I can't quite put into words how I feel about the news re. Coach Walsh. But I will give it a shot.
Coach Walsh is a legend.
He is my favorite football coach of all time.
I grew up worshipping the Forty Niners (and yes I still haven't given up on them). I know I sound like some old grouch at this point. But to me when it comes to professional sports there were nothing better than the 80s, when Magic, Kareem, and Big James were making some magic at the Forum, while Joe Cool, Flash 80, JT, Craig, Rathman, Jones and rest of their team-mates were creating their own legend up at the 'stick.
Walsh made football pretty. He made it beautiful (notwithstanding the fact his Forty Niners team were some of the toughest teams in the history of the game).
And he made it look all so easy:
Photo Credit: Michael Zagaris
You know it is kind of funny. In this part of the internets WCO is now a caustic term, symbolizing everything that is wrong with our football program.
Yet when I first heard that Dorrell was coming to Westwood with a WCO playbook, I had visions of a rhythmic Bruin offense, with short-precise slant passes hitting athletic WRs in stride, money passes on to TEs juking out overmatched LBs, featuring split-back formations throwing short passes to its RBs, TBs, and TEs who were racking up YACs bulldozing over opposing LBs, high-stepping and carrying opposing DBs for extra gains.
I had the vision of an offense constantly getting into 2nd and short or 3rd and short situations, keeping the opposing Ds on their heels on first down. And I had the vision of an offense which was deadly in the red zone, making need for kickers like Mike Coffer totally moot. Anyways ...
In today's world we hear the term genius thrown around a lot with various coaches in number of sports, who never end up matching the hype. Coach Walsh matched and then some for decades, revolutionizing the game with his philosophy that changed the sport forever. And for me he was fun to root for because he reminded me of Coach Wooden: a simple man with a brilliant mind who came across as a down to earth star in a profession eventually taken over by showoff jerks.
RIP Coach Walsh.
This Bruin (and a die hard Niner's fan) sports world is not going to be same without you.
We will miss you.
GO BRUINS.
Filed under: