A look at Paul Brown on Fathers Day

Originally, Paul Brown was the first coach of the Cleveland Browns, a team named after him, and then he later played a role in founding the Cincinnati Bengals.

His teams won seven league championships in a professional coaching career spanning 25 seasons. Before the pro's however, Brown was a high school coach that garnered a lot of attention. His high school teams lost only 10 games in 11 seasons. He was then hired at Ohio State University and coached the school to its first national football championship in 1942.

From the Bengals, Brown moved on to be head coach of the Browns, who won four AAFC championships before joining the NFL in 1950. Brown coached the Browns to three NFL championships – in 1950, 1954 and 1955 .

The Bengals named their home stadium Paul Brown Stadium in honor of Brown and he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967. He was the first coach to use game film to scout opponents, hire a full-time staff of assistants, and test players on their knowledge of a playbook. He invented the modern face mask, the scout squad and the draw play.

The legacy of Paul Brown has debated in all areas of the NFL. Some have fond memories of him coauthoring the west coast offense, while others have not so fond memories of a man that controlled with an iron fist. Love him or hate him, you can not argue the influence Brown has had on the NFL. Take a look below at some of the names on his coaching tree just to see how wide his influence traveled.

A coaching tree is a graphical depiction of the former assistant coaches of a certain head coach that then went on and became head coaches. The tree also shows the next generations of head coaches at each layer.

Paul Brown