R.I.P. Bill Walsh, 75

Buy an ad on DigitalJournal.com

The NFL has been - pardon the pun - dogged with a lot of problems recently. The Michael Vick saga has cast an extremely negative light on the league and it's athletes, but today at training camps across America members of the pro football fraternity were reflecting on the loss of one of the best - Bill Walsh, a pioneer and one of the greatest coaches to ever man the sidelines.

Walsh is credited with single-handedly changing the NFL. He revolutionized offensive playbooks with his West Coast Offense and has left his mark on the game like no other. He won three Super Bowl's with San Francisco and was well-deserving of the nickname "The Genius".

Walsh died at his Woodside home, and was fondly remembered by those who knew him best.

"This is just a tremendous loss for all of us, especially to the Bay Area because of what he meant to the 49ers," said the 49ers' Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana. "Outside of my dad he was probably the most influential person in my life. I am going to miss him."

I'm an average football fan, and I only learned of Bill Walsh's legacy upon his death. Walsh truly did leave his mark on the game of football. He turned around a pathetic franchise known as the San Francisco 49ers and made them into three-time Super Bowl Champions. When I was growing up, it was all about Joe Montana and the 49ers. Little did I know that Bill Walsh was the brains behind the operation.

Walsh first coached in the NFL at the age of 47 and what I find astonishing is that Walsh only spent 10 years on the sidelines, yet his impact on the game has been so profound.

He even produced an army of coaches that are involved in the game today. A large majority of the coaches in the NFL today come from the Bill Walsh school of football. The man really was a genius. His methods and schemes that he brought to the forefront in 1980 out on the west coast still resound strongly today.

"The essence of Bill Walsh was that he was an extraordinary teacher," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said. "If you gave him a blackboard and a piece of chalk, he would become a whirlwind of wisdom."

Walsh's career record is phenomenal. He went 102-63-1 with the 49ers and won 10 of the 14 postseason games he was involved in. He won six division titles and leaves behind two Coach of The Year Awards on his mantle.

Maybe I was living under a rock, or not paying enough attention to football, but I've always heard about the lore of Vince Lombardi, but somehow never learned about the legend of Bill Walsh.

Walsh was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993, and few men did more to shape the game of football in the 21st century than Bill Walsh.

After his West Coast Offense delivered three titles to the Bay Area, other teams started getting the message. By 1990, almost every team in the NFL was running some sort of West Coast Offense, which emphasized the passing game. Walsh's fundamental belief was that the passing game can set up an effective running game, opposite to conventional wisdom.

Walsh is also credited with modernising coaching as we now know it. He was a perfectionist and is credited with inventing the laminated sheets of plays that all coaches hold on the sidelines today.

Bill Walsh is survived by his wife, Geri, and children, Craig and Elizabeth.

A great man, and an even better coach. He is already sorely missed.

On behalf of America and the great game of football, here's to Bill Walsh. Thank you.