The Mushroom Society - Learning From 50 Years Of Coaching With Al Saunders

Today’s guest on the Mushroom Society Series on the Coach and Coordinator Podcast is with retired NFL Coach Al Saunders.

Coach Saunders began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at USC under John McKay from 1970–71 and served as receivers coach for the University of Missouri's Fiesta Bowl team in 1972.

Saunders spent 1973 through 1975 as a play-caller and offensive backfield coach at Utah State. He then spent six seasons as assistant head coach/offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach at the University of California. He guided the Golden Bears to set 32 NCAA, conference, and school records and finished each season ranked in the top ten in the nation in passing. His final collegiate stop was in 1982 as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach under Johnny Majors at the University of Tennessee where he built an explosive, record-setting offense.

His first NFL head coaching position came with the San Diego Chargers as interim head coach in 1986 following the resignation of Don Coryell. He spent two full seasons as the Chargers' head coach after previously working as receivers coach in 1983-84 and assistant head coach in 1985-86 for what was one of the most prolific offenses in the history of modern football. In 1985, San Diego's "Air Coryell" led the NFL in passing and total offense for an unprecedented fifth time in six years.

From 1989 until 1998, Saunders was with the Kansas City Chiefs. Saunders worked for 10 winning seasons under the highly respected head coach Marty Schottenheimer again as a part of a top-performing offense.

Saunders joined the St. Louis Rams coaching staff under the legendary Dick Vermeil. Serving as associate head coach and receivers coach with the Rams (1999-2000), he helped create one of the most dynamic and explosive offenses that the NFL had ever seen, and eventually helped lead the Rams to a Super Bowl XXXIV victory. Leading the NFL in virtually every significant offensive category, "The Greatest Show on Turf" established numerous NFL records for scoring and offensive production.

When Vermeil came out of retirement in 2001, Saunders reunited with his old mentor and former team, the Kansas City Chiefs, as the assistant head coach/offensive coordinator until Vermeil’s final retirement in 2006. Under Saunders’ direction as coordinator, the Chiefs offense was the most productive unit in the entire NFL during that 5-year span. 46 franchise records for offense production were established and no team scored more points (2,175), gained more yards (30,470), or scored more touchdowns (262) during that time.

Coach Saunders was ranked as the #1 Offensive Coordinator in the past 25 years in the NFL by ESPN and in 2005, and was named USA Today's Offensive Coach of the Year.

Coach Saunders finished out his career as an assistant with Redskins, Rams, Ravens, Raiders, Dolphins, and retired after his stint with the Cleveland Browns

Shownotes:

-Start with John McKay

-Being organized

-Don't tell - Teach

-Treat everyone as a number one draft choice

-The job of a coach is to make all players the best they can be

-You can’t teach experience

-Create an environment people enjoy being in

-Take the positive environment and enthusiasm to the field

-How the best approach the game

-Dealing with your coaches

-Developing a top offense

-Don't ask players to do what they can’t do

-Protecting the QB

Link to all Mushroom Society Episodes and COOL Clinic Speakers:

https://soundcloud.com/user-804678956/sets/the-c-o-o-l-clinic-speakers

Learn from COOL Clinic Coaches:

https://coachtube.com/coolclinic

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices