Homer Rice and Bill Johnson

[TheBengalsMind]

(07-11-2021, 01:53 PM)impactplaya Wrote: I don't expect alot of replies cause some of you werent
Around then.
But after PB stepped down, were.these 2 coaches just basically
Figureheads and was PB still coaching the team from  his position
As GM and Owner?
Kinda like in.the mafia when.you have a real.boss and a front boss

Its been.speculated over and over that Bill Walsh was the logical
Replacement when PB stepped down.
I think PB realized right away how innovative and
Intelligent Walsh was on the brink of being the next great
NFL head coach and would be harder to control

I wonder behind the scenes if PB regretted the hirings
Of Johnson and Rice hence neither coach got the Bengals
In the playoffs

I have a video on Paul Brown if you would want to watch it.

To answer your question, no he wouldn't have been coaching for the coach.

He would have offered his advice and he would sometimes make draft decisions.

Like when Greg asked who he should start in 1981, after Anderson had a rough start, he asked Paul Brown who to start. Paul told him that Anderson handles adversity well and that's who he'd start. He took that advise and we nearly won a Super Bowl.

In the 1981 draft there were people that wanted Cris Collinsworth in the 1st. Paul took one look at his weigh in picture and said he'll be available in the 2nd. He was right.

But it cut him deep when Art Modell tried to coach and it greatly upset him when Art Modell would try to go over his head and he would have offered the same respect to his coach.

Kenny Anderson once asked Paul Brown why he selected Johnson over Walsh. He had offered it to Johnson to get him to join his staff. He kept his promise.

He did deny Bill Walsh interviews and would often tell other teams that he was crazy and didn't have "it" to be a coach.

He did it because he wanted to eventually give the job to Walsh. Which he knew he could never do if he left the team.

Should he have offered it to Walsh, yes. Should he have hid the fact that teams wanted him, no.

But Brown was loyal even to a fault sometimes and he knew talent when he saw it and that explains both of the situations.

At least that's how I take what I have heard and read about the situation.