“New biography captures the life and remarkable football coaching career of the incredible George Allen”
By Mike Richman
Author, GEORGE ALLEN: A FOOTBALL LIFE
Someone needed to write the definitive biography of George Allen, one of the greatest coaches in NFL history and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I knew it was incumbent upon me to do just that.
As the author of The Redskins Encyclopedia, the Washington Redskins Football Vault and Joe Gibbs: An Enduring Legacy, and someone who grew up in the D.C. area with the George Allen-coached Redskins in the 1970s, I became hungry to add one more accomplishment to my literary career. I thus authored George Allen: A Football Life.
George Allen deserved for someone to uphold his legacy. He’s the third-winningest coach in NFL history (.712 percentage) among those with at least 100 regular-season victories. He never suffered a losing season in 14 years as a pro head coach, and his Redskins and Rams teams reached the postseason in seven of his 12 NFL seasons, a mark that would be 100% in today’s era of seven teams per conference making the playoffs. In 22 seasons of coaching in the pros, he was part of only two losing teams as the head talent scout-defensive coordinator of the 1960 and 1964 Chicago Bears.
I documented all of those feats in my book, as well as the fact that Allen stands as one of the greatest innovators in pro football history. A defensive mastermind, he introduced five- and six-man schemes in the defensive backfield, the nickel and dime defenses, respectively, that are part of the fabric of today’s game. He also made special teams special by hiring one of the first special teams coaches in NFL history, Dick Vermeil of the Rams in 1969, and putting much more emphasis on that facet of the game in an era when it was an afterthought. He depended on special teams to produce at least two wins per season.
I also elaborated on Allen’s tremendous motivational skills, his keen eye for talent, and his ability to pull off masterful trades, often for veteran players viewed as past their prime, who then had great seasons and made his teams much better. In this pursuit, he made over 100 trades during his years in the NFL—mostly dealing draft picks for gray beards and bald heads—which earned the unorthodox coach the nickname “Trader George.” In addition to his coaching feats, he had an idiosyncratic and controversial personality. His life revolved around football 24-7. One of his quirks was to minimize chewing time by consuming soft foods, giving himself more time to prepare for games and study opponents. He lived and breathed football, comparing losing to death.
George Allen wasn’t only obsessed with winning. He was wholly focused on winning now. He did everything in his power to achieve that with an exceptional work ethic and an unyielding pursuit of perfection. One of the first 24/7 workaholic coaches in NFL history, he succeeded largely by outworking and outfoxing opposing coaches and players.
Allen’s coaching career spanned six decades from the late 1940s until his sudden death in 1990 at the age of 73. He never won a Super Bowl but was a fascinating and eccentric figure who left a lasting imprint on the game of football.
Author-autographed copies of George Allen: A Football Life are available by going to my web site: www.mikerichmanjournalist.com.
You can also order the book on Amazon.
Author Mike Richman with former VA Governor and First Lady George and Susan Allen at Book Signing.
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