Coryell: Honorary Captain at Rams Game
By Gary Fitzgerald
Redskins.com
August 27, 2004
Legendary NFL head coach Don Coryell, who mentored Redskins head coach Joe Gibbs, served as St. Louis's honorary captain at Friday night's Redskins-Rams preseason game. Coryell, Gibbs, former Rams and Redskins assistant coach Jim Hanifan and Rams head coach Mike Martz met on-field in pre-game and briefly shared a few memories.
Coryell said he was surprised when Gibbs returned to the NFL after a 12-year hiatus.
"Joe thought he had a few more games inside of him, I'm sure, and that he could go out and win some more ball games and go to the Super Bowl," Coryell said. "Joe's a people person. A lot of people say the game probably passed him by, but he knows how to get along with people and get the most out of them."
The Coryell coaching tree has strong connections to the Redskins. It includes Gibbs, Hanifan, current Redskins offensive consultant Ernie Zampese and former Redskins head coach Norv Turner (now with the Raiders).
Hanifan was a Redskins assistant coach for Gibbs and Turner from 1990-96. Even Martz, who never coached for Coryell, is connected; he was an assistant coach for Turner in Washington from 1997-98.
Gibbs, who was offensive coordinator for Coryell when both were in San Diego in 1979-80, led Washington to four Super Bowls, winning three. Gibbs' offense was a part of the evolution of the Coryell offense, in which receivers ran precise routes, quarterbacks threw well-timed, accurate passes and a power running game complemented the high-octane passing attack.
That evolution also includes Martz's high-powered offense (otherwise known as "The Greatest Show on Turf") in St. Louis. It was an offensive attack on full display Friday night when the Rams defeated the Redskins 28-3 in the Edward Jones Dome.
Gibbs said he owes much of his success to Coryell.
"Don meant a lot to me," Gibbs said. "No ego, nicest person, but yet he was so intense that he portrayed that in everybody. He got ready to coach a game as if he was going to play. And he could portray that in the players. So the players knew he was for real.
"He was very creative. His system was the area where he was gifted. The way he called things--he spent hours thinking about it. And it's still used by a lot of people today. When he called plays, he wanted it to be a visual picture of what you were doing, not just memorization.
Coryell was a NFL head coach for 14 seasons, spending five seasons with the St. Louis (football) Cardinals and nine seasons with the San Diego Chargers. He compiled a 111-83-1 record in his career, leading teams to the playoffs six times.
In San Diego, the Charger' offensive attack became known as "Air Coryell," and during their consecutive division titles run, it was one of the most explosive in league history. Gibbs, Hanifan and Zampese were assistant coaches under Coryell during that time.
Quarterback Dan Fouts passed for at least 4,000 yards in each of those years, compiling 87 touchdown passes. The Chargers had at least two receivers who posted 1,000-yard receiving seasons. Charlie Joiner and John Jefferson (now the Redskins' director of player development) accomplished the feat in 1979, Kellen Winslow, Joiner and Jefferson all had 1,000-yard seasons in 1980, and Winslow and Joiner did it again in 1981.
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