The Philosophy of Bill Walsh

[tk13]

I'm not going to post the whole thing because this is a long, long, long article. Too many great parts to paraphrase it. But it's about Bill Walsh's insane drive to be a perfectionist and a book he wrote that's considered the bible for football coaches to this day. It follows a high school coach that got into coaching because of Andy Reid. It shows how far ahead of his time Bill Walsh was, and features Vermeil, Al Saunders, Belichick, Urban Meyer, Brian Billick and others. If you like football it's a great read.

THE MOST INFLUENTIAL football coach of the past 30 years hated his legacy. He hated it from the moment he retired at age 57, in January 1989, days after winning his third Super Bowl as head coach of the 49ers. Bill Walsh had felt fried for years, and during that last season he was in "a claustrophobic panic," as a friend later described it. Or "just eking by," as his son Craig recalls. That 1988 season had been the most wrenching of his career, because the 49ers were not a great team. They were a 10-6 team that happened to win it all, and the grind swallowed Walsh to the point that he was, as his son says, "like a zombie." So he secretly decided to retire during the season, and in the whooping and wet locker room after the Super Bowl, Walsh wept alone, head in his hands. He wasn't happy. He was relieved. It was over.

That image, of course, doesn't square with the Walsh in old footage: elegant and confident, handsome and professorial, walking a damp Candlestick Park sideline in a sweater and khakis, fog-white hair neatly combed, holding a pencil to his lips as he plotted his next move, which always seemed to be two ahead of his opponent. But that's how he was. He always coached through existential torture, with alternating bouts of believing that he was brilliant and that he was incapable of fulfilling his own idea of greatness.

So it was no surprise that Walsh instantly regretted retiring. Believing that he left at least one Super Bowl on the table, Walsh was "melancholy and terrible," according to Craig. That the 1989 49ers were more dominant in the playoffs under new coach George Seifert than they ever were under Walsh made it worse. Walsh hated that Seifert won a championship that year with his team, his West Coast offense, his philosophy; he so hated the ring that the team awarded him that he gave it away. "He didn't want them to win," Craig says. "He couldn't hand over the team he had created to someone else, because he wasn't capable of it."

He tried broadcasting but quit in 1991. "I'm not going to sit for three hours and let some 27-year-old f-- in my ear tell me about the game," he told Brian Billick, former Ravens coach and one of his many protégés. In 1992 Walsh returned to Stanford, where he had coached in the '70s, but left after two losing seasons in three years, his magic gone. "He needed to be Bill Walsh," Billick says. "He needed to be a genius."

So he decided to write a book.

(Continued...)
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/88...-espn-magazine

[Hammock Parties]

Heh. Ebook located.

[Hammock Parties]

TORRENT. LOL

http://thepiratebay.se/torrent/8066163

[tk13]

Soon GoChiefs will be the greatest football mind of our forum. He will also stay awake 22 hours a day and eat nothing but saltine crackers studying film while cutting himself.

[Hammock Parties]

Between PFF and Bill Walsh's mind droppings, I WILL WIN EVERY DEBATE.

[Hammock Parties]

['Hamas' Jenkins]

The cost of that book reminds me of when I looked up how much a Seiko watch called "The Arnie" goes for since he wore it in like five or six films. Used versions for a watch that was originally around $300 now regularly fetch twice that price.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

This is the football version of a book called The Golfing Machine by Homer Kelly. Supposedly it is just chock with verbose, jargon-laded physics vis-a-vis the golf swing. Ben Hogan proteges swear by it, but it's not in print and used versions are exceptionally hard to come by.

[Ebolapox]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

This is the football version of a book called The Golfing Machine by Homer Kelly. Supposedly it is just chock with verbose, jargon-laded physics vis-a-vis the golf swing. Ben Hogan proteges swear by it, but it's not in print and used versions are exceptionally hard to come by.

are you referring to the original edition? because there are quite a few on ebay.

[DTLB58]

QB, LT and a Pass rusher who can still get after the QB in the 4th Quarter.
These were his key personnel decisions.

Bill Walsh, Building A Champion. It has been on my book shelf for many years now.

That book shelf is full, so thankfully they came out with this iPad/Kindle thingy

Currently reading, just recently released: Martyball. It is quite good.

[Hammock Parties]

Hope some of this rubbed off on Reid, since it was written by Mike Holmgren.

Bill was no less adamant about the need to shoot for perfection. His convictions on the matter were illustrated vividly to me during an event that occurred one day in
practice. As the 49ers' quarterback coach, I watched Joe Montana throw a pass slightly behind Jerry Rice, who nevertheless would catch such a pass 99 times out of
100.

Most coaches might be satisfied with this success ratio. Not Bill. He immediately came to me and explained in great detail why a pass involving that route had to be
thrown twelve inches in front of the receiver, not six inches behind him.

[EagleRob]

I bought Finding the Winning Edge at a used book store in Virginia in 2002 while falling in love with Reid and McNabb in Philly. Absorbed it cover to cover - everything from how to run a football team from setting up the front office, coaching staff, evaluating QBs and other positions for the WCO, and even how to organize meetings, gamedays, and handling press conferences.

YOU ALL NEED TO READ THIS BOOK. It's Reid's system.

In 2003 I found a local men's flag football league here in Northern VA. I started a team with guys from work and I implemented the system (except the press conferences) and went out to the league message board to find more players. We held practices year round, played in spring leagues, fall leagues, and tournaments in the winter and summer. I got that team to win the local league twice and went to the Virginia State Tourney twice before losing in the Elite Eight round in a field of 64 teams the third year (2006). At that point my wife and I had child number three and she told me it was time to stop being a child.

Bottom line: Great book for the WCO obsessed - and yes - all of you are.

[EagleRob]

Also, my playbook: Go on eBay and search 2002 Philadelphia Eagles playbook. Somebody's out there making copies and mailing them out for a few bucks. Whence I looked last, there were hundred of playbook from various college and pro teams that were leaked. Reid's stuff is up there.

[EagleRob]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2002-Andy-Re...item3cc73e329a

[CoMoChief]

Hell of a read

[CoMoChief]

Originally Posted by GoWalrus

Hope some of this rubbed off on Reid, since it was written by Mike Holmgren.

Matt Cassel -

"What's leading a WR?"