Don Coryell One Step Away from Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement

Cardinals head coach Don Coryell in the 1970s emerged as the choice of the Hall’s coach/contributor committee for enshrinement in the Class of 2023.

Finally.

Twelve years after he died at the age of 85 and 36 years after he coached his last game in the NFL, Don Coryell is one step away from having his bust on display in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Coryell was selected Tuesday from a group of 12 finalists as the one candidate from the Hall’s coach/contributor committee that will be voted on by the full 49-person group of selectors in January.

The other 11 were Roone Arledge, Mike Holmgren, Frank “Bucko” Kilroy, Robert Kraft, Art Modell, Buddy Parker, Dan Reeves, Art Rooney Jr., Mike Shanahan, Clark Shaughnessy and John Wooten.

Eliminated in the first reduction vote were Arledge, Modell, Rooney and Shanahan. Coryell prevailed in a final four also comprised of Holmgren, Kraft and Wooten.

It is likely that changes the Hall made this year in the selection process for senior players, coaches and contributors helped create the result that happened Tuesday.

To make it possible for more seniors to be elected, the final candidates were increased to three this year. In a vote of the seniors committee (of which I am a member) last week, Chuck Howley, Joe Klecko and Ken Riley were selected to have their cases heard in front of the full committee in January.

Concurrent with the increase from one senior to three, the Hall decided to have only one coach or contributor advance, not one of each.

That’s significant because of what occurred when Coryell was a finalist five times when coaches were considered along with modern-day players and once in the 2020 Centennial Class. Those speaking for Coryell not only lauded his coaching success with the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Chargers, but also emphasized how his style of coaching and offensive system had forever changed offenses – and defenses – in the NFL.

One comment made one year during the debate was, “It seems like we are talking about him more as a contributor than a coach.”

That should have been irrelevant. It was his coaching that led to those contributions, even though his teams never advanced to a Super Bowl. In the five years as a finalist, Coryell survived the reduction from 15 to 10 only once, and since 2020 with coaches being considered separately, those with rings (Bill Cowher, Jimmy Johnson, Tom Flores and Dick Vermeil) were enshrined.

This year came the breakthrough, and the point was hammered home during the discussion that Coryell filled the bill as both a coach and contributor in this first year of the combined decision.

It should be noted that eyebrows were raised when then-Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill, who will be inducted into the Ring of Honor Sept. 11, hired Coryell from San Diego State as head coach in 1973. But it turned out to be one of the best hires he ever made despite it ending badly.

Meanwhile, there still might be some selectors that need convincing in five months when each candidate will need 80% yes votes from the committee, but it’s been a formality in recent years.

Those that already have their place in Canton because of what Coryell meant to their careers will surely be grateful to have his bust grace the gallery.

A Look Back

On the day Coryell passed away (July 1, 2010), here is a column I wrote that day.

Now, I’m really pissed off. Sorry for that bit of crassness, but I had to get it off my chest. I’ll be heading to Canton in a little over a month for this year’s Hall-of-Fame induction, and now it will be with a heavy, if not angry, heart.

This year’s class is a strong one. It always is. And I’m not sure who wouldn’t be having the honor of being inducted this year had the Hall’s selection committee done what it should have in February and selected Don Coryell.

Russ Grimm? Rickey Jackson? John Randle? All deserving. But one of them could have waited. It was outrageous that Coryell had to wait as long as he did to become a finalist for the first time and just as crazy that the same tired arguments get trotted out about him not having a championship on his resume’.

Please.

That’s mostly what kept him from being a finalist for 24 years after ending his NFL coaching career with the Chargers during the 1986 season, and that’s why he didn’t even get enough votes to advance from the final 15 to the final 10. Of course, in fairness, there probably needed to be a lot of years to fully grasp the impact he had on the game. But that didn’t sway enough voters.

And now he’s gone. Coryell died Thursday afternoon at the age of 85, and one of the things he had to be wondering before taking his last breath was whether there will ever be a place for him in Canton. Probably many of those that failed to name him on their list of 10 are now writing words of praise for the offensive innovator that is largely responsible for the game we see on the field today.

In January, after Coryell was named one of 15 finalists, I wrote a story supporting his induction. Quarterback Dan Fouts, who readily acknowledges he wouldn’t be in the Hall of Fame if it wasn’t for Coryell, noted how defensive play changed because of Coryell.

Fouts said, “They started substituting nickel and dime backs, situational pass rushers, faster defensive linemen, taking out safeties that couldn’t run and putting in an extra corner. No question, Don profoundly affected both sides of the ball.

“All you have to do is watch the game with educated eyes and see what’s happening now and what didn’t happen before Don. And Saturday afternoon. His influence is there. He’s contributed to everything. All that spells change, and he changed the game.”

Former Chargers wide receiver Charlie Joiner, also a Hall of Famer, told Pro Football Weekly, "I would say to the person who is reluctant to vote: 'You've never been around Coryell.' That's a person who clearly hasn't seen what he has done for professional football. That's a person who hasn't seen how offenses have developed since he came into the league. That's a person who hasn't noticed that Don Coryell changed the face of defenses in the National Football League. He brought in the nickel defense and the dime defense. They had to bring in extra DBs to try and slow down his pass offense."

Fouts saved his pointed comments for those that he believes put too much emphasis on that elusive championship. Coryell’s Chargers did reach the AFC Championship Game twice. Said Fouts, "I think it's an excuse. What is more important, a single game or the influence and contribution to the entire game of pro football? That's what I would like to stress. You can't watch an NFL game today and not think, 'How have we gotten to this point?' And the contributions that Don made cannot be ignored just because he didn't win a championship."

After his passing, Chargers broadcaster and former player Hank Bauer said, “I feel like I lost a member of my family and the unique thing about that is that there are probably two million people in this city who feel the same way. That’s the kind of impact that Don Coryell had here. For anyone who ever played or coached for Coach Coryell, and I had the honor of doing both, it’s an unbelievable loss.

“Football-wise, Coach Coryell changed the way the game was played and still is played today. In terms of his legacy as a teacher, a coach and a mentor, his lineage speaks for itself, especially when you look at the guys he brought into the game and their accomplishments. Pro football lost a great man today.”

Joe Gibbs coached under Coryell in St. Louis. He’s in the Hall of Fame. John Madden coached under Coryell. He’s in the Hall of Fame.

Teams have won Super Bowls with offensive coordinators that learned from Coryell like Ernie Zampese and Mike Martz. Norv Turner learned from Zampese. Numerous players from all those teams are in the Hall of Fame.

Hall-of-Fame tackle Dan Dierdorf, who was with St. Louis when Coryell was hired as the Cardinals’ head coach in 1973, said in January, “He simply changed the game. The NFL was a running league when he came to the Cardinals. Teams seemingly ran the ball out of obligation. Don wanted to throw the football, especially on first down.”

And throw it, he did.

"His forward way of thinking forever changed the game of football," former Chargers tight end Kellen Winslow said in a letter he sent to the selection committee last winter. "The playing and coaching careers of many individuals, many of whom you have already enshrined in Canton, are due to the thinking and implementation of Air Coryell. You cannot watch a professional football game today and not see the influence Coryell has had on the game."

Said Martz, “You look around the NFL now, and so many teams are running a version of the Coryell offense. Coaches have added their own touches, but it's still Coryell's offense. He has disciples all over the league. He changed the game."

As Fouts has said, “I would not be in the Hall of Fame myself had it not been for my nine years as Don’s quarterback ... It was Coryell – with his revolutionary vision, his unique style of leadership and his successful implementation of the most innovative offense the NFL had ever witnessed – that led me and my teammates, Kellen Winslow and Charlie Joiner, to the steps of the Hall of Fame.”

Turner said Thursday, “Today is a terribly sad day for anyone who has ever been involved in football. Coach Coryell’s passing is a great loss for the game. I have the highest regard for him and his impact on the sport. Even though I didn’t get a chance to personally work for him, you almost feel as though you did because of the influence he had on the guys who I learned from, guys like Ernie Zampese. He will most definitely be missed.”

So, yes, I will go to Canton next month and once again revel in what truly is football’s greatest weekend. I will be among the greats of the game that come back every year because the Hall and the game mean so much to them.

But I have this feeling that a lot of the talk will be about the guy we just lost and how it’s too bad he wasn’t able to be so honored when he was alive.

One fact is inescapable: The history of the NFL can’t be written without Don Coryell being a prominent part of it. That alone shouts for him to be enshrined.

Hopefully, seven months from now, we’ll get it right. And I won’t be pissed off anymore.