Sometimes, it’s just best to stand back and let those who know Joe Bugel best describe him in their own words. So enjoy:
Joe Gibbs: “Coach Bugel probably had one of the greatest passions for football. His life was football. He’s one of the best teachers… One of the funny stories is the way he would torture the offensive line. He would take a softball out on the field and he would make those guys crouch over and chase that softball for half an hour. The thing I really appreciate is that you could take him ina meeting and take him to the top where he was sold on everything we’re doing and if things aren’t going well he’d go to the bottom and be the most depressed person in the world. I can’t tell you how many times we were in there at three in the morning and he would still be roaring. You could not outwork Joe Bugel. Many times we tried.”
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Casey Rabach: “He’s not only a great coach, but a great friend. He’s a wealth of knowledge football-wise. He coached everything. He coached every style, every technique and every type of player. He knows how to bring the best out of each and every guy. He’s resilient. It doesn’t matter where you were or what hand he was dealt with the players, he coached hard and got the best out of them.”
More Casey: “His cussing and swearing and tirades are some of the best. He says it so everyone can’t hear, but he’s cussing the hell out of you while looking at the ground. He’s an intense individual. He’s maybe 160 pounds wet, but he’d take on the biggest guy out there and whoop his ass if he could. He’s definitely old school. He’s not politically correct, but he’s a great guy.”
George Starke: “The last game I ever played was in Texas. I was hurt that week. I couldn’t play. Buges says, ‘Why don’t you go to Texas with us.’ Why would I go, I’m not going to play? He ays, ‘Come on, get on the plane.’ So I fly down to Texas, we’re playing the Cowboys of course. I’m down there and he said, ‘Why don’t you get dressed.’ I said, why would I get dressed, I’m not going to play. He said, ‘Well, you never know.’ I get dressed. he said, ‘Why don’t you have a doctor drain your knee?’ Wh would I have a doctor drain my knee, I’m not going to play. So now he has me on the plane when I said I’m not going to play. He has me getting my bear on and getting my knee drained. Sure enough I watched the whole offensive line go down. Jacoby got hurt. Russ got hurt. I was the only guy left and I’m sitting on the end of the bench. I said, Buges I can’t. He said, ‘You have to go in for one play.’ I said I’ll go in for one play. I ended up playing the whole game.”
More Starke: “Whenever I go to another training camp, when the linemen see me coming through the door, the first thing they say is thanks because it was the Hogs that made it so that offensive linemen are making money today. No one talked about the offensive line before the Hogs. The Hogs were the first linemen to take over a game by themselves. It didn’t matter who the quarterback or running back was. It changed how people looked at football. Now linemen make good money.”
Chris Samuels: “A lot of coaches let you slide [with technique] as long as you get the block done. But Coach Bugel would never let up on technique. He always preached bad technique causes injury. So he would stay on us to do it the right way so we could stay on the field and perform. My knowledge of the game broadened a whole lot once he came. He taught me certain things to watch for. I had good coaches in the past that taught me a lot, but he brought more to the game and just kind of helping me out for different things to look for at the snap of the ball. Just how the defense lines up in the secondary. Normally I would concentrate on watching the defensive line and the linebackers, but things in the secondary can give away what they’re doing as well. Most of the time as offensive linemen you don’t pay attention to that. But once I started adding that aspect of the game, then it took me to the next level.”
More Samuels: “You never know how he would come into the meeting. It could be a good game or a bad game. You know you had two or three bad plays and you’d get over here early and feel him out — Hey, Buges, how you doin? Seems like everything is cool and then he would get in that meeting and he would go off on you.”
Mark May: “He’s the best offensive line coach in the history of football and definitely should be in the Hall of Fame someday.”
Mark Schlereth: “As a rookie I was afraid of him, but more importantly I was afraid to let him down. I remember stretching at camp before a scrimmage vs. the Jets and he said, ‘Big horse, you were born to play this game!’ As a rookie 10th-round pick from Idaho, I was dumb enough to believe him.”
Don Warren: “You never wanted to let him down. He cared about all his linemen. Some coaches don’t care about the people that they’re coaching. He cared about all the linemen.”
Steve Wisniewski (ex-Raiders guard): “No coach had a greater influence on my development as a player or as a man than Joe Bugel. He will forever be remembered as one of the finest coaches in the history of the NFL.”
Eric Hill (ex-Arizona linebacker): “He is ultimately responsible for me growing up. He took over my second year in the league. I was a young talent, but not very disciplined and very immature. Joe Bugel pressed me and pressed me, embarrassed me and did whatever it took to make me showcase my talents on and off the field. It allowed me to have a long career and it helped me in life afterwards as well.”
Randy Thomas: “I’m gonna miss that feisty little guy.”
