Even after winning four Super Bowls in six seasons and setting the foundation for one of the greatest dynasties in all of professional sports during the 1970s, former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach and Hall of Famer Chuck Noll had one award elude him for nearly his entire career in Pittsburgh.
Until the 1989 season.
That award? The NFL’s Coach of the Year award.
For former running back Merril Hoge, who appeared on KDKA Radio Monday morning with host Larry Richert, the Steelers’ PA announcer, Noll’s winning his first Coach of the Year award in 1989 was shocking.
“What I remember most about that year, actually it was 1989 when we beat Houston in Houston, actually. It was a better game, quite honestly, ’cause we won, right? We beat Houston, but it was the first time Chuck Noll had ever got Coach of the Year,” Hoge said during his appearance with Richert, according to audio via the show’s podcast page. “And most people don’t even know. Chuck Noll never got Coach of the Year.
“I’m telling you that when we heard that and when he got the award, we were like, ‘wait a minute. He never what?’ He had never been recognized as Coach of the Year in the National Football League until 1989?”
Pretty crazy, right? The coach that built the Steelers from the ground up, taking over in 1969 and building them into a powerhouse in the 1970s, and then never won Coach of the Year until 1989, a year that he went 9-7 and lost in the divisional round to the Denver Broncos?
Yep, that happened.
As is well known, Noll is one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. He led the Steelers to four Super Bowls in six seasons in the 1970s, but after that dynastic run, the Steelers fell off a bit. In the 80s, the Steelers had just one season of 10 or more wins in the decade and won just two total playoff games, one of which came in the 1989 season.
The other playoff win came in 1984 when the Steelers beat the Denver Broncos, 24-17, in the divisional round but were then trounced in the AFC title game by the Miami Dolphins, 45-28.
But in 1989, Noll did his best coaching job, the league believes. He led the Steelers to a 9-7 record, winning a Wild Card matchup against the Houston Oilers on the road, 28-26, and reaching the AFC divisional round playoffs, where they fell to the Broncos, 24-23.
That season, Chuck Noll led the Steelers to the 9-7 record despite an offense that averaged 16.6 points per game and a defense that gave up 20.4 points per game.
Quarterback Bubby Brister was a bit inconsistent, throwing just nine touchdowns to 10 interceptions that season. Meanwhile, the Steelers leaned on Tim Worley and Hoge as a two-headed power in the backfield. Each rushed for more than 600 yards and combined for 13 touchdowns on the season.
Louis Lipps was the only real weapon in the passing game, leading the Steelers with 50 receptions for 944 yards and five touchdowns that season, with no other receiver within 20 catches or 450 receiving yards.
Defensively, the Steelers had 21 interceptions and 21 fumble recoveries that season, a mind-blowing number from a defense featuring Carnell Lake, Rod Woodson, Greg Lloyd, David Little, and more.
Noll getting the Steelers to 9-7 that season, especially after starting the season 0-2 before winning five of the last six in the regular season and then upsetting the 9-7 Oilers in the Wild Card, was enough to get him his first Coach of the Year accolade. It was surprising then for Hoge and his teammates. It’s still surprising now.
Even all these years later, Hoge still has great admiration for Noll.
“Chuck Noll is still the greatest man I’ve ever met. He was the greatest teacher. He was the greatest leader,” Hoge said of his former head coach. “He was the greatest role model. I’ve never come across another human being quite like him.”
There will never be another like Chuck Noll. That much is certain.
He was a great leader and a great coach. Players revered him for his teaching abilities and the example he set, which helped Noll get the best out of his players year after year.
