George Allen (coach)

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George Allen
Date of birth	April 29, 1918
Place of birth	Detroit, Michigan
Date of death	December 31, 1990 (aged 72)
Place of death	Palos Verdes Estates, CA
Position(s)	Head Coach
College	Eastern Michigan University
Career Highlights
Awards	1971 AP Coach of the Year, 1971 Sporting News COY, 1971 Pro Football Weekly COY, 1971 UPI NFL COY, 1967 AP Coach of the Year, 1967 Sporting News COY, 1967 UPI NFL COY
Honors	70 Greatest Redskins Redskins' Ring of Fame
Regular Season	116-47-5
Postseason	2-7
Career Record	118-54-5
Championships       Won	1972 NFC Championship, 1984 USFL Western Conference Championship
Coaching Stats	Pro Football Reference
Coaching Stats	DatabaseFootball
Team(s) as a coach/administrator
1957 1958-1965 1966-1970 1971-1977 1983 1984 1990	Los Angeles Rams Chicago Bears Los Angeles Rams (head) Washington Redskins (head) Chicago Blitz (head) Arizona Wranglers (head) Long Beach State
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2002

George Herbert Allen (April 29, 1918 – December 31, 1990) was an American football coach in the NFL and USFL.

[edit] Early life

Allen was born in Detroit, Michigan, where his father, Earl Raymond Allen, was recorded in the 1920 and 1930 U.S. census records for Wayne County, Michigan as working as a chauffeur to a private family. He earned varsity letters in football, track and basketball at Lake Shore High School.

Allen went to Alma College and later at Marquette University, where he was sent as an officer trainee in the U.S. Navy's World War II V-12 program. He graduated with a B.S. in education from Eastern Michigan University.He attended the University of Michigan where he earned his M.S. in Physical Education in 1947.

[edit] Coaching career

In 1948, Allen became coach to Morningside College in Iowa. Over three years, he compiled a 15-2-2 record. From 1951 through 1956, he coached Whittier College in California where he put together a 32-22-5 mark.

[edit] Los Angeles Rams and Chicago Bears

Allen joined the Los Angeles Rams staff in 1957, coaching under fellow Hall of Fame coach Sid Gillman. In 1958, owner and head coach George Halas hired him as both personnel director and assistant coach with the Chicago Bears. During his seven years of acquiring talent, the Bears were able to select three future Pro Football Hall of Famers in Mike Ditka, Dick Butkus, and Gale Sayers. Allen's defensive schemes and tactics also had a formative effect on future Hall of Fame players Bill George and Doug Atkins during their most productive years. However, it would be his innovative defensive philosophies that would allow Allen to make his mark in the NFL.

During the latter stages of the 1962 NFL season, Allen became the Bears' defensive coordinator following the resignation of Clark Shaughnessy. In his first full year in the position, Allen helped the team's defense dethrone the two-time champion Green Bay Packers and lead the team to the 1963 NFL Championship. Following the 14-10 victory on December 29 over the New York Giants, played under frigid conditions at Wrigley Field, Allen received a rare honor when he was presented with the game ball following the contest.

[edit] Second stint with the Rams

At the end of the 1965 NFL season, Allen was hired as head coach of the Los Angeles Rams, but quickly faced a legal battle with Halas, who claimed that Allen was in breach of contract. The Bears' owner did win his case, but allowed Allen to leave, saying he initiated the lawsuit to make a point about the validity of contracts. Halas would not be so magnanimous in an NFL meeting soon after when he attacked Allen's character. Upon hearing this, Green Bay coach Vince Lombardi joked to Rams owner Dan Reeves, "Sounds like you've got yourself a hell of a coach."

Allen improved the Rams win total by four games in his first year, then received 1967 Coach of the Year honors for leading the Rams to the NFL Coastal Division title. On December 26, 1968, Allen was fired by Reeves after his third season, but was rehired primarily due to a player's revolt. Nevertheless, Allen was fired for good by Reeves after the 1970 season, despite being the most successful coach in Rams history.

[edit] Washington Redskins

After his tenure with the Rams, Allen became the coach of the Washington Redskins from 1971 to 1977. He coached the Redskins to Super Bowl VII, where they lost to the undefeated Miami Dolphins.

[edit] Third stint with the Rams

After refusing to accept a $1 million, four-year contract offer throughout the 1977 season, Allen was dismissed by the Redskins after the 1977 season. He then returned to the Rams for his second stint as their head coach but was let go just two games into the 1978 exhibition schedule.

[edit] United States Football League and Long Beach State University

In his later years he served as head coach of the Chicago Blitz and Arizona Wranglers in the USFL, and returned for one year to coach at Long Beach State University.

George Halas biographer Jeff Davis notes that Allen had contacted Halas in late 1981, asking to be considered for the vacant head coaching position with the Bears. Halas angrily rejected Allen's overtures and hired Mike Ditka instead.

[edit] Reputation

Allen was considered one of the hardest working coaches in football. He is credited by some with popularizing the coaching trend of 16-hour (or longer) work-days. He sometimes slept at the Redskin Park complex he designed.^[1] Allen's need for full organizational control and his wild spending habits would create friction between him and the team owners he worked for. Famously, Edward Bennett Williams, the Redskins' president, once said, "George was given an unlimited budget and he exceeded it." In ending Allen's second stint as the Rams' head coach after only two preseason games in 1978, Carroll Rosenbloom said, "I made a serious error of judgment in believing George could work within our framework."^[2] Allen was also notorious for his paranoia, regularly believing that his practices were being spied upon and that his offices were bugged.^[3] He even went as far as being the first coach in the NFL to employ a full-time security man, Ed Boynton, to keep potential spies away and patrol the woods outside Redskin Park.^[4] As documented by NFL Films, Allen was known to eat ice cream or peanut butter for many meals because it was easy to eat, and saved time so Allen could get back to preparing for the next game. Allen kept in shape as a coach, and would run several miles at the start of each day. He did not swear or smoke, and he was a teetotaler known for preferring to drink milk (some suspected that this beverage of choice arose from ulcers they suspected the always-high strung coach to suffer from). Coach Allen would later be appointed by President Ronald Reagan to the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. It's interesting to note President Richard M. Nixon once "recommended" the team run an end-around play by Wide Receiver Roy Jefferson. Allen agreed, but Jefferson was tackled for a loss on the play.

[edit] Preferring veteran players over younger players

As a coach, Allen was known for his tendency to prefer veteran players to rookies and younger players. During Allen's early years with the Redskins, the team was known as the "Over the Hill Gang," due to the number of players on the team with lots of past NFL experience, such as quarterback Billy Kilmer (the moniker "Over the Hill Gang" having come from a 1969 television movie). Upon becoming Redskins coach, Allen traded for or acquired many players - all veterans of course - he had formerly coached with the Rams, including Jack Pardee, Richie Petitbon, Myron Pottios, John Wilbur, George Burman and Diron Talbert, leading to the Redskins sometimes being referred to in those days as the "Ramskins." The phrase "the future is now" is often associated with Allen. Allen made 131 trades as an NFL coach, 81 during the seven years he was coach of the Redskins. Coach Russ A. Molzahn who was instrumental in running Allen's free agent tryout camps, would go on to win Three National Championships on the Jr. Collegiate and European levels. Jack Pardee, later became an NFL head coach himself of the Redskins and Houston Oilers; Richie Petitbon would become the longtime defensive coordinator of the Redskins under Joe Gibbs.

[edit] Emphasizing special teams play

Allen was also known for emphasizing special teams play, and is credited with being the first coach to hire a special teams coach to focus exclusively on the play of that unit. That first special teams coach would later win a Super Bowl, Dick Vermeil of the St. Louis Rams. His second special teams coach, Marv Levy, would lead the Buffalo Bills to four consecutive Super Bowl appearances.

[edit] Notable accomplishments

Allen had the third best winning percentage in the NFL (.681), only exceeded by Vince Lombardi (.736) and John Madden (.731). He also never coached a team to a losing season. This was particularly notable in the case of the Redskins, which had only had one winning season over the past fifteen seasons (1969, under Lombardi) before Allen's arrival.

He was noted primarily as a defensive innovator, and as a motivator. Allen was an early innovator in the use of sophisticated playbooks, well-organized drafts, use of special teams and daring trades for veterans over new players. He is also known for sparking the Dallas Cowboys/Washington Redskins rivalry. He was 7-8 against the Cowboys in his career.

He was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002.

Allen's final head coaching job was with Long Beach State in 1990.

[edit] NFL head coaching record

[edit] Death

Allen died on December 31, 1990 from ventricular fibrillation in his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California at the age of 72. Allen admitted shortly before his death he had not been completely healthy after some of his Long Beach State players dumped a Gatorade bucket on him following a season-ending victory over the University of Nevada, Las Vegas on November 17, 1990[2].

The sports editor of the Long Beach State's newspaper, the Daily Forty-Niner, was on the field that day and remembers that the temperature was in the fifties with a biting wind. Coach Allen stayed on the field for media interviews for quite a while in his drenched clothing, and boarded the bus back to Long Beach State soaking wet. However, he had promised a winning season to a football program on the verge of collapse, and in his final game delivered on his promise. His players gleefully hoisted him on their shoulders as photographers snapped away, and Allen went out a winner. Allen said his season at Long Beach State was the most rewarding of his entire career.^[5]

After his death, the soccer and multipurpose field area on the lower end of campus was dedicated in his honor, George Allen Field. A youth baseball field in Palos Verdes Estates is also named after him.

[edit] Family

Allen had four children, three sons and one daughter. His son George is the former U.S. Senator (R) from Virginia. Another son Bruce is the general manager of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League and is a former member of the front office of the Oakland Raiders. Allen's daughter Jennifer, a correspondent for the NFL Network, wrote a book about her relationship with her father titled The Fifth Quarter which outlined the man's icy demeanor toward his family, and his obsession with football to the exclusion of all else.

[edit] External links

• Pro Football Hall of Fame

[edit] References

1. ^ SPORTS OF THE TIMES; George Allen: Won Games, Lost Jobs - New York Times
2. ^ SPORTS OF THE TIMES; George Allen: Won Games, Lost Jobs - New York Times
3. ^ [1]
4. ^ George Solomon - If You're Not Spying, You're Not Trying - washingtonpost.com
5. ^ George Allen, Coach, Dead at 72; Led Redskins to Super Bowl VII - New York Times