Blanton Collier - Cleveland Browns

Cleveland Browns

After losing his job at Kentucky, Collier said he was unsure what he would do next. "Right now I feel I would like to remain in football if the opportunity presents itself," he said. Two weeks later, Brown brought him back onto the Cleveland Browns staff as an offensive assistant. Collier and Brown had remained close friends during his time at Kentucky. Collier attended the Browns' training camps in Ohio during the summers, and Brown's family visited Collier on occasion in Lexington. Collier said he was happy to be back with the Browns, saying it was "like returning home". Brown praised Collier's teaching and called him a "scientific football man" and "one of my closest friends".

By the time Collier rejoined the Browns, the team was in the throes of a transition. Art Modell had bought the club in 1961 and was locked in a bitter power struggle with Brown. The two men came into conflict over Brown's autocratic coaching style and his failure to notify Modell about personnel decisions. Without informing Modell, Brown in 1962 traded away star halfback Bobby Mitchell for the right to draft Ernie Davis, a back who won the Heisman Trophy and surpassed Jim Brown's rushing records at Syracuse University. Davis died of leukemia before he played a down for the Browns. Brown's relationship with Jim Brown, the team's star fullback, was another source of tension between Modell and Paul Brown. Jim Brown grew increasingly independent as he rose to fame. He started a weekly radio show, which grated against Paul Brown's emphasis on discipline and teamwork over individualism. Other players, including quarterback Milt Plum, openly questioned Paul Brown's coaching and his control over the team's play-calling.

Brown made some changes as a result of the pressure from his players and Modell, and allowed Collier to put into place a "check off system" that allowed the quarterback to run several approved alternative plays to the ones Brown called. When Collier was praised in the Cleveland Press for instituting the system successfully, however, Brown put an end to it. "The players believed that Paul was upset when Blanton received some good press," former Browns quarterback Jim Ninowski said in 1997. "Paul just junked Blanton's system, as if to say, 'Hey, I'm running the show now'." As Collier grew apart from Brown, he became closer to Modell, who enjoyed discussing football minutiae with him.

After a 7–6–1 season in 1962, Modell fired Brown and offered the head coaching job to Collier. Collier told Modell he first needed the blessing of his wife and of Brown, to whom he still felt a sense of loyalty. He called Brown, who told him he had to take the job because he had a family to support. Collier accepted a three-year contract that would pay him $35,000 a year ($265,696 in 2012 dollars). In contrast with Brown, Collier was almost universally liked by players and other coaches. He was soft-spoken, which was unusual for a head coach, but he earned the respect of the team with his extensive knowledge and his willingness to give players more freedom than Brown ever did. One significant difference was his approach to play-calling. Like Brown, Collier served as his own play-caller. However, he let Frank Ryan, who replaced Plum as the team's starting quarterback in 1963, change plays at the line of scrimmage and allowed more flexibility in pass routes and blocking schemes.

The changes paid off. In 1963, the team finished 10–4, and Jim Brown broke the NFL's single-season rushing record with 1,863 yards. Brown was also voted the league's Most Valuable Player. Cleveland, however, finished a game behind the New York Giants and did not reach the championship game. The Browns had started out 6–0 but faltered after racial divisions cropped up within the team. Some black players believed white teammates were getting to play ahead of them because of their race. Toward the end of the season, Collier met with the team's leaders and told them the racism had to stop. After the season, he traded away players he thought were sowing discord and opened up a dialogue with those who remained to stamp out the tension.