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Originally Posted by Demonpenz
Paul brown wouldn't even cross my mind for the top 50. I know little about him.
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He's the greatest NFL head coach ever. He just wasn't as fiery/exciting of a personality as Lombardi, so he's a bit less famous. Lombardi may have been the best ever motivator of players, but Brown was the best coach.
His bio, in brief:
Founder of the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals. It's why the Browns are called the Browns, and why the Bengals play at Paul Brown Stadium.
He integrated the old AAFC, which later merged with the NFL, bringing in its first AFrican-American players.
After merging with the NFL:
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Originally Posted by Wiki
However, in their very first official NFL game, the Browns dismantled the two-time defending champion Philadelphia Eagles 35–10, putting up 487 yards of total offense, 346 of them in the air. They won the NFL Championship in their first year, defeating the Rams in the title game on December 24 on a last-minute field goal by Lou Groza. This 1950 NFL championship gave Brown the distinction of being the first head coach to win a college national championship and an NFL championship, Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer later winning college championships and Super Bowls. The Browns went on to appear in the next five title games, winning back-to-back titles in 1954 and 1955.
Brown was a great innovator during his time in Cleveland. He was the first to use intelligence tests to judge players, establish a game film library, instruct players in a classroom setting, use a radio transmitter to communicate with players on the field, and install face masks on helmets (At the professional level. Many players in college attached crude forms of face masks on their helmets before Brown.). Another innovation was the use of "messenger guards" to relay plays from the sidelines after the radio proved problematic due to the technology then available. The offense directed by Graham was the predecessor of the West Coast offense made famous by Bill Walsh, a protégé of Brown. |