's most popular and effective scheme."

"He developed detailed pass patterns that were designed to exploit vulnerabilities in the defense. Brown is also credited with the creation of the passer's pocket, an offensive line protection scheme that is designed to buy a quarterback a few extra precious seconds to find the open receiver."

"Before Brown, football was seen as a chaotic affair where winning was a product mostly of physical prowess. Few coaches took strategy and preparation seriously. ... Brown, by contrast, hired a full-time staff of assistants, tested his players on their intelligence and their knowledge of plays, instituted strict organization of practices and analyzed game film to get an edge on opponents. ... Brown created a detailed system for scouting college talent as a means to improve the Browns' college draft."

"Paul Brown didn't invent the game of football. He was just the first to take it seriously," declared Sport Magazine in a December 1986 story ... Sid Gillman, Brown's coaching contemporary for many years in the NFL, told the magazine he always felt that "before Paul Brown pro football was a 'daisy chain.' He brought a system into pro football. He brought a practice routine. He broke down practice into individual areas. He had position coaches. He was an organizational genius. Before Paul Brown, coaches just rolled the ball out on the practice field."

— Chuck Heaton, Plain Dealer sportswriter

Brown made his players study really hard, play with a lot of discipline and he was a better administrator. He didn't really change how people played the game on the field. He never confused anybody, or really did anything new or inventive. Coryell was maybe not inventing (no one is quite sure who the first coach to use the I formation was), but at least he was coming up with new ways to actually play the game.

I'm not saying Brown wasn't a good coach, but Brown just made the people around him outwork everyone. I guess you can call all those things "innovations", but one is cracking a whip harder and faster and then Coryell is finding new ways to get more out of players who are not the physical equals of the players around them. The big one they left off of the Paul Brown "innovations" is the idea of fining players (although somehow that doesn't make the list often). He made a few more obvious choices, but I don't think you can compare it to inventing new, more effective ways of using player/techniques on the same level as "work hard".

Coryell took teams with a lot less talent, and he tried to invent ways for them to outplay their opponents. Not to say the Cardinals and Chargers didn't have good players, but you compare his teams to the all time greats (who were the teams he was playing), and he took a lot less talent and was not only competitive, he won a lot of games.