Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

One of the more fascinating areas of football research is looking at who was under consideration as a head coach before a team made its final decision. While some names were strictly rumored, others ended up being finalists or at least seriously considered.

When the 1969 season started, there were seven new head coaches in the last year of the NFL/AFL setup. One of those seven, Alex Webster, replaced Allie Sherman with the Giants during training camp, so no real search was conducted. As far as the six others:

Bills (Harvey Johnson went back to the front office):

Chuck Noll, Don McCafferty, Bill Peterson, Clive Rush, John Rauch

Peterson supposedly turned down an offer from the Bills, with Noll then becoming the top candidate--unless Rauch was available. He soon was after walking away from Al Davis' continued interference. George Allen also had some brief conversations during his brief exile (aka drunken firing) from the Rams that was soon rescinded.

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Patriots (Mike Holovak fired)

Chuck Noll, Ray Prochaska, Clive Rush, Ernie Stautner, "College coach with pro experience"

Not sure who the college coach was, but Rush ended up getting the job. Of course, his introduction press conference was a precursor to his tenure there, when he almost got electrocuted.

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Raiders (John Rauch resigned)

Madden was the popular choice among the Raider players and ended up getting the job. Both Noll and Rush were listed as possibilities, with the vision of Noll working under Al Davis an amusing thought. I have to imagine Chuck would have also resigned when Davis, who had actually coached with him during the early days of the Chargers, started giving him "advice."

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Eagles (Joe Kuharich fired)

The Eagles ownership was such a mess that soon after Leonard Tose bought the team, Kuharich was fired in May 1969. Former Eagle receiver Pete Retzlaff was named GM and had former teammate Jerry Williams, who was head coach at Calgary in the CFL, as his top candidate. Other considerations included:

Charlie Gauer (an Eagle coach when Retzlaff was playing) and Walt Michaels

After Williams said he was happy coaching in the CFL, he then resigned days later--even though he didn't have the job yet. Which, of course, means that there was no real search.

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Steelers (Bill Austin fired)

Chuck Noll, Nick Skorich, Jim Trimble, Bill Peterson, Indiana head coach John Pont, Kansas head coach Pepper Rodgers

Interestingly, the knock on Noll was that he didn't have any head coaching experience. He got the job after Joe Paterno turned it down.

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Redskins (Otto Graham fired)

Graham had signed a 10-year deal when he took over in 1966, but had three mediocre years. The week after the Super Bowl, Redskins owner Edward Bennett Williams and Lombardi were seen having lunch in New York. Ashed the following week about it, Williams said there was no truth the the rumors that he would hire Lombardi. Naturally, two weeks later, Lombardi announced that he was leaving the Packers to become Redskins head coach.

The worst thing that can happen to a head coach is to get a vote of confidence from the owner. You then can be pretty certain that the coach is gone.

With the Giants in 1969, the players had a closed door meeting after losing their 5th straight preseason game. The meeting had nothing to do with coach Allie Sherman. The Giants then fired coach Sherman making it look like the firing had something to do with the meeting. Actually, the meeting had more to do with the players being afraid to swear in front of a priest, who was almost always with the team.