Browns special teams assistant coaches -Tabor helped pave the way twice over  

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in a series of stories about the Mount Rushmore-worthy people, places and things in Browns history. Today we look at special teams assistant coaches.

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By STEVE KING

It’s much better — a whole lot better, really — than it used to be, and a significant part of the reason for NFL teams now taking special teams seriously is because of Paul Brown.

Go, figure, huh? Yeah, the guy who is called “The Father of Modern Football” for all the innovations he brought to the game is tied to yet another one — one that you never heard of, and probably never even thought about. But it’s true.

When Brown served as head coach and general manager of those early Browns teams beginning in 1946, he was, not surprisingly, well ahead of the curve in that he fully realized that having good special teams – or specialty teams, as they were called then – was a decent chunk of the equation for having a good team overall. He valued having the best kicker in the game in Pro Football Hall of Famer Lou Groza and the field goals he could kick when the Cleveland offense got into the red zone but couldn’t score touchdowns, and having the best punter in the game in Cleveland Browns Legend Horace Gillom and the way his booming punts – he has the three longest punts in club history at 80, 75 and 73 yards – could flip the field position and get the Browns out of trouble.

Like all teams back then, the Browns had only a small handful of assistants. Each man had to handle several different jobs to make sure that everything was covered. One of the extra jobs that Brown took on was that of special teams coach. It was an easy decision – a natural move, a logical transition – because he believed so strongly in their worth. He was personally invested in them.

With all that, then, I nearly put Brown onto the Mount Rushmore of Browns special team assistant coaches. If the truth be told, I had him there on two different occasions before removing him.

Even with that, though, let’s be very clear in saying that Brown certainly, legitimately deserves to be on this Mount Rushmore, but I decided against it because his inclusion would have knocked off a deserving coach. And that just isn’t right.

So, here are the four men who did make the Mount Rushmore of Browns special teams assistant coaches, in the order in which they served: Al Tabor, who was with the Browns from 1972 to ’77; Bill Cowher (1985-86 as special teams coordinator and 1985-88 overall) Jerry Rosburg (2001-06) and Brad Seely (2009-10).

Let’s introduce them:

AL TABOR

He was the first special teams coach, now known as special teams coordinator, in Browns history, and, much more importantly in a big-picture way, he became the second African-American assistant coach of any kind in NFL history (Browns running backs coach Ernie Green was the first in 1969) when head coach Nick Skorich hired him and then Forrest Gregg retained him when he took over in 1975. As with all social experiments of this kind, if Tabor had failed, then it would have sent the whole process back. But he didn’t. He did very well. He helped get kicker Don Cockroft straightened around in Tabor’s first season of 1972. After a good rookie season in 1968 in which he made 18-of-24 attempts, Cockroft hit on just 53.4 percent of his tries (39-of-73) the next three seasons. Cockroft was definitely on the bubble, as evidenced by the fact the Browns used a fifth-round choice in the 1972 NFL Draft to take a kicker in George Hunt. The Tennessee product didn’t make the team, but the message had clearly been sent to Cockroft: Get better, or else. And he did better – very much so. After missing a kick from the very same spot on the field minutes earlier, Cockroft got a second chance and booted a 26-yard field goal in the waning seconds to provide a key 26-24 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers that did a lot to propel the Browns into the AFC playoffs as a wild card. It also was the turning point in his career, giving him the confidence he needed to take a quantum leap forward and become the kicker the Browns needed him to be for the rest of his career.

BILL COWHER

Already on the Mount Rushmore of Browns special teamers for his play on the 1980-82 Kardiac Kids teams, he also excelled as the special teams coordinator several years later on head coach Marty Schottenheimer’s staff. With the club getting markedly better on both sides of the ball, what got lost in 1985 and ’86 is how much the Browns also improved on special teams under Cowher. Early in 1986 as they were marching toward a 12-4 record, the Browns finally broke “The Three Rivers Jinx” by beating Pittsburgh 27-24 thanks in part to Gerald McNeil’s 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. A week earlier, he had returned a punt 84 yards for a score in a 24-21 win over the Detroit Lions. In the middle of the year, the Browns struggled mightily on offense but still managed to beat the Minnesota Vikings 23-20 on a series of huge special teams plays.

JERRY ROSBURG

The expansion-era Browns have done little right since returning to the field in 1999, but the one area in which they excelled for that first decade was on special teams. They had one of the best overall units in the league during that time. One of the reasons for that was Rosburg, who was one of the best, if not THE best, special teams coordinators in the NFL during his nearly two-decades-long career.

BRAD SEELY

If Rosburg was No. 1 in the NFL, then Seely was No. 2. The Browns had virtually no offense during his two seasons with them, but their special teams were outstanding. In 2009, Joshua Cribbs returned three kickoffs for touchdowns.

NEXT: Defensive assistant coaches.  

       

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