Bud Carson: An Unmistakable Legacy

Former Steelers coach dead at 75

By Mike Prisuta
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, December 8, 2005

The image is unforgettable for those who roamed the halls of St. Vincent College with the Steelers in the early to mid-1970s: A dark room on the first floor of Bonaventure Hall and a projector grinding out flickering images on a screen interrupted only by the wafting smoke from an ever-present cigarette.

That was Freeport native Leon Halden "Bud" Carson.

The legacy is unmistakable: NFL teams such as the undefeated 2005 Indianapolis Colts confounding opponents by playing the "Cover 2" defense first concocted more than 30 years ago by a relentless strategist who never tired of studying players and schemes and tendencies and trying to come up with an even better way of playing the game.

That was Bud Carson, too.

Carson passed away Wednesday in Sarasota, Fla., after a battle with emphysema.

He was 75.

He is survived by his wife, Linda; daughters, Dana and Cathi; a son, Clifford; a stepson, Gary Ford; three brothers, Guy, Harry and Gib; two grandchildren; and the scheme that made Carson a football immortal in the estimation of at least one of his former players.

"For the last decade or so, I've told people I thought he should be in the Hall of Fame," former Steelers safety Mike Wagner said. "He was the major contributor to the Pittsburgh defenses in the 1970s.

"We played the 'Cover 2' defense that is still in vogue but also still a mystery."

Wagner said Carson never took credit for pioneering "Cover 2," but current Colts coach Tony Dungy, a Steelers defensive back from 1977-78, has said the "Cover 2" techniques he's relied upon in Tampa Bay and Indianapolis came "straight from the 1973 Steelers playbook."

Steelers running backs coach Dick Hoak seconds the notion that Carson helped father the concept built upon two safeties splitting the field deep as a hedge against blitzing defenses falling vulnerable to the big play in an increasingly pass-happy NFL.

"I know Bud was one of the first to run 'Cover 2,' " Hoak said.

Carson went 27-27 as the head coach at Georgia Tech from 1967-71. He became the Steelers' defensive coordinator in 1972, the same year Hoak and defensive line coach George Perles came aboard.

At the time, Chuck Noll had experienced three losing seasons in three years as the Steelers coach and could offer nothing in the way of long-term guarantees.

The Steelers went 11-3 in 1972 and won Super Bowls following the 1974 and 1975 seasons.

Carson's 1976 defense pitched five shutouts, including three in a row, and allowed just 28 points in nine games after quarterback Terry Bradshaw was injured during a 1-4 start.
"Quite a feat," Steelers chairman Dan Rooney said.

"Bud Carson really understood that the game is played with athletes and not necessarily with head-butters," former Steelers scout Bill Nunn said.

Carson never stopped scheming ways to get the most from the athletes Nunn, the scouting staff and personnel department provided.

"I can remember standing in a tunnel waiting to come onto a field and Chuck (Noll) would be reminding me of our checks," Wagner said. "And I'd tell him, 'No, Chuck, Bud changed that on the way from the locker room to the field.' "

Carson left the Steelers following the 1977 season to take a job with the Rams, believing he'd eventually have a better chance to become a head coach in Los Angeles.

He wound up having to wait until 1989 before finally becoming one, replacing Marty Schottenheimer as the coach of the Cleveland Browns.

Carson went 9-6-1 and to the AFC Championship Game in his first season and was fired following a 2-7 start in his second.

His reputation as a defensive genius never lost an ounce of luster.

Carson went on to coordinate defenses for the New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles and St. Louis Rams before retiring in 1998.

Rams coach Mike Martz convinced Carson to return as a consultant midway through the 2000 season.

"Bud is one of the top two or three defensive coaches in the history of the game," Martz said at the time.

Rooney put it in terms Carson might have found more appealing.
"I might say he coached the greatest defense that ever played in the National Football League," Rooney said.

"He will be missed."

Mike Prisuta can be reached at ptrsports@tribweb.com.