Many football coaches have left there mark in recent years: Bill Walsh and the west coast offense, Dick LeBeau and the 3-4 defense, Chip Kelly and his warp speed spread offense, Urban Meyer and the spread offense. But all of these coaches – including Bill Walsh who wrote the forward of this book – trace their football lineage to a single coach: Paul Brown. In fact, Bill Walsh based his west coast offense on many of the tenants of Paul Browns’ offense. This book traces his early years as a high school football coach who inspired half-starved players during the depression, to his years as the Ohio State University’s head coach and first national championship in 1942, to his meteoric rise as Cleveland’s head coach. Most tragic was how he eventually became a victim of his own success and his old ways of sacrifice, withholding gratification and selflessness eventually came into conflict with what has become too common in modern football.
From his creation of a face mask for football helmets, to using the fullback in the running game to his passing offense to even including marching bands in high school football, this book explores how Paul Brown’s touch on football is still felt to this day. After reading this book, I thought how Paul Brown should be considered the ORIGINAL Mr. Ohio Football.
Four out of five stars.