When Bill Walsh was semi-retired in the Bay Area for a couple of years after his San Francisco 49ers’ third Super Bowl title in 1989, he kept his coaching senses sharp by watching as much San Jose State football as possible.
And not because he’s a San Jose State alum.
The Spartans ran an offense similar to the one Walsh’s great 49ers teams made all the rage in the 1980s. For Walsh, it was like watching his favorite TV show in reruns.
Walsh says he learned a lot in those days from observing coach Terry Shea’s passing scheme. Understand: To a football coach, hearing such praise from Walsh is like a guy playing the piano bar getting a compliment from Billy Joel.
“I just marveled at the job Terry did,” Walsh recalled Friday. “It was amazing to see his mind at work.”
So amazing that when Walsh came out of retirement in 1992 and returned to Stanford to coach, he persuaded Shea to leave San Jose State and join his staff as offensive coordinator.
Thus it came as no surprise for Walsh to learn that the Bears are trying to lure Shea away from the Kansas City Chiefs’ staff to run their offense under new coach Lovie Smith.
“He’s ideally suited for the job, and I envy him and what he’s going to get himself into there in Chicago,” Walsh said. “He communicates well and is very smooth and fluid when dealing with people and today’s athlete. More important, he is an excellent technician and has the ability to install a system and provide the type of expertise the Bears need.”
Shea will interview with the Bears early next week and has strong interest in the job but has not accepted it yet. On Friday the Chiefs granted the Bears permission to interview Shea, the top choice of Smith and general manager Jerry Angelo to install the offense rooted in the “West Coast” system Walsh introduced.
“When I watch the Rams and the Chiefs, I see a lot of the same things we used to do,” Walsh said. “Formations are different. We used to run three- or four-receiver sets about 10 or 15 percent of the time, and today it’s 30 or 40 percent. But it’s fun to watch it evolve, and nobody would do a better job running it than Terry.”
Walsh pointed to Chiefs All-Pro quarterback Trent Green as Exhibit A of Shea’s influence. Other examples of Shea’s tutelage are 49ers quarterback Jeff Garcia, a San Jose State product, and Lions quarterback Mike McMahon, whom Shea coached during his five-year stint as Rutgers’ head coach.
“If you have a young quarterback like the Bears have in Rex Grossman, this is the guy you want coaching him,” Walsh said.
Most Bears fans will be glad as long as that guy is anybody but John Shoop, who put closure to his time in Chicago on Friday by joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as quarterbacks coach. Now there’s speculation that the Bucs may bring back former Bears quarterback Jim Miller as a backup to Brad Johnson. Shoop and Miller developed a mutual respect while working together during the Bears’ 13-3 season in 2001.
The Buccaneers were eager to hire Shoop, but not so willing to help the Bears hire their first choice as defensive coordinator off the Tampa Bay staff. Assistant head coach Rod Marinelli, who coaches the defensive line, was denied permission to interview with the Bears and Smith, one of his best friends in coaching. If Marinelli cannot interview, the Bears would turn their attention to veteran Larry Marmie, who also is high on the Rams’ list.
It was unclear how hard Marinelli will push the Bucs to let him out of his contract, but league sources said he had an oral agreement that if Smith ever became a head coach he would be allowed to join his staff. The Bears had not given up on Marinelli as of Friday night, but weren’t as optimistic as they had been.
Asked Thursday why the Buccaneers would grant the Bears permission to interview Marinelli after they had rejected the Jets twice, Angelo replied, “Because it’s me.”
Angelo spent 13 years in the Tampa Bay organization, but so far that hasn’t meant anything to new Bucs general manager Bruce Allen.
“We’re pleased that we have the best assistant head coach in the NFL on the Bucs’ staff,” Allen said.
Smith did lure away a friend off the Rams’ staff Friday, making linebackers coach Bob Babich his first official hire. Babich, 42, joined the Rams last season after being the head coach at North Dakota State following college stints at Pittsburgh, East Carolina, Bowling Green, Wisconsin and Tulsa. He and Smith worked together at Tulsa.
In other coaching developments, a league source said Dick Jauron talked to Lions coach and old friend Steve Mariucci about becoming the team’s assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. League sources also said the ex-Bears coach instantly became a candidate in Green Bay after the Packers fired defensive coordinator Ed Donatell on Friday. Coach Mike Sherman is known to hold Jauron in high regard and would consider him if the Packers fill the job outside the organization.
A source close to Jauron said he was leaning toward taking a job on new Giants coach Tom Coughlin’s staff before the Lions’ interview and the Packers’ opening developed.
