Is Bud Grant the 15th greatest coach in NFL history?
That’s what a group of voters including Chris Berman, John Clayton, Mike Ditka, Herm Edwards, Mike Golic, Bill Polian and Rick Reilly have decided. ESPN, in recognition of the late Vince Lombardi’s 100th birthday, are counting down the 20 best coaches in NFL history and have the former Vikings’ head coach at No. 15. Grant is ahead of Tony Dungy, Mike Shanahan, Sid Gillman, Marv Levy and Hank Stram but behind Tom Coughlin and Jimmy Johnson. The remaining 12 coaches haven’t been announced.
Grant’s assignment at No. 15 won’t win popularity contests in the Northland including from former players like Bob Lurtsema. “That’s really, really low. He is without a doubt in the top 10,” Lurtsema told Sports Headliners.
Lurtsema also played for coach Don Shula, probably a cinch top-10 selection. Lurtsema said it’s “tight” when comparing Shula and Grant. The two coaches knew how to communicate with their players and get the best from them.
“Bud, all he had to do was look at you and you knew something was wrong,” Lurtsema said. “…And when Bud spoke, you hung on every word, man, cause what he was saying was true. Same with Shula.”
Lurtsema said the coach never spoke to him during his first days with the Vikings after leaving the Giants. Then after the first game Grant came up to Lurtsema and delivered an unexpected message: “He says don’t rock (back and forth) so much during the National Anthem.”
Great coaches sort through different approaches with their players. “I personally think a coach should know how to handle each individual, and not have a generic type talk,” Lurtsema said. “Like Allie Sherman (former Giants head coach) was just horseshit. He was just brutal but he had the horses with Sam Huff and those guys in the sixties. The players made Allie Sherman a winner but as far as being a coach, I wouldn’t put him in the top 100.”
Grant’s expectations included for players to focus on their jobs and make minimal mistakes. Focus during a game stimulated adrenaline and helped players block out distractions including cold weather, when Grant’s teams were often at their best.
“I bought into it (playing in the cold),” Lurtsema said. “Believe it, still believe it.”
It never seemed like there was any wasted energy or direction with Grant. He could get angry but mostly he was controlled no matter the situation. He just acted and looked like the town marshal, an authority who did his job and was watching to see how you behaved.
“His philosophy was he never cut anybody (from the team),” Lurtsema said. “Players cut themselves.”
Although Grant’s stoic image was deserved, those close to him saw his sense of humor. He enjoyed practical jokes including April Fools’ Day pranks at the Vikings’ offices when workers wondered if a reptile or other creature might pop out of their desk drawers.
Sid Hartman recalled in his book, Sid, how he and an auto dealership couldn’t figure out why his new car smelled so bad. “Finally they found a couple of decaying crows in the car,” Hartman wrote in his book. “It was no mystery where they came from. It had to be Grant.”
Grant was famous in Minnesota before he ever coached here but his tenure with the Vikings made him a legend. He was one of the Gophers greatest athletes and a key player on the 1949 team that almost qualified for the Rose Bowl. Grant played for coach Bernie Bierman, also a quiet, stern disciplinarian who won five national championships at Minnesota.
Grant played in the NBA for the world champion Minneapolis Lakers before coaching the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League. His success in Canada was his ticket to the Vikings job in 1967. In 18 seasons his Vikings teams won 11 division titles, one NFL championship and three times were NFC champs. He has a franchise best record of 158-96-5.
His 0-4 record in the Super Bowls has cost him admiration and rating points in any national rankings of the NFL’s greatest coaches. Truth be told, Grant probably could have done a better coaching job in at least some of those Super Bowls. How could that not be true when his teams went to the big game four times and didn’t win? The Vikings sometimes seemed short on emotion in the Super Bowls and maybe lacked the fire of players on the other side.
Grant retired after the 1983 season but was convinced to return as head coach after Les Steckel’s disastrous 3-13 record in 1984. Lou Holtz had taken over as Gophers coach in 1984 and had the Vikings on the run in a popularity contest for Minnesota’s favorite football team.
The presence of Grant gave the Vikings not only credibility and popularity, but a better season at 7-9. Since 1986 the Grant name mostly surfaces in connection with the famous coach’s outdoor adventures. He retired more than a quarter century ago to hunt and fish in various parts of the United States and world. He’s had fun doing it, and if you know Grant he hasn’t spent time worrying about his place in coaching history.