(Referenced some material from the Bills 50th anniversary video and pro-football reference)
The Set-up: Ralph Wilson’s dream of owning a pro football team got off to an inauspicious start. In the Bills first two years of existence in the AFL, the team had gone 11-16-1 under head coach, Buster Ramsey. The Bills finished their first AFL season ranked last in wins. The team even had the unique distinction of playing against a CFL team and fricken losing! Can you say the outcome of the movie Necessary Roughness, Major League, Miracle and The Replacements all wrapped in one?
However, things changed when the Bills hired Lou Saban after his coaching stint with the Patriots. Right away, Saban started making changes, which gave him the nickname of “Trader Lou.” Lou changed everything: Players, coaches, he even changed the color scheme of the team’s uniforms; going from blue and silver to red, white and blue. In fact, Lou’s claim to fame in overhauling the roster came on a Tuesday, when he cut five players, including his starting QB.
Saban was great when it came to player personnel, as he took a chance on Jack Kemp, who had been waived by the Chargers and built a defense via the draft. It took only two years for Saban to lead the Bills to back-to-back AFL Championships. Saban’s expertise on defense was what really guided the team to the championships. In the pass happy AFL, the Bills defense ranked #1 and during the 1964 season, the team allowed just 913 yards rushing on 300 carries. Hell, they went 16 games without giving up a rushing touchdown! Damn, that’s a run defense! The defense also chipped in with 50 sacks in just 14 regular season games, which is still a team record. The Bills also had Cookie Gilcrest, who at the time, was the best player in the AFL. During Saban’s first stint as Bills coach, his record was 36-17-3.
When Saban returned to the Bills in 1972, the Bills had just gone 4-9-1 and had this guy by the name of OJ Simpson on the roster. However, before he became “The Juice” he was nothing more than an orange peel. Simpson wasted his first three seasons with the Bills, as the coaching staff tried to make OJ into a decoy and a pass catching back. Simpson, had hands of stone (Or hands to slice and dice his ex-wife. Sorry, to easy to resist) and couldn’t catch a pass out of the backfield to save his life. Simpson averaged just 639 yards during his first 3 seasons. With Saban back, his first duty was to get Simpson on track. First, he built an offensive line that was lead by Joe DeLamielleure and Reggie McKenzie. Saban wanted to make the Bills into a power running team and boy, did he accomplish that. In 1973, Simpson became the first running back to gain 2,000 yards in a season.
In 1974, Saban guided the Bills to the playoffs for the first time since 1966, but the team lost to the Steelers in the divisional round of the playoffs. Then in 1975, the Bills passing game caught up to the running attack, as Joe Ferguson lead the AFC in passing touchdowns with 25 and the offense scored 30 points a game. Oh, and for The Juice? He just chipped in with over 1,800 yards rushing. Think about it, you had the AFC leading touchdown passer in Ferguson and the NFL’s leading rusher on the same team at the same time. The Bills offense went from 1 dimensional to one of the best. However, because of injuries, the Bills defense faltered and gave up a ton of points. Because of that, the team missed the playoffs, even though they had an above .500 record.
What happened: To say that Saban was a nomad would be an understatement. Saban seemed like the poor man’s version of Larry Brown and Bill Parcells. His MO seemed to be rebuilding a program and then leaving. However, Buffalo was his highest point as a coach, as he had little success elsewhere. While in Buffalo, Saban had 7 seasons with an above .500 record, but at his 7 other coaching jobs (Yes, SEVEN!) he had only one season above .500. Anyways, there’s really no rhyme or reason as to why Saban left Buffalo twice. That’s just how he was. He quit after winning back-to-back AFL Titles and after a 2-3 start in 1976.
The major consequence of Saban quitting was what happened after the fact. Saban left the Bills when they seemed to be at their best, and when he left, the team started going downhill. After his first time around with the team, the Bills promoted defensive coordinator Joe Collier. At first, Collier had success, as he guided the Bills to a 9-4-1 record, but came up just one win short of the Super Bowl after the Chiefs upset them in the AFL Championship game, 31-7. However, for the next 6 years, the Bills were a laughing stock. After the 66′ season, the Bills win/loss record was as followed: 4-10, 1-12-1, 4-10, 4-10, 3-10-1 and 1-13. Ouch. 4 head coaches, all terrible hirers. It got so bad, that the Bills even started a wide receiver at QB after Jack Kemp went down with an injury. Saban returned to Buffalo and rebuilt OJ and the offensive line, and the rest was history. However, after Saban left again, the Bills went 3-20 under some guy named Jim Ringo. Um, yeah, with a name like that, you ain’t winning sh#t unless he has some relationship with Ringo Star.
What if Saban never quit on the Bills? Well, lets goto the first quitting. I actually didn’t know that Saban wasn’t the coach in the title game against the Chiefs in 1966. You always hear old-time players talk very candidly about how great of an influence Saban was on their careers. Marty Schottenheimer even said that he patterned his coaching style after playing for Saban. Saban was a loyal guy to his players and they loved him for that. Maybe if Saban was the coach, he could have brought out a better effort from his troops for the AFL Championship game in 1966. I mean, he was 2 for 2 in Championship games. Maybe, if he’s there, we are playing in Super Bowl I. Remember, the Bills were double digit favors against the Chiefs, maybe they needed a tough-minded Saban to keep the team from being too relaxed or overconfident. I guess we will never know. Now, there is a drawback if Saban sticks awhile longer, maybe, the Bills don’t have the first pick in the 69′ draft to select OJ Simpson.
Also, when Saban quit on the Bills, the average age of the team’s starters was 26. So, these guys were still in their primes. When John Rauch took over the team in 1969, he decided to rip apart the roster. He wanted his own team with his own players. Rauch came to Buffalo with an impressive resume, as he guided the Oakland Raiders to Super Bowl II. So, a lot of players and fans were excited about his arrival. Instead, he didn’t really have a good eye for talent. He got rid of guys like Ron McDole (29), Butch Byrd (27), Booker Edgerson (30) and pretty much anyone from the Saban teams. As Larry Felsar put it, “He wanted his own team, when a lot of these guys still had football left.” Well, under Rauch’s new talent, the team went 7-20 and he almost destroyed OJ Simpson’s career.
Now to the 2nd quitting…When Saban left, the Bills had gone 8-6 the previous season and had scored the most points in the NFL. Like the first time, the Bills starters were still in their primes, as only one starter was above the age of 30. The team went three straight years with a record above .500 and Joe Ferguson went from being just the guy that handed off the ball to OJ to being a top tier QB. After Saban left, OJ and the Bills went down hill, winning just 3 of their next 20 games. OJ had a decent 76′ season, rushing for over 1,500 yards, but injuries and age caught up to him.
The thing that gets to me is that if Saban was credited with rebuilding the Bills defense of the 60’s, maybe, if he had more time to rebuild the 70’s defense, we could have had something brewing with our high-powered offense mixed in with a superior defense.
Bottom line: The Bills always seemed to be on the verge of doing something special with Saban and once the team seemed like they were going to take the next step, Saban would jet. Once Lou left, the franchise went in the tank. Say what you will, but at least when Bill Polian got fired, the Bills didn’t go in the toilet. You can’t say that about Saban when he left. Oh..and if Saban doesn’t quit, he’s on the WOF.
Boutet’s POV: Lou was a players coach. He was respected by his teams. They did things his way or they weren’t here long. He taught discipline and loyalty. Those were his two biggest coaching theories. How great a coach was he? Watch this, it will tell you everything you need to know.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbQ2trX9F4U&w=425&h=349]
After quitting the Bills both times in ’66 and ’76, the team crumbled. Part of the reason was both coaches hired to replace him (Collier and Ringo) were soft spoken gentle coaches. Nice guys, but not like Lou. Could the ’66 Bills have beaten KC and then the Packers under Saban? In my world, they would have, but no one can say for sure.
Three Lou stories I love are when in 1964, Cookie Gilchrist, probably the best RB in football at that time, refused to play. Lou waived him and wouldn’t let him come back until he apologized to the team. Who would do that today?? Another was also in ’64, when he told Jack Kemp at halftime of a game to “Run 53”. Kemp started to debate Lou, so, Lou picked him up and stuffed him into a locker and slammed the door and said, “I want you to RUN 53!!” Lastly, in ’76, he went to owner Ralph Wilson and told him he was quitting. Wilson asked why and he said, “I’ve lost the team Ralph.” Wilson’s reply? “Where’d they go??”
Chuck Knox and Jack Ramsay were a lot like Lou: Loved by their players, respected by all around them. In my eyes, they were the three best coaches in Buffalo sports history. But if I had to pick one coach who epitomized Buffalo, it would be Lou.
John Boutet is a Buffalo sports historian on the Greater Buffalo HOF Board and also a web editor for Buffalosportsmuseum.com. Make sure you check John’s site out, as it’s like going down memory lane for Buffalo Sports.
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