Former Bills Coach Hank Bullough Passes at 85

[RJ (not THAT RJ)]

16 hours ago, RochesterRob said:

  Harvey Johnson did not want the job but took it after Ralph begged him to do so.  IIRC Ralph fired him at the end of the stint.

 

Twice!

[RochesterRob]

15 hours ago, Binghamton Beast said:

Fred was quoted as saying”ding, *****, the witch is dead” when Bullough was fired.

 

I wonder what Fred thinks today?

 

Funny thing is......outside of Coach Knox, Fred was not a coaches favorite.

  Knox was the only one to embrace a "boys will be boys" attitude with the players in general so little wonder that the players adored him.  Imagine Smerlas with Bill Parcells which could have very well happened given the time frame.  Would have won a SB with the Giants but probably would have whined about Parcells being a disciplinarian.

[Chaos]

15 hours ago, row_33 said:

did better than Indy colleague Rod Dowhower, 5-24 for his reign

 

Hank was 4-17 for the Bills

 

uh oh... better do the math....

 

oh yeah, Hank was better, 19-17 winning pct

 

 

 

Father of three, grandfather of nine.  Great playing career, including playing on a rose bowl winning team.  One of the people who helped bring the 3-4 defense to the NFL.  All in all a nice life with meaningful accomplishments.  Rest in peace. 

[Albany,n.y.]

Joe DeLamiellure loved Hank.  Hank was invited by Joe's to his Hall of Fame ceremony.  Here's what he said about Hank at Michigan State: "A couple of coaches out here, I know Hank Bullough is here from Canton";  As a Bill:  "Hank Bullough coached me. I always said that if Hank got Jim Kelly as a quarterback, he would still be coaching maybe. He was a good coach, just had some trouble at quarterback."

Edited November 26, 2019 by Albany,n.y.

[dollars 2 donuts]

RIP, Coach.

[Livinginthepast]

Reading his obituary gave me a lot more of an appreciation for the effect of this man overall on the NFL. Its too bad that his time in Buffalo was one of the worst for the franchise ever. But it really looks like he would be a good candidate for an NFL life doc.

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

the coaches between knox and levy had a real rough go with it.

 

r.i.p. coach

[keepthefaith]

For any that haven't read "By A Nose" written by Smerlas, it'll give you some insight into the Bullough years and the book is worth 100 laughs. Funny *****. 

 

Makes a great gift. 

Edited November 26, 2019 by keepthefaith

[The Dean]

On 11/25/2019 at 2:57 PM, freddyjj said:

Was in over his head as HC of Bills but did a lot for football as a player and coach over 5 decades.  RIP Hank!

 

8 hours ago, Chaos said:

Father of three, grandfather of nine.  Great playing career, including playing on a rose bowl winning team.  One of the people who helped bring the 3-4 defense to the NFL.  All in all a nice life with meaningful accomplishments.  Rest in peace. 

 

 

It's seems wrong reading a RIP thread only to find people trashing the recently deceased. He was, for a total of 18 games, with two very bad teams, over his head as a HC.  At least you two take the opportunity to point out Hank was a very influential, and well respected position coach and coordinator. He was a huge contributor to the game.  (I don't want to sound holier than thou, as I took plenty of shots at Hank and had a lot of fun at his expense. But this is probably not the right time for that. 

 

RIP Coach.

 

 

 

 

On 11/25/2019 at 6:19 PM, Binghamton Beast said:

Fred Smerlas couldn’t stand Bullough.

 

With saying that, RIP, Coach. 

 

Don't get me started on that POS Smerlas.

[slipkid]

On 11/25/2019 at 5:03 PM, eball said:

That malapropism was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the alert that Hank had passed.

I was thinking “that took the sails out of our wind’.”

 

RIP Coach.

[thenorthremembers]

Regardless of how bad of a coach he was here he seemed to spawn a couple of pretty good football players.   A couple of his grandsons made it to the NFL.

 

RIP Hank.

[CowgirlsFan]

RIP

 

Thank you for your contribution to the game of football.