Tag: Forrest Gregg

Anthony Munoz shares epic story of legendary lineman Forrest Gregg

Anthony Munoz told tons of great stories to @TrojanConquests and @LBCTrojan, but this one involving Forrest Gregg might be the best. #Bengals

We mentioned on Sunday that one coaching change had a profoundly positive effect on Anthony Munoz’s NFL career and, by extension, his life trajectory. NFL Hall of Fame offensive lineman Forrest Gregg was hired as the new head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals heading into the 1980 NFL season. This was before the 1980 NFL draft in which the Bengals took Munoz with the No. 3 pick and changed their fortunes in the 1980s with two Super Bowl appearances. A great offensive lineman recognized the value of drafting a talented offensive line prospect.

Munoz, on the Trojan Conquest Live show with Tim Prangley and Rick Anaya, told an amazing, all-time anecdote about the workout Forrest Gregg conducted with Munoz. Gregg flew out to Los Angeles to visit Munoz and hold the workout on Munoz’s home turf. Munoz was eager to prove that he was ready to be a great NFL offensive lineman and give the Bengals the best player they ever had.

At the 45-minute mark of the show, Munoz relates the story of how he knocked Forrest Gregg to the ground. It sounds horrifying and disastrous, but the story had a very happy ending … for Munoz, for Gregg, and the Bengals, who drafted one of the best players in NFL history and made two Super Bowls as a result.

Trojan Conquest Live airs Sundays during the summer at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific, at The Voice of College Football.

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One central reason Anthony Munoz found an NFL home with the Bengals

Munoz told @TrojanConquests and @LBCTrojan that a coaching change made a defining difference in his NFL career.

The Cincinnati Bengals, in 1980, were still led by Paul Brown, the team’s owner and founder. Before the football legend died in 1991, he was still the lead decision-maker for the organization. To a considerable extent, Brown can be viewed as the main reason the Bengals picked Anthony Munoz with the No. 3 selection in the 1980 NFL draft, a move which changed Munoz’s life and the Bengals’ trajectory as a franchise.

Yet, Brown’s selection of Munoz didn’t happen on an island. Brown made two coaching changes before the 1980 season which smoothed the path for Munoz. One was the hire of offensive line coach Jim McNally. The more central and important of those two changes was the decision to release head coach Homer Rice and hire Forrest Gregg, who had coached the Cleveland Browns for three seasons and had spent 1979 coaching in the CFL with the Toronto Argonauts.

If you don’t know who Forrest Gregg was before he became the coach of the Bengals, here’s the essential, central fact about the man: Gregg was part of the Green Bay Packers’ offensive line on the dynastic Vince Lombardi teams of the 1960s. Gregg was as good an offensive lineman as the NFL had seen at the time. He was a legend of the game when the Bengals hired him as head coach, even though he had not registered a top-tier coaching achievement.

Notably, Munoz became the man who enabled Gregg to achieve richly as an NFL coach. It was Munoz who transformed the Bengals into a Super Bowl-caliber team in 1981. Veteran quarterback Ken Anderson needed an elite lineman and pass protector to distribute the ball to elite receivers such as Isaac Curtis and Cris Collinsworth.

The main point to emphasize is that Gregg’s background as an offensive lineman enabled him to see and appreciate the value and importance of picking Munoz.

Watch Munoz tell this and related stories in his one-hour interview with Tim Prangley and Rick Anaya at Trojan Conquest Live. The USC YouTube show airs Sundays at 9 p.m. Eastern and 6 p.m. Pacific this summer.

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Kevin Stefanski opens with 5th-best odds to win NFL Coach of the Year

The last Browns coach to win the award was Forrest Gregg in 1976

It’s been over 40 years since the head coach of the Cleveland Browns captured the official NFL Coach of the Year honors. Forrest Gregg in 1976 was the last Browns coach to win the award. But the odds are promising that new head coach Kevin Stefanski could break that prolonged drought.

Stefanski is part of a large group of coaches that sit fifth in the odds at BetMGM. Along with Andy Reid, John Harbaugh (who won in 2019) and others, the Browns rookie coach sits at +2000 to win the prestigious honor.

There are other sportsbooks where Stefanski is above several of the others he’s tied with at BetMGM. He’s tied with Reid, the coach of the reigning Super Bowl winners, in every book checked as of May 27th.

Stefanski has the best odds of any first-year coach, rookie or otherwise. It’s a clear sign the bookmakers believe the Browns were held back by poor coaching a year ago. If Stefanski is the right guy for the job, expect his status to get honored.

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