Few men have had as great an impact on their profession:
Bill Walsh, who guided the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl championships and six NFC West division titles in his 10 years as head coach, has died at the age of 75.
Walsh died at his Bay Area home early Monday following a long battle with leukemia, according to Stanford University.
Walsh didn’t become an NFL head coach until 47, and he spent just 10 seasons on the San Francisco sideline. But he left an indelible mark on the United States’ most popular sport, building the once-woebegone 49ers into the most successful team of the 1980s with his innovative offensive strategies and teaching techniques.
The soft-spoken native Californian also produced a legion of coaching disciples that’s still growing today. Many of his former assistants went on to lead their own teams, handing down Walsh’s methods and schemes to dozens more coaches in a tree with innumerable branches.
Walsh went 102-63-1 with the 49ers, winning 10 of his 14 postseason games along with six division titles. He was named the NFL’s coach of the year in 1981 and 1984.
Even as a rabid Steelers fan, who did not love Walsh’s 9er’s? Other than the Cowboys, I mean.
RIP, Bill Walsh. Thanks.
Punchy
Didn’t Walsh single-handedly invent, perfect, and then implement the West Coast Offense? I’m pretty sure he’s responsible for probably 40% of all NFL offenses today. Damn, what an impact.
Jake
WTF? Bergman, Snyder, Walsh. Are we seeing the rule of three in effect?
LarryB
I was living in San Diego when Walsh was coaching the CSUSD team. The Aztecs under Walsh so overmatched the competition (they really should have been in the Pac-10) that he had to develop creative ways to keep up fan interest. It sorta got to be a trademark: By halftime, the Aztecs would be down by a couple-three TDs. Then they’d come out in the second half and crush. Good times.
Ned Raggett
My dad bleeds 49ers colors — grew up to the south in the Carmel/Monterey area so they were the local heroes from the start. The eighties made him a happy, happy man, and as I said elsewhere earlier, if he was the type of guy to pour out a 40, he’d be doing that right now. I don’t think much else in football made a classy, upstanding guy like him happier to know that Walsh was the architect of all that genius. Rest well Coach — ya did good, more than good.
Keith
WTF? Bergman, Snyder, Walsh. Are we seeing the rule of three in effect?
Marvin “Best Little Whorehouse” Zindler died this weekend, too.
Dave
Was waiting for this thread.
I too bleed Red and Gold, it’s a sad day for me. He embodied class, rewrote the rules on how offense was played, and sure as hell made football fun to watch.
ThymeZone
Walsh invented the “latter” version of the West Coast Offense (the Air Coryell system) and made it the centerpiece of his great team with Joe Montana and arguably one of the greatest teams that ever took the field.
R.I.P.
Tony
My sentiments exactly. I’m a diehard Redskins fan, but there’s a group of coaches that just demand respect, no matter who you root for. I feel that way about Joe Gibbs, obviously, but it’s the same with Walsh, Landry, and Noll. The top of their profession and classy about it.
R.I.P.
ViscosityBreakdown
The first Superbowl I ever saw was Super Bowl XVI, the one that began the legend of Joe Montana. My only interest at the time was a childhood bet (I bet heavily on the Niners), but I was always struck by the class and cool intellectualism of Bill Walsh. That magnificent football season (the rookie year of Lott and LT, the Catch, etc.) helped me become a lifelong football fan. Thank you, Bill Walsh.
myiq2xu
As a life-long Raider fan, I watched in envy as Bill Walsh re-wrote the book on offensive football in the NFL.
Almost every team in the NFL uses some variation of the “West Coast Offense” which should now be renamed the “Walsh Offense” in Bill’s honor.
Take a look at the number of NFL coaches that were assistants to Walsh or former Walsh assistants. Then look at how many have appeared in the the Super Bowl.
Walsh has had a bigger influence on the game than any other coach, including George Halas and Vince Lombardi.
Unfortunately, the Raiders still follow the old playbook.
Rest in Peace Bill.
Pug
I grew up in NoCal and Bill is far and away my favorite sports figure in a long history of being a sports fan. He ranks ahead of Joe, Ronnie Lott, Steve Young, Jerry Rice and all the rest.
It was so great to be a Niner fan when he was there. He towered over his profession. A giant. He won’t be forgotten.
Bob In Pacifica
When Walsh ran the offense for the Bengals Paul Brown passed him up when the head coaching position opened. When Walsh left the Bengals Brown apparently discouraged other teams from hiring him. Walsh didn’t forget that. Instead of sitting on his coaching staff he encouraged them. Take a look at all the coaches in the NFL. Plenty of them have the Walsh trademark. It was a point of honor for him, all the men whom he helped to advance in the league.
A great coach and a very good man.
Mike
Walsh also played a huge role in integrating the coaching ranks, both in the NFL and the NCAA. Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith are both in his “family tree” (and, like Walsh, are both fine men as well as superior coaches.)
Sam Hutcheson
Even as a rabid Steelers fan, who did not love Walsh’s 9er’s?
Falcons fans. Of course, David Archer didn’t help things.
Njorl
“WTF? Bergman, Snyder, Walsh. Are we seeing the rule of three in effect?
”
I figure another European director has to go soon. Michaelangelo Antonioni died the day after Bergman. Walsh and Snyder are part of some other three.
Ted
“Even as a rabid Steelers fan, who did not love Walsh’s 9er’s?”
As a Bengals fan, I have two very good reasons not to love his teams.
Ted
Mike
C’mon, Ted, thanks to Walsh the Bengals got to be part of the best Super Bowl ever.