Some of my favorite reads as an adult have included each of Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson's autobiographies.
Unfortunately, I cannot say the same thing about reading any book written by the great Chuck Noll.
That's just one of the differences between two of arguably the greatest coaches of all-time in their respective sports. A quick summary: Noll won a still-unprecedented four Super Bowl titles in a six-year span, while Jackson won an unprecedented 11 titles as coach of the Bulls and Lakers.
The men that molded three of the greatest dynasties in sports were different, indeed. Jackson openly discussed his coaching philosophies and detailed them in tell-all books. He practice the art of zen with his teams, and along with longtime assistant Tex Winter, ran an exotic offensive system called the Triangle Offense during each of his championship seasons. The fact that Jackson's Triangle Offense included no plays tells you everything you need to know about the differences between the two coaches.
Based on interviews from his players over the years, Noll loved control, even though he did concede command of the in-game play calls on offense to Terry Bradshaw. Noll's teams were compared to well-oiled machines, men made of mettle that just executed the order to absolute perfection. Noll was certainly not a zen man, he was the Emperor.
While Jackson was Dennis Rodman's speaker at Rodman's Hall of Fame ceremony and has had close relationships with many of his former players, Noll did not have that sort of relationship with his men. Noll was certainly respected and revered by his players, both in their playing days and to this day, but not on a peer-friendship level. Noll looked at the title of coach differently, and apparently thought that level of separation between himself and the players was the most efficient way to get things accomplished.
And Chuck Noll and book writing? Never would he do such a thing. Noll was a private person who rarely appeared in public following his retirement. It's been said that, when asked by companies to be a pitch man or to write a book, Noll would deflect the offers by saying, "Those things are for the players." And while Jackson has retired, then un-retired several times over the past three decades, Noll retired once, following the 1991 season, and stayed retired until his passing in 2014.
But there's one similarity, one glaring similarity about Chuck Noll and Phil Jackson that can't be overlooked. Noll's Steelers and Jackson's Bulls and Lakers were nearly perfect in championship games.
Noll never lost a Super Bowl. He's the only coach to win back-to-back Super Bowls twice. Jackson won three straight NBA titles on three occasions while winning his first nine NBA Finals series. While his Lakers did lose two finals in the 2000s, Los Angeles rebounded by winning the final two NBA Finals series coached by Jackson.
Despite their differing personalities, styles and coaching philosophies, Noll and Jackson were able to get their teams ready to execute at peerless levels nearly every time they reached a championship game. Mentally, physically, and tactically, Noll and Jackson's teams were always a cut about their challenger, always more prepared and almost always the superior team.
The differences between Noll and Jackson is an example of the beauty of coaching, which brings me to my final similarity between these two iconic coaches: Noll and Jackson did it their way. Despite facing several waves of criticism in their careers, Noll and Jackson never wavered from what they thought was right, and in the end, maybe that's something we all should embrace in our careers. While different, doing things their way produced dynasties never seen before, showing that there's more than one way to achieving greatness.