Legendary football coach Paul Brown was born on this day in 1908. He coached high school ball before moving on to Ohio State and then to pro football where he was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 1946-1962. He was the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals from their first season in 1968 until 1975. He died in 1991.

Paul Brown was the most innovative coach in football history. He was also known as a great teacher. He had a number of his former players and coaches move on to great success in the NFL. He coached 7 Browns championships.  The Bengals football stadium in Cincinnati is named Paul Brown Stadium.

The Paul Brown I remember is not the Paul Brown who had great success with the Browns in the 1940s and 1950’s but of an old man who was a penny pincher who didn’t want to pay players what they were worth as a Bengals owner. He was always nickel and diming you to make a dollar.His son took over the team after his death and runs the team the same way. Paul Brown probably doesn’t get his rightly due as a head coach. He was one of the greatest coaches but at least to me he didn’t seem to come off well in public. He sure knew his football though. Just my opinion but I think in his later years the game had passed him by.

The dumbest thing he ever did was when he retired he passed over naming Bill Walsh his successor and gave the job to Bill “Tiger” Johnson. He nearly drove Bill Walsh out of football. He kept him from getting other head coaching jobs by bad mouthing him around the league.