Coaching Knowledge Project #9 Paul Brown

         Over the last few summers, I have started taking notes on some of the coaching biographies and books that I have read. One problem that I have had over the years is that I read so much and look at so much different info that I don't ever retain the knowledge for future use. I will read about a drill or a philosophy and I will think "Hey, that fits pretty good with my guys. I wanna use that this year." Then I will lay the book or the info to the side and forget all about it.
        Earlier this year, I began to compile & organize these notes & axioms into a single document. Ideally I would like to eventually have a notebook that I could add to each offseason and look at again each pre-season as I reevaluate my program. I thought that as part of this blog and my compilation efforts, I would share some of the things that I've found.
        These are quotes about coaches, quotes from coaches about their influences, and outside observations on coaches and their programs. Some of these are Hall of Fame coaches, some have losing records, and some are career assistants; all have good things to offer.
       Today I am sharing some quotes and information about NFL Legend Paul Brown. Brown is considered the "father of the modern offense", and one of the greatest football coaches of all time, achieving success at every major level—high school, college, and professional—and introducing numerous innovative coaching methods still in use today. He is also credited with founding both the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals franchises, with the former named after him and the latter naming their stadium in his honor.

PAUL BROWN

·         Everything worked to complement everything else.

·         First it is taught, then it is learned, then it is groomed. If all else fails, go back to fundamentals.

·         You’ve got to be able to get along with them and have them be at their best. You do this by organizing things well enough so that they believe in what you are doing.

·         Going to the movie, for instance, made you realize that something important is going to happen the next day and that it isn’t going to be just another Sunday. And those written exams on the plane take your mind of silly things and make you think about the job ahead.

·         Getting into football is a state of heart & mind as well as physical…don’t ever get the idea this stuff isn’t important.

·         You must invest yourself fully. If it’s worth something, it’s worth everything.

·         You must sacrifice to get to the top. That is why we ask you to train.

·         In training camp the players wrote in their own plays, the defenses against them and the various breakdowns that made up each element. He checked the books to make sure each player was doing the same thing.

·         If you placed the best individuals (not necessarily the most talented football players) in the most advantageous positions, winning would come almost naturally.

·         In every training camp, I applied the basic laws of learning – seeing, hearing, writing, then doing, again and again.

·         On defense, Brown stressed the fundamentals of tackling more than any other phase of the game.

·         Win or lose, they expected the same things for next weeks game.

·         On his criticism: I would much rather he had gotten up there and screamed and ranted and called me names. But he didn’t. Each slice got deeper. It was nothing vicious, and he never raised his voice. But he really got to you with that needle.

·         I attached more importance to a team’s respect than to any other phase of my relationship with them, including blocking & tackling.

·         You begin by building up the middle because you’ve got to start an offense with a good ground game.

·         He takes pains to tell his players to forget about things said during the heat of a game or to take them with a grain of salt and to consider the circumstances under which they were said. “I may say things to you I don’t really mean and you must understand that at all times and take it just that way.”