Paul Brown - Criticisms and Legacy

Criticisms and Legacy

Although Brown coached dozens of successful teams at the high school, college and professional levels, his controlling personality and sharp criticisms made him unpopular with many players. Brown was methodical and disciplined, and tolerated no deviation from his system. His professional teams' planes did not wait for players who were late; anyone who missed the flight was forced to find one on his own and pay a fine to Brown. When the Browns practiced twice in a day in training camp, each session was exactly 55 minutes. Regular practices during the season lasted an hour and 12 minutes. Players who made mistakes in games were held up for ridicule during film review sessions. "There got to be a saying," longtime Browns safety Ken Konz said years later. "'There's a right way, a wrong way and the Paul Brown way.' If you did it the Paul Brown way, you were right. He was a very strict coach, and he expected you to toe the line."

Brown was also a tough negotiator over salaries, often refusing to give players raises despite strong performance. He was called "cold and brutal" by sportswriters, and told players to be "ready to fight for your financial lives". "When I signed with Paul, he felt that $1,000 was $10 million," said Gene Hickerson, a guard who played for the Browns in the late 1950s and 1960s. Brown's stingy approach to salaries frustrated his players and was a motivating force behind the formation of the National Football League Players Association, which represents players' interests in dealings with the league. Browns players including Dante Lavelli and Abe Gibron helped found the union in 1956 along with lawyer and former Browns assistant coach Creighton Miller. Brown was so annoyed by the union that he had a 1946 team photo in his office touched up to remove Miller.

Brown's acrimonious departure from Cleveland was another source of criticism. His teams' winning ways had helped obscure his harsh methods and need for control, but Modell's active involvement in the team exposed them. Despite that Modell owned the team, Brown refused to cede any authority or be diplomatic in his relationship with Modell. Modell felt Brown's style was too rigid and that he was failing to adapt to changes in the way football was played in the early 1960s. Many players agreed. "Paul didn't adjust to the changes in the game," former Browns cornerback Bernie Parrish said in 1997. "By 1962, he was more worried about protecting his reputation as the Greatest Coach Who Ever Lived than he was about winning a title. ... By the end of the 1962 season, a lot of us wanted to be traded because we were convinced that we'd never win a title with Paul Brown – and we never believed Paul Brown was going anywhere." After his firing, Brown held a grudge against Modell for the rest of his life. He never forgave Collier for taking over as coach when he left, even though Collier had asked for and received his blessing.

Although he was criticized for his strictness and strained relationships, Brown played a significant role in the evolution and modernization of football. The draw play he invented – a formation in which the quarterback drops back to pass but then hands off the ball to a running back – is still in wide use. In his autobiography, Brown said the play came about by accident in 1946 when Graham botched a play and improvised by making a late handoff to Marion Motley, who ran past the onrushing defenders for a large gain. Brown's main contribution to the game, however, was not to the development of new plays but to the organization and administration of teams. Before Brown, football was seen as a chaotic affair where winning was a product mostly of physical prowess. Few coaches took strategy and preparation seriously. Brown, by contrast, hired a full-time staff of assistants, tested his players on their knowledge of plays, instituted strict organization of practices and analyzed game film to get an edge on opponents. The success of this systematic approach forced other teams to follow. Most of Brown's organizational innovations are still in use today. "No one, I mean no one, has ever had total command and respect like Paul Brown," Paul Wiggin, a former Browns defensive end, said in 1997. "I believe that Paul Brown could have been a general in the Army ... you put Paul Brown in charge of anything and he would have been one of those special people who could organize and lead."

Brown's approach influenced future generations of coaches down to the present day. Men he worked directly with, including Don Shula, Weeb Ewbank, Chuck Noll and Bill Walsh, all adopted his system to some degree. Brown was also a mentor to Vince Lombardi, who coached several Green Bay Packers championship teams in the 1960s. Lombardi came to the Browns training camps to observe and learn Brown's system. It was Brown who recommended Lombardi to Green Bay's owners, and the men remained close friends.

Brown was more than just a coach. He was a student of the game who had much to do with making professional football the attraction it is today. He made coaching a full-time job for himself and all his assistants. Others had to follow suit or fall behind. So they did the logical thing—they copied his methods, both as a coach and innovator. ... "Paul Brown didn't invent the game of football. He was just the first to take it seriously," declared Sport Magazine in a December 1986 story ... Sid Gillman, Brown's coaching contemporary for many years in the NFL, told the magazine he always felt that "before Paul Brown pro football was a 'daisy chain.' He brought a system into pro football. He brought a practice routine. He broke down practice into individual areas. He had position coaches. He was an organizational genius. Before Paul Brown, coaches just rolled the ball out on the practice field." —Chuck Heaton, Plain Dealer sportswriter