PARTING ADVICE : Former Coach Waller Says Chargers Have Plenty of Room for Improvement

In the opinion of former coach Charlie Waller, the Chargers won’t regain a position of prominence in the National Football League until they get better coordination at the top.

Waller, who coached the Chargers for the last five games of 1969 and all of 1970, cited the Super Bowl champion Washington Redskins and the vastly improved New Orleans Saints as examples for the Chargers to emulate.

“To win in pro football, there are two necessary things,” said Waller, 66, who lives in Rancho Bernardo pending a move next week to Niceville, Fla., near Pensacola. “You need the right kind of ownership, and you need a general manager who is very compatible with the owner and coach.

“One of the best situations is in Washington, with Jack Kent Cooke the owner, Bobby Beathard the general manager and Joe Gibbs the coach. They work perfectly together, and that’s why the Redskins are Super Bowl champions.

“The next power in the NFL will be the Saints. They have a good owner in Tom Benson, a great general manager in Jim Finks and a good coaching staff headed by Jim Mora. They’re the team to watch.”

And the Chargers?

“I don’t know about them,” Waller said. “I have some questions about (owner) Alex Spanos. I don’t know Steve Ortmayer (director of football operations), but it seems like he and Spanos don’t always see eye to eye.

“I know Spanos is very successful in construction. I know he can build apartment buildings. But that doesn’t mean he can build a football team.

“Some owners won’t let their general managers run their teams. With other teams, there are petty jealousies. These are teams that don’t win.”

Waller did cite two reasons for optimism about the Chargers in the season ahead.

“Their offense will be a lot better with Jerry Rhome running it,” he said. “He’s a master of the passing game. And I think Mark Malone will do a good job for them. He has a strong arm, he’s mobile and he’ll be playing in his back yard, coming from El Cajon. He’s played some good football for Pittsburgh at times. He’ll have fast receivers, and he can hit the long ball.”

Waller added, however, that the Chargers seem to be too caught up in the computer age.

“They’re not alone,” he said. “Many teams try to computerize everything. Certain players play on certain downs, and players run in and out on every down. It amounts to calling the game by computer instead of the human element.

“That’s why I felt like I was a good coach. I had a feel for the game, and I made adjustments to meet given situations.”

Waller looks back on his season and a fraction in charge of the Chargers as a frustrating case of what might have been.

He was the second head coach in the Chargers’ 28-year history, following Sid Gillman on an interim basis, and led them to nine victories, seven defeats and three ties. They were 4-1 in 1969 after Gillman stepped down temporarily because of illness, then 5-6-3 in a 1970 season that was filled with disheartening near-misses.

Although it was assumed that Gillman would be back as coach, Waller said he had reason to believe he was Gillman’s heir apparent.

Gillman also was the general manager, and he didn’t figure to coach much longer. The Chargers were owned at that time by Gene Klein, who is now in the horse racing business and is the owner of Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors.

As it turned out, Waller never got another chance. Harland Svare eventually succeeded Gillman. He lasted only one full season and parts of two others.

Waller, now retired but an avid golfer with a 15 handicap, recalled the details of his brief coaching tenure with the Chargers:

“When we won four out of five after I took over as head coach, it was quite satisfying. The following season, if I’d had 16 or 18 more points, we would have been 12-2. We had those three ties--that was before they played overtime--and we lost two games by two points and two by three points. We were wiped out only twice.

“After that, I understood that if I would step down and allow Gillman to come back as head coach, I’d be the head coach eventually. So when Sid took over again in ‘71, I stayed on as offensive coordinator.

“But in the meantime, Klein made Svare the general manager, and when Gillman resigned late in the ’71 season, I didn’t get the job. Svare took over as interim coach, then signed for the following year. After that season, I was gone. I resigned to join George Allen with the Redskins.”

John Hadl was the Chargers’ No. 1 quarterback in those days, but Waller said that Klein was enamored with Marty Domres, a Columbia product who had been a first-round draft choice in 1969.

“In 1970, Klein wanted me to play Domres, which I didn’t want to do,” Waller said. “We were playing Denver, and I said to myself, ‘Hell, I won’t do it.’ So I started Hadl, and we led at the half, 17-0. Then I told Sid (Gillman), ‘I’m going to give you Domres now.’ We made one first down the whole second half and wound up in a 17-17 tie. Domres cost me several games that year.

“I told Klein, ‘There are 25 teams (Seattle and Tampa Bay have been added since) trying to kick our butts, and we’re kicking our own butts.’ But I have no bitterness toward him. We see each other once in a while, and we’re still friends.”

Waller described the 1971 season under Svare as a bittersweet experience.

“I had one big thrill that year,” Waller said. “We beat the Minnesota Vikings’ brains out, 30-14, and the players gave me the game ball. I’m proud of that.

“But aside from that, it was a tough year. Svare didn’t even go on the field for practice. I ran the offense and Phil Bengtson ran the defense, and we wound up 6-8.

“Svare brought in his own staff in ‘72, and that’s when the Chargers went down the drain. Everything went wrong, and they went 4-9-1. I was glad I was in Washington.”

Waller is a native of Griffin, Ga., and recently, he and Chicago Bear wide receiver Willie Gault were inducted into Griffin’s Hall of Fame. Waller was a running back at the University of Georgia and began his coaching career in 1946 at Decatur (Ga.) High School.

“That was a great start for me,” Waller said. “We had a 52-3 record, a 25-game winning streak and two state championships, and I was named coach of the year.”

After that, Waller served on the coaching staffs at Auburn, Texas and Clemson before he joined the Chargers as an assistant in 1966. After his six seasons in San Diego and six more in Washington, he went to the Rams with Allen in 1978. He later coached for the Chicago Blitz of the short-lived United States Football League, the Oakland Raiders and, finally, the Memphis Showboats of the USFL in 1985.

“By that time,” he said, “I had had enough of it.”

Memories?

“Where do I start?” he said. “Lance Alworth was the greatest natural talent I ever coached, yet Larry Morris was the greatest player. I coached Larry in high school, and he went on to Georgia Tech and the Rams and Bears.

“Hadl was outstanding, and Paul Lowe and Keith Lincoln and Ron Mix and Gary Garrison and Dickie Post, just to name a few. In ‘69, Post and Jim Nance (Boston Patriots) were neck and neck in rushing. In the final game, I said, ‘Let’s get the little guy the rushing title.’ I had our equipment manager check on how Nance was doing, and every time he did something, we gave the ball to Post. Dickie won.

“But of all the experiences in my career, the most rewarding was working with Sid Gillman. He gave my big break in pro football, and I’ll never forget that.

“Sid is the smartest football brain by far of anybody I’ve ever encountered. He has a thorough knowledge of every phase of the game, especially the passing game. He’s a true football genius.”

And why is Waller leaving San Diego for Florida?

“My wife has been trying to get me to move there for years,” he said. “She has about 40 relatives there. Also, my brother is in business in Pensacola.

“There’s no question about it, though. I’ll miss San Diego.”