Bud Carson

Leon H. "Bud" Carson (April 28, 1930 – December 7, 2005) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1967 to 1971, compiling a record of 27–27. Carson then coached in the National Football League (NFL), mostly as a defensive coordinator. He was a member of two Super Bowl-winning teams with the Pittsburgh Steelers and one losing team with the LA Rams in the 1970s. Carson served as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 1989 until he was fired midway through the 1990 season. He is credited with developing the Steel Curtain.

Player
Carson played defensive back for North Carolina from 1949 to 1951, then entered the Marines.

Coach
His first coaching job was at Scottdale High School in Southwestern Pennsylvania which he began in 1955.

Georgia Tech
After his discharge from the Marines, he went into coaching, working at Georgia Tech under head coach Bobby Dodd. Carson took over as head coach in 1967. Under Carson, the Yellow Jackets endured three straight 4–6 seasons before going 9–3 and winning the Sun Bowl in 1970. In 1971, Tech finished 6–6 after a Peach Bowl loss. His dismissal as Head Coach of the Yellow Jackets by James E. Boyd was reported in the Atlanta Constitution under the headline "Bitter Bud Carson Is Ousted at Tech".

In 1970 the GT Band began playing the Budweiser tune after the end of the 3rd quarter. In tribute to the then head coach the words were actually sung as, "When you say Bud Carson, you've said it all!"

NFL
Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Chuck Noll hired Carson as defensive backs coach in 1972. He was elevated to defensive coordinator in 1973. Under Carson, the "Steel Curtain" developed as one of the best defenses in National Football League history. In Pittsburgh's Super Bowl seasons of 1974 and 1975, this unit, led by Jack Lambert, Mel Blount, Jack Ham and Mean Joe Greene, gave up fewer points than any other American Football Conference team. In 1976, the "Steel Curtain" allowed fewer than 10 points per game.

After the 1977 season, Carson was hired as defensive coordinator for the Los Angeles Rams, and in 1979, helped guide them to Super Bowl XIV (against his former team, the Steelers). He later served on the coaching staffs of the Kansas City Chiefs and Baltimore Colts before running the New York Jets' defense from 1985 to 1988. His first season saw the defense go from 21st to 8th, but his final season saw them stumble to 23rd.

Carson finally landed a head-coaching job with the Cleveland Browns in 1989, replacing Marty Schottenheimer, who was fired after a wild card playoff loss to the Houston Oilers in 1988. He was hired on January 27, 1989 over the other fellow finalist in Fritz Shurmur. The Browns split their first six games before a four game winning streak had them at 7–3. They then suffered through a skid that saw them lose three of their next four games (with a tie to Schottenheimer and his new team in the Kansas City Chiefs in between). It took a victory on the final game of the year against Houston (after nearly letting a 17-point lead slip away) to clinch the Central Division (Houston and Pittsburgh had nine wins as well, but Cleveland had one less loss due to the tie). In the Divisional Round, they faced the Buffalo Bills at home. They narrowly beat the Bills 34–30 where Clay Matthews Jr. intercepted a last-second pass in the endzone to seal the victory. They advanced to the AFC Championship Game in Denver, who they had played twice before in the past couple of seasons. Once again, the Broncos (led by John Elway) prevailed. The Broncos led by ten at halftime and never trailed in a 37–21 victory where they had 497 total yards. In addition to 1989 being the last division title in team history as of 2022, it is the last time the Browns have reached the AFC Championship Game. The Browns won their opening day game against the Steelers 13–3. They proceeded to go on a skid, losing the next three games by scores of 3, 10, and 34. A narrow victory over Denver on October 8 ended up being Carson's last win as a coach. The team lost the next four games before the bye week, which had seen them lose 42–0 to Buffalo to go to 2–7. On November 5, one day after that game, Browns owner Art Modell fired Carson, stating that the firing was done to "stop the hemorrhaging". Browns' offensive coordinator Jim Shofner became head coach and the Browns finished the season with a 3–13 record. Save for a 13–10 win over the Atlanta Falcons, the Browns were outscored 217–87, including being shut out 35–0 by the Pittsburgh Steelers and losing 58–14 to the rival Houston Oilers. In the AFC Central Division rival games, the Browns won on opening day against the Steelers, 13–3. They lost their remaining five AFC Central games however, being outscored by a total of 183–64. The 1990 team gave up 462 total points, the worst for any team in the decade.

Carson returned for successful stints as the defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles (the 1991 Eagles' defense accomplished the rare feat of being ranked No. 1 versus the pass, #1 versus the rush, and #1 overall) and Rams — by then in St. Louis — before retiring in 1997, due to health concerns.

Family
Carson, a former smoker, died in 2005 of emphysema. He was married to Linda Carson, an anchorwoman at WDAF in Kansas City, and Sarasota television station WWSB. His daughter Cathi Carson worked as the sports reporter at two Jacksonville stations in Jacksonville WJAX-TV and WFOX-TV and was formerly a reporter at WWSB before later becoming a lawyer. He also had a son, Cliff, and another daughter, Dana, as well as a stepson, Donald. His brother, Gib Carson, is currently owner of Gib Carson Associates, which specializes in manufactured gifts.