RIP Bill Walsh

[Left_Coast]

ESPN News reporting it.

 

[Mystery_Meat]

Wasn't he coaching the 49ers as an assistant fairly recently?

A legend, to say the least. Begin the RIP line ... now.

 

[Chef]

RIP to a coaching genius.

 

[Flying Headbutt]

Wow. What an innovator he was.

 

[Corky Ramirez up on 94th St.]

AP now reporting it:


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Former San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh has died, Stanford University says.

 

[DanOregon]

A true shame. Thoughts and prayers to his family. He changed NFL football forever. A Hall of Famer off the field and on. He made an astounding impact on the Bay Area, not only with the 49ers, but also through his efforts at San Jose State and Stanford. Walsh is a guy who deserves a stadium named after him.

 

[Left_Coast]

A true shame. Thoughts and prayers to his family. He changed NFL football forever. A Hall of Famer off the field and on. He made an astounding impact on the Bay Area, not only with the 49ers, but also through his efforts at San Jose State and Stanford. Walsh is a guy who deserves a stadium named after him.

Concur

 

[expendable]

Wow. First Tom Snyder and now Bill Walsh.

 

[Left_Coast]

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) _ Bill Walsh, the groundbreaking football coach who won three Super Bowls and perfected the ingenious schemes that became known as the West Coast offense during a Hall of Fame career with the San Francisco 49ers, has died. He was 75.

Walsh died early Monday following a long battle with leukemia, according to Stanford University, where he served as coach and athletic director.

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.

Few men did more to shape the look of football into the 21st century. His cerebral nature and often-brilliant stratagems earned him the nickname "The Genius" well before his election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993.

Walsh twice served as the 49ers' general manager, and George Seifert led San Francisco to two more Super Bowl titles after Walsh left the sideline. Walsh also coached Stanford during two terms over five seasons.

Even a short list of Walsh's adherents is stunning. Seifert, Mike Holmgren, Dennis Green, Sam Wyche, Ray Rhodes and Bruce Coslet all became NFL head coaches after serving on Walsh's San Francisco staffs, and Tony Dungy played for him. Most of his former assistants passed on Walsh's structures and strategies to a new generation of coaches, including Mike Shanahan, Jon Gruden, Brian Billick, Andy Reid, Pete Carroll, Gary Kubiak, Steve Mariucci and Jeff Fisher.

Walsh created the Minority Coaching Fellowship program in 1987, helping minority coaches to get a foothold in a previously lily-white profession. Marvin Lewis and Tyrone Willingham are among the coaches who went through the program, later adopted as a league-wide initiative.

He also helped to establish the World League of American Football _ what was NFL Europe _ in 1994, taking the sport around the globe as a development ground for the NFL.

Walsh was diagnosed with leukemia in 2004.

 

[txscoop]

RIP Bill. A great guy.

 

[Piotr Rasputin]

RIP to The Genius.

As far as lasting innovations that changed the game, on-field performance, and sustained greatness both by his team and his system as used by his assistants, he has set the standard in the last 30 years.

This really sucks. There was no NFL coach I as a football fan thought higher of.

 

[Claws for Concern]

RIP

I think he was still a consultant at Stanford for athletics. Shame.

His legacy, aside from his success, is the number of future head coaches he had as assistants.

 

[alleyallen]

Sad, sad story. Helluva coach. As much as I disliked the 49ers during the '80s, the guy was a genius I couldn't help but like. RIP.

 

[Dyno]

I got to spend a little time with Coach Walsh and his wife backstage at a poorly-organized ESPN event a few years ago. He was really nice, told a couple of great stories and was a lot more gracious to the people in charge than I would have been if I were him.

RIP.

 

[doubledown68]

Walsh was part of my "pinch-me-I-can't-believe-I'm-doing-this-moment." Got to cover a Rams-49ers game my senior year at Mizzou... got there waaay too early, and decided to take a stroll around the empty field at the dome, just because I could.

Take the elevator down, make a turn and I'm stopped while the 49ers flood into the locker room. When the coast is clear, I move again, look up, and there's Bill Walsh and the black dude with the goatee. (His name escapes me, but he's on every Sports Century episode).

I look up, with this dumb look on my face, until they both nod and walk on by. I think I nodded. I don't know. Anyway, that's apropos of nothing.

It's tough to imagine any coach in the next 25 years having 1/10th the impact that Walsh had on the game. RIP.

 

[wickedwritah]

Are you thinking of Harry Edwards?

And I was kind of in disbelief when Pube/Simon said a few months ago that he was close to death's door. Didn't know he was in that bad of shape.

RIP, a true innovator.

 

[wickedwritah]

And luckily there is no Giants game tonight. Meaning Barry's 755th wouldn't bump this below the fold, which would be a travesty. The man deserves his due.

 

[doubledown68]

Are you thinking of Harry Edwards?

And I was kind of in disbelief when Pube/Simon said a few months ago that he was close to death's door. Didn't know he was in that bad of shape.

RIP, a true innovator.

Yup, Harry Edwards. I knew it was Harry something.. I kept thinking Carson, but I knew that wasn't right.

 

[markvid]

Innovator and genius, the likes of which the NFL will never see again.
People will imitate and copy him, but never equal.
RIP.

 

[D-3 Fan]

Damn, damn, damn, damn. :'(

I never saw this coming at all. I was away from the PC working on other projects and got back on here to see what's going on.

Three in row is a hard thing to swallow right now (Snyder and Bergman included).

I echo everyone else when speaking of Walsh: there will be no one like him again.

Rest In Peace Coach Walsh.