Remembering Joe Bugel
Joe Gibbs is the greatest coach in the history of the Washington Redskins. Gibbs won three Super Bowls during his first tenure as coach of the Redskins (1981-92) before returning to a vastly different NFL in his second tenure (2004-07) but still leading Washington to two playoff berths.
While Gibbs was known for his offensive prowess, winning three championships with three different quarterbacks and first-class leadership, he had a secret weapon in offensive line coach Joe Bugel.
Bugel, who was Washington’s offensive line coach from 1981-89 before taking over as head coach of the Phoenix Cardinals in 1990, later returned to the Redskins when Gibbs put the band back together for his second run.
On Sunday, the Redskins announced the legendary offensive line coach passed away at the age of 80.
Bugel had a long coaching career that began back in 1964 where he was a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Western Kentucky, for five seasons. From there, Bugel would receive his first full-time coaching gig at Navy for four seasons before spending one season at Iowa State and Ohio State before beginning his long career in the NFL in 1975 with the Detroit Lions.
Bugel coached the offensive line for the Lions for two seasons and then spent the next four as offensive line coach for the Houston Oilers, which had Hall-of-Fame running back Earl Campbell, from 1977-80.
It was 1981 when he finally arrived in the nation’s capital.
He began his career in Washington as offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for his first two seasons. After the Redskins had a then-NFL record 541 points in 1982, Bugel was promoted to assistant head coach, while maintaining his role as offensive line coach.
It was in his role as offensive line coach that made Bugel a legend. Known affectionately as “Boss Hog” due to his offensive line group being known as “The Hogs,” the Redskins of the 80s were a dominant offense during that decade.
“The Hogs” began in 1982 as the original group featured Jeff Bostic, Hall-of-Famer Russ Grimm, Mark May, Joe Jacoby, George Starke, Fred Dean and tight ends Don Warren and Rick “Doc” Walker. While Starke retired in 1984, Bostic, Jacoby, Grimm, May and Warren remained with the Redskins until 1990 and beyond for some.
Other players would come to the Redskins to play for Bugel, such as Jim Lachey, Raleigh McKenzie, Ed Simmons, Mark Schlereth and Ray Brown, and the unit continued to be the best in the NFL.
The group wasn’t comprised of numerous first-round picks. Of the original core, only May was a former first-round pick.
Sadly, Grimm is the only member of “The Hogs” that is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Jacoby should be in the Hall of Fame but still has yet to receive the call.
Bugel was known for taking a bunch of different players, some of which were undersized, undervalued or picked up off the scrap heap, and molding them into one cohesive — and dominant — unit.
Bugel’s success would lead him to a chance at being a head coach. Unfortunately, he took over a bad Phoenix Cardinals team and won a total of 13 games in his first three seasons, before improving the Cardinals to 7-9 in 1993. However, it wasn’t enough to save his job and he was fired after that season.
It’s important to note the Cardinals were arguably the NFL’s worst franchise in the 80s and 90s and featured very little talent on offense.
From there, Bugel took a job with the Oakland Raiders as assistant head coach for two seasons before getting one more chance as a head coach in 1997. The Raiders were a team in transition in 1997 and Bugel was fired after just one season.
He then headed to San Diego where he coached the offensive line for four seasons. After the 2001 season, Bugel was out of the game for two seasons until receiving a surprising call from Gibbs about returning to the place where it all started.
Bugel recounted receiving that call from Gibbs, per Jeff Barker of The Baltimore Sun back in 2004:
"When the call came, I was in bed at about 2 o'clock in the morning," Bugel says. "My wife starts screaming, hollering, laughing. He told me, 'Joe, we're going back home.' I said, 'When do you want me there?' He says, 'Tomorrow.' It took me three seconds to pack."
Bugel would coach Washington’s offensive line for the next six seasons, including four for Gibbs and his final two years in the forgettable Jim Zorn era before retiring from the game in 2010.
In his second tenure with the Redskins, Bugel’s group led the way for a 1,000-yard rusher for five consecutive seasons (2004-08) and offensive tackle Chris Samuels went to the Pro Bowl four times under Bugel’s tutelage.
Gibbs released a statement on Sunday, via the Redskins’ official website:
"Joe had an incredible passion for the game of football,” Gibbs said. “He came to work every day with such great excitement and his players had tremendous respect for him. The strength of our coaching staff on both sides of the ball was a key reason we had so much success. Bugel was such a big part of that and his impact was felt not only by those Redskins' teams but truly across the entire League. I will miss his friendship and I will always cherish our late-night arguments putting together the game plan each week. Pat and I will be praying for his wife Brenda, his girls, and their entire family.”
Tributes from around the NFL poured in on social media on Sunday.
From Hall of Famer Gil Brandt:
Our own Rick Snider covered both of Bugel’s tenures in Washington.
While Bugel’s record as a head coach won’t get him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, his work as an assistant coach should be honored. Bugel is arguably the greatest offensive line coach in the history of the NFL and at some point should be recognized in Canton.
Rest in peace, Coach Bugel.
Bryan Manning writes about the Washington Redskins for RedskinsReport.com and contributes to "All Hokies" on SI.com. He has covered the NFL, MLB, NBA, college football and college basketball for almost 10 years for various outlets such as Bleacher Report, SB Nation, FanSided, USA Today SMG, and others. For his day job, Bryan works in engineering for a major communications company.
