Statement from #Bengals President Mike Brown on the passing of Sam Wyche. pic.twitter.com/Y1fvmm7Aff
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) January 2, 2020
Former Cincinnati Bengals head coach Sam Wyche died Thursday at the age of 74.
Bengals president Mike Brown issued the following statement:
“Sam was a wonderful guy. We got to know him as both a player and a coach,” said Bengals president Mike Brown in a statement. “As our coach, he had great success and took us to the Super Bowl. He was friends with everyone here, both during his tenure as head coach and afterwards. We not only liked him, we admired him as a man. He had a great generosity of spirit and lived his life trying to help others. We express our condolences to Jane and his children Zak and Kerry.”
Wyche played for the Bengals under Paul Brown before assuming the role of head coach in 1984. He helped pioneer the no-huddle offense dominant in today’s NFL and took the franchise to a Super Bowl.
His impact on the game is widespread and was emphasized in the outpouring of thoughts after the news of his passing broke:
I always enjoyed being around Sam Wyche. Heck of a guy and a brilliant offensive mind. People thought he was crazy running the no-huddle as a base offense back in the 80s. Next time your team gets a penalty for too many in the huddle, think of Sam; his use of it got it outlawed.
— Gil Brandt (@Gil_Brandt) January 2, 2020
Sam Wyche will never receive proper credit as football’s mad scientist with perspective enough to visit Cincinnati’s homeless community before games. I once wrote a love letter to the 1980s Bengals + no-huddle crazy that swept the NFL. RIP to a good manhttps://t.co/9GH0UySMEU pic.twitter.com/fiy0Fm5leJ
— Chris Wesseling (@ChrisWesseling) January 2, 2020
RIP Sam Wyche, the former #Bengals head coach, who came in-studio two years ago and told us about his famous mic drop moment: pic.twitter.com/nnFXWLoWVC
— Rich Eisen Show (@RichEisenShow) January 2, 2020
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