Paul Daugherty talks about the connection with father and son while helping two authors promote their biographies of Paul Brown -- the man with the greatest influence of modern football.
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| Paul Brown: The Man Who Invented Modern Football [Amazon.com] |
Daugherty asks, "Given his fathers unsurpassed legacy for success and innovation, why does Mike cling to a way of doing things that, by any reasonable measure, doesn't work?" An interesting question that begs head-scratching wondering over idealistic light bulbs that flash in one's mind. Though I believe it's clearly agreed that Mike's method certainly hasn't promoted success on the field; that's like saying the sun rises every morning.
Right now, I'm reading Paul Brown: The Man Who Invented Modern Football. In truth, I'm still working on it but essentially, you get a quick understanding of Browns' influences, the innovative things he put in place, his coaching progressions from Massillon to Ohio State to Cleveland and ten selected games that defined his coaching career. It's a good read, but if I give a book review, it'll be incomplete. So I won't. At least right now.
I can already tell you that it's a fantastic read, and every fan of any form of Ohio football should have some idea of who Paul Brown was. It's one thing to throw the name around as Brown being a legend in football; it's another to actually throw the name around knowing full well what meant to the sport, and to Ohio.
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Paul Brown: The Rise and Fall and Rise Against of Football's Most Innovative Coach [Amazon.com] |
As per usual, I tend to have a queue of books sitting on my tables. They range from sports books, to Robert Ludlum and Tom Clancy, to George R.R Martin and J.R.R. Tolkien. After this one, I'm going after another; Paul Brown: The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Football's Most Innovative Coach.
I'm not sure if I will do a full blown book report on either -- I was never any good at them in high school, there's no reason to think I'd improve now.
However, to go back to Daugherty's point wondering why son isn't a follower of father's practices, I just wonder if it would even work. Players today are supersensitive on how they're treated, and Brown's approach wouldn't sit well with players of today. Also, before, Brown could just release and dump players that didn't follow his system, or preference of conduct. With today's economic structure impacting the sport like never before, could Brown suck up his pride and keep players like Chad Johnson?
Do you think Paul Brown could succeed as a coach today?