How did legendary football coach George Allen (1918–1990) consistently build winning teams at both the college and professional levels? This first full-length biography examines his applied philosophy of coaching through comprehensive coverage of his tenures at the collegiate level. His stormy relationships with team owners are detailed, along with his historic divorce from the Chicago Bears. The two most important plays of Allen’s career are analyzed. Appendices provide a list of Allen’s NFL trades, his key draft picks, a statistical breakdown of his NFL offenses and a comparison with other top coaches of his era.

Lee Elder is the executive director of the Professional Football Researchers Association, a retired journalist and auto racing publicist and a 2010 inductee into the Imperial Valley High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame. He lives in Tallmadge, Ohio.

Lee Elder

Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 268
Bibliographic Info: 16 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2023
pISBN: 978-1-4766-7500-8
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4598-8
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments ix
Preface 1
Early Years
1. An Electrifying Moment 3
2. In the Beginning 6
3. Allen at Morningside 9
4. The Green Arrow at Whittier 15
5. An Introduction, a Car Wash and a Return 29
6. Divorce Chicago Style 47
The NFL Years
7. The Turnaround: The 1966 Rams 53
8. Back to the Playoffs: The 1967 Rams 64
9. Out of the Playoffs and Into the Fire: The 1968 Rams 77
10. Out of the Fire and Into the Playoffs: The 1969 Rams 92
11. Lame Duck: The 1970 Rams 98
12. Ascension: The 1971 Redskins 107
13. Checking the Angle of the Sun: The 1972 Redskins 124
14. Chasing the Cowboys: The 1973 Redskins 141
15. “Follow me to the Super Bowl!”: The 1974 Redskins 146
16. Chasing Dallas: The 1975 Redskins 157
17. Coping with Quarterbacks: The 1976 Redskins 160
18. A Contract Offer: The 1977 Redskins 165
19. Dumped, Hired, Fired Again 171
The 1980s: Allen’s Odyssey
20. Stranger in a Strange Land—Briefly 177
21. Blitzing and Wrangling with the USFL 182
22. Long Beach State 193
Epilogue 211
Appendix 1: Trades 219
Appendix 2: Draft Selections 226
Appendix 3: The Offensive Truth 229
Appendix 4: Coaching Comparison 236
Chapter Notes 239
Bibliography 251
Index 253