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| Source: WPXI News- The Father of the Pittsburgh Steelers Steel Curtain Chuck Noll. |
Chuck Noll the greatest NFL head coach of the 1970s and the creator of the Steel Curtain Dynasty. The man who built the Pittsburgh Steelers at least as far as it related to their football operations and football department. Art Rooney founded the Steelers and gave the City of Pittsburgh major league NFL football. The Steelers except for a handful of seasons under the great head coach Buddy Parkers were a losing franchise and for the most part never really in contention to be winners let alone contenders and champions. Chuck Noll made the Steelers franchise and what it is as one of the best franchises in professional sports not just the NFL that it is today.
Chuck Noll built the Steelers primarily through the draft as the Steelers head coach/general manager which meant who not only led the team on the field, but also was in charge of player personal for the club. And the Steelers under Noll invested heavily and well in scouting and the draft to see what the Steelers weren't getting the players that other NFL clubs were getting over the years that kept the Steelers at the bottom of the NFL. And went to schools to get players that not many other NFL clubs were looking at. Which is how he drafted DT Joe Greene from a small southern school. Same thing with WR John Stallworth and MLB Jack Lambert from a small school in Ohio.
If there is just one NFL Draft that built an NFL Dynasty it was the 1974 NFL Draft. That is where the 'Super Steelers', or Steel Curtain Steelers was created. Before 1974 the Steelers were a solid NFL contender in the AFC under Chuck Noll making the AFC Playoffs in 1972 and 73. But the 1974 Draft is where they drafted four NFL Hall of Famers who all played their entire careers in Pittsburgh under Chuck Noll. WR's John Stallworth and Lynn Swann, MLB Jack Lambert and center Mike Webster.
Chuck Noll was a great head coach because he knew how to draft, what kind of team he wanted and how to get the best out of the players he had and how to play them. And his basic message was very simple, "this is what I expect of you and what I need you to do and I wouldn't ask it of you if you weren't capable of it. And if you give me your best effort and execution, we'll be champions together". Or how Coach Noll called it Whatever it Takes. Which is "do whatever you can to win for the Steelers and we'll go a long way together". And it worked very well of the Steelers in the 1970s.
Source:WPXI News
