CHUCK NOLL: BEST EVER

In my book, “Just Watch The Game”, I have a chapter called “My Cousin Chuck.”

In it, I make my claim that Chuck Noll didn’t just do the best coaching job in NFL history, but the best coaching job in the history of North American professional sports.

Notice that I don’t make the case that he’s the best NFL coach ever, although, I think that case could be made because of what he did in his first 11 seasons.

The chapter in my book refers to the period from 1969 to 1980. You’ll have to read the book (I hope to be taking pre-orders in a week or so) to see how I make my case.

Meanwhile, Chad Tillman has written a book called. The Ones Who Hit the Hardest, The Steelers, The Cowboys, The ’70s and the Fight For America’s Culture.”

The excerpt appeared on ESPN.com.

Date: September 5, 2010

Categories: Sports

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Comments RSS TrackBack 43 comments

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VinceL

in September 5th, 2010 @ 14:17

I obviously haven’t read the book yet so I don’t know what you mean by “best coaching job”.He’s not often discussed as the best ever because he avoided the spotlight and the accolades and also he is seen as the beneficiary of incredible draft picks,even though he should get most of the credit for those picks.(But not for Franco–Noll wanted Robert Newhouse).
His reputation suffered after the 70s guys got old.Noll was barely over .500 from 1980-91.He stuck around a few too many years.

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 5th, 2010 @ 15:18

Best coaching job ever…1969-1979,,,,or call it the greatest turning around of a franchise ever. That Newhouse/Franco story is interesting. Franco was a great player and obviously played a huge role in the 70s, but Newhouse was pretty good, too. He might have been almost as good on those Steelers teams.

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Bobzilla

in September 5th, 2010 @ 17:51

Noll isn’t instantly mentioned among the all-time best because he was never able to rebuild. Don Shula and Tom Landry, the only two coaches who might be ahead of Noll on my list, were able to rebuild, repeatedly.
Noll’s only flaw was the way he handled Bradshaw. He nearly ruined Bradshaw right up until midway through the ’74 season by jerking him in and out of the lineup.
I can guarantee that the ’70s Steelers don’t four Super Bowls without Bradshaw. TB attacked defenses with deep, low-percentage passes that resulted in touchdowns. He never played in a single Super Bowl that he didn’t throw at least one fourth-quarter TD pass. He threw four TD passes in the 35-31 Super Bowl XIII win. By the way, Roethlisberger has thrown one TD pass in two Super Bowls. But who’s counting?
Another thing that I’ve always found of interest was Noll getting all the credit for drafting all those Hall of Famers in 1970s. In the 1980s, when Noll had lost his midas touch, Dan Rooney blamed Art Rooney Jr for the team’s draft failures, and fired him.
Robert Newhouse, “almost” as good as Franco? Yeah, almost. And Gabe Rivera was almost as good as Dan Marino. Almost.

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 5th, 2010 @ 20:22

Newhouse’s career wasn’t as good as Franco’s. Obviously. My point was that we don’t know how much better Newhouse’s career would have been if he had played for the Steelers. Noll jerking Bradshaw around may have helped him become the player that he became. Bradshaw’s still the most talented QB I’ve ever seen but he had a tough time keeping his talent under control in his early years. I think Noll’s treatment of Bradhaw made him a better QB. I’m tallking about the coaching job that he did from the time he took over until he won his fourth Super Bowl.

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Bobzilla

in September 5th, 2010 @ 20:45

I shudder to think what the ’70s Steelers might have been without Franco Harris. Harris has got to be the most underrated Hall-of-Fame running back in NFL history.
Harris’ reputation took a big hit when Jim Brown accused him of running out of bounds to avoid getting hit. Brown was so jealous that Franco was going to surpass him on the all-time list, he couldn’t stand it, and started an anti-Franco campaign.
As for Robert Newhouse: I just don’t think that magical 1972 season and the Immaculate Reception would’ve been the same without Franco Harris and his Italian Army.

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 5th, 2010 @ 21:20

I don’t disagree. You still don’t know what kind of player Newhouse might have turned out to be playing on Noll’s team.

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Scootermojo

in September 5th, 2010 @ 15:55

i know you said greatest coaching in professional sports but if you want to include non-pro’s i’d have to say the greatest coaching job in the history of all sports is herb brook’s job with the 1980 Olympic team.

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 5th, 2010 @ 20:05

Hard to argue with that. Noll did it over a 10 year period, though.

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YearOfTheCat

in September 5th, 2010 @ 16:06

Interesting thought. For all the stars defensively and at the skill positions, people forget that the Steelers still depended on a lot of solid yet unspectacular guys on the OL like Gorden Gravelle, Jim Clack, Jon Kolb, Moon Mullins, etc. Pre-1972, they were gradually improving. Two questions: (1) Was there ever a time in those first few bad years that he was in danger of “losing” the team? And (2) how do you think he would do with today’s players? By the way, I think his best two coaching jobs were 1976, when the Steelers started 1-4 and then ran the table with Mike Kruczek (with the best defense ever – they gave up something like 3 touchdowns over the last 9 games) – and 1989, after being outscored 92-10 the first two weeks, made the playoffs, and came within a dropped Mark Stock catch of making it to the AFC Champ game with Bubby. GREAT BLOG Staggie! Long-time reader but first time commenter. I can’t wait for the book. Believe me, it will be a hit and you’ll make lots of money so BHO can tax your success.

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 5th, 2010 @ 20:09

I never heard any players say that he lost the team at any time. I don’t know how he would deal with today’s players, I know he wouldn’t be a big fan of Tweeters. He told me in 1995 when I was hanging around with him in Phoenix at the Super Bowl, prior to his appearance on the KDKA news that he wouldn’t have liked free agency. Not because of losing players but because of having to bring new players in. His philosophy on trades was that you were getting somebody else’s problem. Thanks for the support on the book.

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Bobzilla

in September 5th, 2010 @ 20:32

Pretty hard to “lose the team” when Noll was in the process of assembling a team. I think he retained two players — Andy Russell and Ray Mansfield — when he took over as coach in 1969. After Noll’s 1-13 first season, the team made steady progress, improving to 5-9 in 1970, to 6-8 in ’71, to 11-3 in ’72. Coaches who produce results don’t “lose” teams.

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 5th, 2010 @ 21:18

Coaches who lose 13 in a row can lose a team in a hurry. He won his first game and then lost 21 out of the next 26…lots of opportunities to lose a team through a stretch like that—especially with the Steelers history. He inherited Roy Jefferson in 1969—a major star receiver and then got rid of him when he showed he didn’t want to go along with the program. That got some people’s attention.

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Bobzilla

in September 6th, 2010 @ 08:33

I agree. But the sorry-ass players Noll inherited were used to 2-12 and 3-11 seasons. If Noll “lost” any of them, so what? They weren’t worth “winning over” in the first place. They stunk .. and were slowly but surely replaced by quality players who gave a damn.
When I think of a coach who might “lose” a team, I think of a coach who has a quality team that’s won in the past but, for whatever reason, suddenly can’t be motivated.
Two examples come to mind: The 2006 Steelers under Bill Cowher, and last season’s team under Mike Tomlin. During that five-game losing streak in 2009, Tomlin vowed to “unleash hell” en route to losses to 4-12 Kansas City, 5-11 Oakland and 5-11 Cleveland.
Tomlin also “lost” his team in 2007, when the Steelers collasped near the end after a fast start. The beginning of the end of that ’07 season was a shocking loss to the 1-8 Jets Tomlin’s teams have a history of being mysteriously “unmotivated” for horrible teams, especially late in seasons.
Noll’s teams, as I recall, mostly always beat the teams they were supposed to beat. I think that’s what prolonged his career through the mediocre ’80s into the 1990s.

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 6th, 2010 @ 09:46

I got to know the guys who played for Noll pretty well and never heard one of them say a bad word about him and he never did “lose” a team even in his bad years.

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MPM

in September 5th, 2010 @ 17:19

I tend to agree with you most subjects that you post, both the political posts and the sports ones. However, this is one area that I would disagree. It would be hard for me to pick anyone other than Red Auerbach as doing the best coaching job ever in North American sports. I understand he had some of the most talented players in the NBA on his team, but you still have to coach that talent. He never had a losing season, and winning eight NBA championships in a row is truely amazing. The Celtics were in existance for four years prior to Auerbach becoming coach, and were one of the worst teams in basketball.

If we were looking at just the NFL, I probably have to go with Vince Lombardi. He had five championships in his nine years as Packers coach, plus he lost another one. In his lone season as Redskins coach, he ended fourteen consecutive losing seasons.

I’m not certain that I would put him ahead of Noll, but Scotty Bowman’s run as the Canadians head coach was pretty special. Five championships in eight season, and absurd record of 60-8-12 during the 1976-77 season.

I look forwarding reading this section, and the entire book soon.

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 5th, 2010 @ 20:16

I guess my case is made based a lot on the fact that he took over the worst team in the history of pro sports in North America and turned it into what many consider the best NFL team ever. I point out in my book that Lombardi had lots of players in place when he arrived in GB…Noll had Andy Russell and Roy Jefferson. Noll was a defensive specialist and his teams were so dominant that they had to change the rules. Bowman and Auerbach ain’t bad. I just don’t think either of them had to make the turnaround that Noll had to make. The Steelers were the team that comedians used when they needed an example of a pathetic team…..a laughing stock.

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tom

in September 5th, 2010 @ 23:11

Maybe?? But when you win the Super Bowl they don’t hand you the Chuck Noll Trophy.

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 6th, 2010 @ 06:56

No. They named the trophy when he was an assistant coach. He did a better job with the Steelers than Lombardi did with the Packers.

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Bobzilla

in September 6th, 2010 @ 08:41

Vince Lombardi obviously was a great coach. But the road to an NFL championship in the 1960s was lined with fewer playoff opponents than in the 1970s.
Noll’s ’70s teams needed to win three playoff games to become NFL champions. Lombardi’s ’60s teams needed to win one, until 1966. when they needed to win two.

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 6th, 2010 @ 09:47

Noll did a better job of coaching than Lombardi.

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clifford brown

in September 6th, 2010 @ 09:38

hey john, does your chapter address the fact that the 70′s stillers were on more juice than the MLB sluggers were in the 90′s?

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 6th, 2010 @ 09:48

No. Because all NFL teams were filled with juiced players. Still are if you ask me. I knew college football players who were taking steroids in 1970.

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Bobzilla

in September 6th, 2010 @ 10:47

The Steelers’ usage of steriods in the ’70s is so tiring. With the exception of the offensive line, which averaged about 250 pounds per man, who else was using steriods? Jack Lambert? All 225 pounds of him?
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clifford brown

in September 6th, 2010 @ 11:23

Jim Haslett on steroids in the NFL:

“It started, really, in Pittsburgh. They got an advantage on a lot of football teams. They were so much stronger (in the) ’70s, late ’70s, early ’80s,” Haslett said. “They’re the ones who kind of started it.”

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 6th, 2010 @ 11:43

They didn’t get stronger because of more steroids—everybody was taking them. They were stronger because of better weight training and considitoning. Paul Uram was their coach and he introduced the concept of stretching,

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clifford brown

in September 6th, 2010 @ 11:50

funny…that’s what courson said…

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 6th, 2010 @ 14:55

I talked about it with him many times.

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Bobzilla

in September 6th, 2010 @ 15:02

Steriods were first placed on an AFL training table in the early 1960s by San Diego coach Sid Gilman. Chuck Noll was a Gilman assistant at the time, and steriods were perfectly acceptable.
There’s no denying that Noll’s teams used steriods. My questions have always been by whom and to what extent were PEDs used? I think it was obvious that several, if not all, of his offensive linemen used PEDs. Steve Courson for sure, and Larry Brown, Mike Webster and Jon Kolb. But to suggest that everyone on the team was on steriods is ridiculous.
If you’re getting your NFL steriod history lesson from Jim Haslett, better beware. He was an idiot player… and an idiot coach.

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 6th, 2010 @ 15:10

They were rampant then and they’re rampant now. The only test I need is the eye test.

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victor surma

in September 6th, 2010 @ 14:01

I never saw it on college in the early 70′s John. In Miami it was rampant.

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 6th, 2010 @ 14:56

I knew guys who were taking dianabol (sp?) in the spring of 1970.

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victor surma

in September 6th, 2010 @ 15:07

In college? Surprising? I never saw or heard it mentioned at PSU. And I was one of the big guys. But if anybody did it, I know who they would be. Personality changes. I just thought they got tougher. Who knew?

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Ben's a rapist

in September 6th, 2010 @ 09:58

its interesting to think of how Noll would do in today’s world. Sure he had his share of morons that couldn’t spell cat if you spotted them the K and the T (i.e……Bradshaw) and plenty of ‘roids saturated loons. I wonder how he would’ve dealt with having a sexual deviant predator on his roster. i dont think he ever did……or did he?

BTW: A rabbi, a priest, and a minister walk into a bar. The bartender says, ” what can I get you gents?” all of a sudden a commotion breaks out as a certain familiar local NFL quarterback walks in with two cops.
The minister turns to the priest and rabbi and says to the barkeep ” I’ll have whatever he’s having…….”

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 6th, 2010 @ 10:01

Bradshaw was anything but dumb. Noll had a guy who was arrested for shooting at a helicopter full of state cops.

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francis

in September 6th, 2010 @ 12:29

STEIGY IN YOUR WORK WITH THE STEELERS WAS NOLL A HARD MAN TO DEAL WITH…HE CAIM ACROSS AS NOT VERY FRIENDLY…HIS RESULTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELF…BUT HE SEEMED TO DIFFICULT TO TALK TO AT TIMES IN THE MEDIA…I ALSO BELIVE HE HUNG AROUND TO LONG…THOSE LAST COUPLE YEARS WERE HORRIFIC…BUT THATS THE FREEDOM YOU GET WHEN YOU BRING THAT MANY TITLES HERE…

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 6th, 2010 @ 14:58

He was easy to deal with because you knew he had no patience for BS. He could be intimidating and I agree–he stayed around a couple of years too long. Worlds better than Cowher to deal with.

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Bobzilla

in September 6th, 2010 @ 15:07

Noll refused to do televised weekly press conferences. He was paranoid of the media. He always felt that he didn’t have to explain his decisions or actions to the media or to the public because we were all morons.
Yep, Chuck was a real sweetheart.

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 6th, 2010 @ 15:13

He never refused because it was never offered. I gave KDKA the idea to do Cowher’s post game press conference live in 1998. Channel 11, for all those years prior, never thought to do it. I thought it was a no brainer and Noll would have gone along with it if it had been suggested. Noll wasn’t a sweetheart but he was a good guy worthy of respect.

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Bobzilla

in September 6th, 2010 @ 15:25

And the reason you waited until Noll retired to first suggest televising weekly press conferences was because?
There was no way Chuck Noll would’ve stood or sat at a desk, in a special room, at 12 noon, and fielded moronic questions from the media.
He was old-school, which meant, the less the media knew, the better he liked it. Noll’s philosophy was: Just Watch The Game, and don’t ask questions. That was especially true in the 1980s when there were many questions to be answered, but no one had the balls to asked them.

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 6th, 2010 @ 15:32

I didn’t suggest the weekly press conferences. I suggested doing the post game press conference live. KDKA didn’t get the AFC games until 1998. I think doing the weekly press conference live was the next logical step from doing the post game. I actully think Noll would have gone along with it. He wouldn’t have used it to show what a tough guy he was the way Cowher did. All coaches believe that the less the media know the better. Tomlin’spress conferences are worthless. He says NOTHING. Same as Cowher.

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Frank

in September 7th, 2010 @ 01:53

Talk about a guy who very rarely receives his accolades. Every time I hear a conversation brought up on the NFL network or ESPN pertaining to the leagues best coaches of all time, Noll is is hardly ever brought up.

It’s a shame.

Maybe he should have jumped on the Extenze commericals like Jimmy Johnson? That just screams class right there. John, can you image Noll doing sexual enhancement commercials? Ha!

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JohnSteigerwald

in September 7th, 2010 @ 06:45

They don’t make ‘em like Noll anymore.

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Ochotexto

in September 7th, 2010 @ 11:30

Noll was a teacher of the game. People didn’t get into coaching back then because it was lucrative., he was born to coach. Nobody prepared their team better or had a better eye for talent. I don’t think he was the greatest game day coach ever., in fact., his clock management was awful. He made up for that though in all the other facets. Id put him in the Top 5 of all time for certain. A lot of these guys today sound like used car salesmen. He was an original.

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Comments RSS TrackBack 43 comments

VinceL

Scootermojo

YearOfTheCat

MPM

tom

clifford brown

clifford brown

clifford brown

victor surma

victor surma

Ben's a rapist

francis

Frank

Ochotexto