Author:
The Phoenix
Message:
Hate to bump an old thread, but visiting this forum I think something needs to be set straight. Yes, Gillman was the father of using the pass to set up the run, and yes, Walsh worked for Paul Brown, but according to the PLAYERS who played in Cincinnati under Paul Brown and Bill Walsh, the West Coast Offense as we know it today was WALSH'S creation.
For example, tight end Bob Trumpy, who played for the Bengals during that time, states conclusively who the innovator and creator of that offense was.
He says:
(from here: http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20110305/NEWS/110309680?p=1&tc=pg)
[quote:5f40756363]
"West Coast offense was born in Cincinnati ...[b:5f40756363] totally the invention of Bill Walsh.[/b:5f40756363]"[/quote:5f40756363]
In fact, there was TENSION between Brown and Walsh over Walsh's desired play-calling. More from the article and Trumpy:
[quote:5f40756363]"Narrator Steve Sabol points out the branches on the Paul Brown coaching tree include Super Bowl winners Weeb Ewbank, Don Shula, Chuck Noll and Walsh. Emphasizing the friction, Sabol says, “Walsh was no disciple. He was a rebel.”
One spot in the video has Brown saying “no, no,” in response to Walsh requesting that Anderson be put into the game.
“We had the ultimate contrast,” Trumpy says. In Brown, “the way things used to be run and (in Walsh) the way things would be run in the future.”
[...]
(Trumpy) said Brown felt a coach had to have “the bearing and formality to be a taskmaster (and that) nobody could have this intellectual approach to the game and be tough.”"
[/quote:5f40756363]
Now, I know there are all kinds of analysts who have opinions, but I think the opinions of the people who were THERE carries more weight than people looking back over the histories.
Gillman wasn't the founder of the WCO. He was the founder (at least in part) of PASSING ITSELF as it is done today in the NFL. Big difference. And Paul Brown certainly had little to do with the WCO, as evidence points to him actually trying to STIFLE what Walsh was trying to do in Cincinnati.
No, the WCO as it is called today (not the Coryell offense, even if it's a misnomer and the Walsh offense should rightfully be called the Mid-West offense) was definitely the creation of Walsh. Gillman => Modern NFL passing. Walsh => West Coast Offense.