Bill Walsh died earlier today from complications of luekima. Link
His contributions to the game of football are evident from the pro game down to junior city leagues. He and Montana are responsible for my love of football today.
RIP
Wow! That came as a shock! I was in the bay area during Walsh’s beginning with the 'Niners and became swept up in the excitement as he built a new slant on an old game, the “West Coast Offense”. He felt it should be called the “Lake Erie Offense” rather than “West Coast” because it started forming with Paul Brown at Cinncinnati.
His influence lives on in so many coaches out there!
I saw a show on him recently and learned for the first time that he was ill but had no idea he was that far along. He was something and ruined many a Sunday for me because of his talent.
[nitpick] It would be strange for him to say that, because Cincinnati isn’t on Lake Erie…that’s Cleveland. Cincinnati’s body of water is the Ohio River. [/nitpick]
Anyway, RIP Bill Walsh. As a lifelong fan of the Cincinnati Bengals (went to 2 Super Bowls, lost to the 49ers in both), I was often irritated by the Niners’ greatness but impressed nonetheless.
"Bill Walsh passes"
What, you expected a run? He was the inventor of the West Coast Offense!
R.I.P. Mr. Walsh.
P.S.-- Cincinnati is not on Lake Erie.
A great football mind. Many of Walsh’s assistant coaches went on to successful head coaching careers of their own, such as George Seifert, Mike Holmgren, and Dennis Green. Other coaches in Walsh’s coaching tree (assistant coaches under Walsh’s ex-assistants) include Mike Shanahan, Tony Dungy, Andy Reid, Mike Sherman, Jeff Fisher, Brian Billick, and Jon Gruden. So Walsh had a tremendous influence on the modern professional game.
Your nitpick is wrong. Bill Walsh learned offense from Paul Brown, who used parts of that offense when he coached both the Browns and the Bengals. I saw an NFL Films show once where they showed a play where Montana threw to Clark, and then compared it to a clip of 1950s era Browns QB Otto Graham throwing to Dante Lavelli, and it was clear that both teams were running the same play.
Wow. Hella weak. From what I knew, he was a class act and his contributions to the game won’t be forgotten (that’s both good and bad).
the pass…was it a quick slant?
At the NYAC All-Sports Dinner in 1995, Bill Walsh sat down and talked coaching with me for abut 10 minutes. Me, some longhaired crew kid who was teaching college freshmen to row. His insights made me look a whole lot better than I was and were a small but important piece of making a good coach out of me.
RIP Coach Walsh.
He’s the reason I’m a Niner fan. I came of age when they were so good, so of course that’s the reason I picked them.
What he did for the game of football is amazing… I will certainly miss both his coaching and his commentary on the game.
It was a crossing pattern pick play, that is with receivers from the other side “picking” or blocking the defenders.
That said, Walsh was certainly an excellent coach and teacher. IMHO he took what he learned from Paul Brown (and Sid Gillman and Al Davis and others) and improved it a great deal. His innovation of scripting the plays was unheard of and is now practically mandatory.