Paul Brown Research Paper

Submitted By villthetrill
Words: 667
Pages: 3

During the mid to late­20th century century, successful head coach Paul Brown laid grounds that set­up the standard traditions of the NFL is still followed today. Paul Brown first coach the Cleveland Browns in the All­American Football Conference (AAFC) from 1946 to
1949 where four AAFC Championships and the Cleveland Browns merged into the National
Football League in 1950. Brown was also popularly known for his high school coaching career
Massillon Washington High School where he developed the idea of using playbooks and sideline hand signals to lead the school to six state championships and four national championships. Paul
Brown also was a college head coach at Ohio State from 1941 to 1943 and won a NCAA
National Championship in 1942. Paul Brown impacted the NFL today by introducing the professionalism in the NFL, by introducing new technological innovations, and developing a new franchise that is still here today.
Paul Brown, also known as “The Godfather of Modern Football”, was famous for putting the “professional” in professional football. Paul Brown was the first coach to use intelligence tests to test player’s learning potential. He was known for studying film on opponents with players and using notebooks for keeping plays. During games, Brown was the first to developed hand signals that were used on the sideline to signal the type of play to players on the field. Paul
Brown also hired assistant coaches that worked all­year around. Originally, the assistant coach only worked as a coach during the season and for offseason they had secondary jobs. These assistant coaches would give grades to each player based on their performance during practices and games. Also during practices, Brown made time to focus on individual positions. At the end of the Cleveland Browns first season in 1950, they won their first NFL Championship. This proved that Paul Brown’s coaching and organization method gave his team the edge. This forced

teams to follow Paul Brown’s method, or they would never be successful as the Cleveland
Browns franchise.
Paul Brown also made a technological advancement that would play a huge role in player safety. Toward the end of the 1953 season, the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback Otto Graham took a hard hit that opened a gash in his chin and it required 15 stitches. During halftime, Paul
Brown put a hard plastic single­bar facemask around Graham’s face mask. After that game, the modern facemask was inspired and put into Paul Brown’s team first. Face masks are still today a work in progress to keep football players from concussions and other head/face injuries.
In 1962, Paul Brown retired