Former 49er head coach Bill Walsh dies

S. F. Chronicle ^ | Monday, July 30, 2007 | Tom FitzGerald, Chronicle Staff Writer

[Doomonyou]

(07-30) 11:50 PDT -- Bill Walsh, the imaginative and charismatic coach who took over a downtrodden 49ers team and built one of the greatest franchises in NFL history, has died at the age of 75.

A master of using short, precisely timed passes to control the ball in what became known as the West Coast offense, he guided the team to three Super Bowl championships and six NFC West division titles in his 10 years as head coach.

The 49ers had been wrecked by mismanagement and unwise personnel decisions under former general manager Joe Thomas when owner Ed DeBartolo Jr. cleaned house in 1979. Walsh, who had led Stanford to two bowl victories in two seasons as head coach, took a 49ers team that had finished 2-14 in 1978 and built a Super Bowl champion in just three years. It was one of the most remarkable turnarounds in professional sports history.

His teams would win two more Super Bowls (following the 1984 and 1988 seasons) before he turned the team over to George Seifert, who directed the 49ers to two more championships ('89 and '94). Walsh set the foundation for an unprecedented streak in the NFL of 16 consecutive seasons with at least 10 wins.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Thanks for the post.

His assistant coaches became winners, too.

[rbosque]

RIP coach.

[mjolnir]

I’ll always remember an up-and-coming 1983 Lions team playing San Francisco, which had already won a Super Bowl and could afford to share some of the wealth.

Detroit lost 24-23 on a last second missed Eddie Murray field goal. Since then, the two franchises went in only slightly different directions and Detroit has consistently tried to use imports from San Francisco from the aforementioned Bill Walsh coaching tree-— Mornhingweg, Mariucci, Rod Marinelli to make itself more like the 49ers under Walsh. I can readily understand that thinking, because when you think of excellence, you think of him.

Bill Walsh is one of the few great NFL head coaches to have also been a superior college coach, and while many very good NFL coaches created great teams, Walsh through his unique style and intellectual approach (e.g. practices that emphasized precision rather than hitting) to football created an actual program of the sort one associates with college football that outlasted his time as coach. The winning atmosphere he developed, the attitude that it meant something to be a 49er, it was like gold. The whole Montana-Steve Young thing was like a competition between a senior and junior at, say, USC. Overachievers like Roger Craig (Walsh got every last drip of talent and effort he had to give out of that guy) thrived in it. Receivers weren’t primadonnas who stood apart from the team, they actually blocked. Team members worked out together in the off season.

He will be missed.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Hogwash. Walsh was long gone by the time Shanahan got to San Francisco in 1992. Denver’s offensive lines learned their technique from Alex Gibbs.

[tubebender]

Thanks for the memories Coach...

[boss man]

Another thing I realize is how similarly Landry and Walsh were, even in death.

Both were genuises in their respective fields. Landry with his Flex defense and Walsh with his WCO.

Both took over teams that were unheralded. DALLAS was an expansion team when landry arrived in 1960, and San Francisco had been a poor team for years when Walsh arrived in 1980.

Landry made it to 5 Super Bowls, and won 2. Walsh went to 3 and won all 3. Both had many assistants that moved on into the head coaching ranks and established their own success. Both had a profound impact on the game of professional football.

Both coaches were men that commanded respect yet were unpretentious. They were not loud and arrogant. They handled difficult losses with class. More revealing, they won with class and almost humbleness. They never sought the limelight and made it a habit to divert attention to the team.

Both contracted leukemia and maintained a private, quiet dignity in their slide toward death.

Both men were 75 when they died. Landry in 2000, and Walsh today.

[RayChuang88]

I am quite saddened by the passing of Bill Walsh.

Being a BIG 49ers fan during the 1980's and 1990's, I will never forget Walsh's innovative coaching and turning the 49ers into truly one of the GREAT all-time teams. From "The Catch" that won the 49ers' first NFC Championship to the drive that won the 49ers' third Super Bowl, Walsh put together a great collection of players that few other coaches matched.

Walsh in the same pantheon of all-time great coaches such as George Halas, Paul Brown, Vince Lombardi, and Chuck Noll. As such, Bill Walsh will be sorely missed.

[Norman Arbuthnot]

RIP Coach Walsh

As a NY Giant fan during the 80's I had nothing but admiration for the 49ers teams of the Walsh era. Walsh's offense was always seemed to be two steps ahead of the opposition.

[Doomonyou]

Hogwash.

Cool your jets Alice. That argument is for another time and another thread.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

On one of the 49ers' first drives of the game, Montana hooked up with Jerry Rice on a long completion that should have been a sure touchdown. Rice -- running at full speed inside the Giants' 10-yard line with nobody close to him, inexplicably fumbled the ball into the end zone, where it was recovered by the Giants.

Rice had a problem hanging on to the ball his first season - he was much improved in his second season, but as this play demonstrates he still hadn't overcome it completely.

[dfwgator]

Detroit lost 24-23 on a last second missed Eddie Murray field goal.

After all those years of therapy I finally got over that game, and then you had to bring it up again.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.

[mainepatsfan]

One of the best minds the game has or ever will produce. RIP.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Pound sound ignoramus.

[stationkeeper]

Shanahan, Mariucci, Gruden,....he had a coaching tree like no other.

[Badeye]

Yep, I just saw Walsh’s interview on NFL Networks ‘Top Ten One Hit wonders’ or somethign along those lines.

I knew a guy that played guard for Xaviers last football team. Guy simply hated Cook, claimed he was a wimp. I always privately thought he was just unhappy to find himself a 6’4” 350 pound fat man playing property manager for Fifth Third Bancorp....(chuckle).

I think it was Bob Trumpy that noted Cook basically lost his mind after his injury, and never really recovered. One of the biggest ‘what ifs’ in Bengals history.

[Badeye]

Hey Badeye! You wrote my post!

But c’mon...sure the Bengals passed over Bill Walsh, but we did hire great coaches like Homer Rice, Tiger Bill Johnson, and David Shula. /s

I know, I know...but at least we’ve been to The Show twice, and even though both were excruciating losses, those games were intense, and you watched til the final gun. Can’t say that very often in the Super Bowl.

I really like our chances this year, btw. If the injury bug has finally moved on....