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AFM Magazine


Who Is Jock Sutherland?

by: Eric Kiner
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Full games would go by and not a single pass would be thrown at the University of Pittsburgh. That is, when Jock Sutherland was the head coach. That is the brand of football he sold.

As a well-known critic of the passing game, he instituted a single wing offense that perfectly matched his personality. His teams won their battles in a cloud of dust, pounding opponents into the ground with the running game.

In 1919, Dr. John Bain Sutherland began his coaching career at Lafayette College in Pittsburgh. By 1921 he had already given the school a team that went undefeated and was considered by many as the best in the nation.

Sutherland grabbed the reigns at the University of Pittsburgh from Pop Warner, his collegiate coach, in 1924. Warner left him lofty expectations to live up to at his alma mater, where he earned a degree in dentistry.

He did not disappoint. Pitt did not suffer one losing season in his fifteen years as head coach. Pittsburgh finished the regular season undefeated four times under Sutherland’s tutelage. Unfortunately, three of those seasons ended in defeat in the Rose Bowl. Pitt made it back to Pasadena in 1936 and finally got a victory with a 21-0 win over Washington. In 1937, the team responded with a 9-0-1 record and were crowned national champions. He left Pitt with more wins than any coach in school history and a record of 111-20-12.

Sutherland coached in the pros for four years, two seasons with Brooklyn and two with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He turned a struggling Pittsburgh franchise around, taking the team to the playoffs in 1947. The city praised the man they called, “The Miracle Man of the Steel City”.

“He gave Pittsburgh fans the kind of teams they were looking for. If it hadn’t been for the Doctor I never would have been able to continue in pro football,” marveled team owner Art Rooney on Sutherland’s ability to save the franchise.

Though the Steelers lost in the playoffs, it was a season of hope and a promise for the future. But headaches plagued Sutherland throughout the ‘47 season. So bad sometimes he could not make it to practice, which was not a customary characteristic of the hard-nosed coach. While on a recruiting trip in 1948, he was found along a road in Kentucky in severe pain. He was brought back to Pittsburgh where he was told he had a brain tumor and was immediately operated on. Jock Sutherland passed away a few days later.

Sutherland’s career coaching record was 171-45-16, a staggering .792 winning percentage.





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