Q&A

When Bill Walsh took over as head coach and general manager of the San Francisco 49ers in 1978, he inherited a team that had won only two of 14 games the year before. In just three seasons, Walsh quickly transformed the 49ers into Superbowl champions, altering the franchise forever. It was the beginning of an illustrious career that spanned a decade and included two additional Superbowl victories. Recognized as one of football’s great minds, Walsh was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame shortly after his retirement from the 49ers.

            While his awards and statistics are second-to-none, Walsh’s greatest impact may be the quality of coaches he has mentored. Many of the successful coaches in the game today have learned from Walsh and his omnipresent West Coast Offense.

            The Woodside resident currently teaches at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business and works as a special assistant to the athletic director. Walsh sat down to discuss a variety of topics, including his passion for golf, a sport for which he doesn’t have a blueprint of success. –Hilary Howard

NCGA GOLF: How were you first introduced to golf? I started later in life. I was introduced to golf when I was a high school coach in Fremont, but I was never really able to take the game seriously. I played a little in Ohio when I was with the Cincinnati Bengals. As the years have passed I’ve become a little more serious about golf. I am hopeful there will be a day when I can invest a lot of my time in playing.

NCGA GOLF: How often were you able to play when you were coaching the 49ers? We had a place in Lake Tahoe and I’d play half a dozen times when we would go up there for vacation. I would play at Stanford on occasion. Otherwise, there wasn’t much golf played.

NCGA GOLF: How would you categorize your golf game? At best it is inconsistent and at worst it is erratic. I am able to play a total of 14 holes in a given round below bogey golf but then there is always a hole somewhere where I get my seven. I typically play bogey golf and keep striving to be in the 80s. I get there about every third or fourth round. I am in gridlock right there.

NCGA GOLF: You were such a cerebral football coach, does that carry over to you golf game? If anything, I outthink myself or talk myself out of shots. I’ll make some ill-conceived shot instead of taking a drop or hitting back into the fairway. I can see an opening between trees and go for it, but typically the ball comes right back to me.

NCGA GOLF: You have been called an expert evaluator of athletic talent, are golfers athletes? Golfers are certainly athletes. Skills needed for golf are probably the greatest skills needed in any sport. Possibly the quarterback in football is the most skilled. I think golf requires more practice and a complete broad-based inventory of knowledge and skill than any other sport.

NCGA GOLF: What is the toughest part of the game for you? From 20-30 yards off the green. I haven’t ever practiced enough of the short game to be proficient. I am okay with a full wedge, but when it comes to a half wedge or a 60 wedge, I am not sure how far it will go when I hit it clean.

NCGA GOLF: Who would comprise your dream foursome? Jerry Rice, Joe Montana and Steve Young.

NCGA GOLF: Of all the 49er greats, who is the best golfer? Jerry Rice. When he is able to really practice and play he is very good. I think Joe Montana has the most potential. He has a beautiful swing but doesn’t play enough. Montana has the ideal personal qualities to be a great golfer because he is calm under pressure, he’s thinking clearly all the time and is willing to practice and develop his shots.

NCGA GOLF: What were your first impressions of Joe Montana? I knew he was an excellent competitor and a very resourceful player. No one can ever project in football a player becoming great. You know they are going to be very good and you are hopeful of avoiding injuries, being with the right team and having the right men surrounding you. With all of that, then you have the chance to be a great player.

NCGA GOLF: How did you get the job with the 49ers? I was the head coach at Stanford University and we had done well. I was only there for two years but we won two bowl games. I had coached in the NFL for ten years prior to that so I had experience. The 49ers were a woeful organization at the time. They asked me to take the job and I thought I would do much better than I did in the first year and even in the second year. But, in the third year we won the Superbowl so that was good enough.
Note: Walsh was an assistant for the Cincinnati Bengals, Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers prior to accepting the job with the 49ers.

NCGA GOLF: Starting out, did you have aspirations to be the general manager as well? No, but it seemed to fall that way. I had a lot of experience in personnel work so it appeared I was the best man to do that. Also, I hoped to be able to make the key decisions with the 49ers. As an example, I had worked for Paul Brown and Al Davis prior to that and they made the key decisions. I knew the format and I was able to take those positions--general manager, president and coach--and it allowed me to project into the future and feel there was some security in doing it.

NCGA GOLF: To what do you attribute your success in drafting future all-pro players? It takes certain instincts and some intuition and the willingness to take calculated risks. If you are wrong you need the ability to double back quickly and correct any mistakes you have made.

NCGA GOLF: How did the West Coast Offense materialize? Like great golfers, they all have their own game. They learn from each other, but in reality they have their own swing. In football, you slowly but surely develop your own system of going about things from the way your practice, to the way you focus, to the actual tactics and plays you use. Over a period of time this developed into a complete system of football. The West Coast Offense meant nothing to me other than it was our offense. As years passed, people began to identify it as the West Coast Offense.

NCGA GOLF: Many people have said the West Coast Offense is the most important innovation in pro football since the inception of the forward pass. Your feelings? Oh boy. Well, those are people in the rest homes (laughs). I don’t know how that would be connected.

NCGA GOLF: What was a typical game day for you? Typical game day would start at 9 a.m. with a pre-game meal. After resting for a few moments we would go to the stadium. The players would get taped, prepared and dressed and the coaches would meet again before the game. From 9-1 we were very busy. Following the game we would have dinner with our families, and then back to work early the next morning. All the pressure and fatigue in football is in the practice. You have one week of practice and every day there is much to be accomplished and you must be prepared. The night before the game you feel, wow, all of our work is done and all we have to do now is play the game.

NCGA GOLF: Talk about the 92-yard drive to win the 1989 Superbowl. That was a drive you could connect to golf because we had to execute, just like the final round of a golf tournament. There wasn’t any room for error. Time was running out, so everything we did depended heavily on what we practiced and what we had done before. There weren’t any heroics, it boiled down to execution and poise.

NCGA GOLF: What brought about your retirement in 1989 after that victory? I think I was sort of burned out. I had been the president and general manager for years and the wear and tear had mentally fatigued me. I thought it would be a good time to step away.

NCGA GOLF: What do you miss most about coaching? Two things--I miss the athletes developing their skills and relationships. I also miss the x’s and o’s and strategies of the game that I thrived on. I miss that very much.

NCGA GOLF: How much of a golf fan are you? I watch a lot of golf. Tiger Woods and I became very well acquainted when he was playing at Stanford and I was the coach. I certainly follow Tiger like everyone does, but I have great respect for all of the golfers. One that stands out more than any is Arnold Palmer. I’ve met and spent some time with him and he is the ultimate competitor.

NCGA GOLF: A big part of your legacy is the coaches you have groomed who have gone on to be successful. Talk about some of your disciples. Well, there have been a number of men who have been with the 49ers and then became head coaches. The ones that stand out the most would be Mike Holmgren, Mike Shanahan and Dennis Green. But we have had a number of other men--Jeff Fisher, Marvin Lewis, Tony Dungy, a list of people. I think at one time there were 14 head coaches in the NFL who were former 49ers.

NCGA GOLF: Do you keep in contact with many former players? I do, but not as much as I would like to. I get myself so involved in different things that I don’t see as much of them as I would like. I just saw Joe Montana last week and I see Ronnie Lott quite often. We are all connected.

NCGA GOLF: Considering all of your college ties in Northern California, which school has your allegiance? Stanford. I’ve worked at Stanford now on four occasions and will be here for another couple of years. I feel very strongly about Stanford and do everything I can to help the university and provide some contribution. I went to San Jose State and I feel the program is in very good hands and will be successful. I coached at Cal at one time, so I am always privately rooting for them.

NCGA GOLF: What type of role does golf play in your life? It’s a pastime for me. I have been a full-time tennis player all these years. I am unable to play now because of back surgery so I play more golf. I would like to take five strokes off my score and then I would feel pretty good about myself.