DB Doug Plank (official thread)

[Buckskin86]

Doug Plank, a former NFL safety who played for Woody Hayes at Ohio State from 1971-7, understands the cult of personality in college football.

Hayes was an icon, just like Paterno. He was a tyrant, often physical with his players. And at the Gator Bowl in Dec. 1978, an irate Hayes reacted to an interception by punching a player on the opposing team.

He was fired a day later, at age 65.

?In college, most places feel like a compound, like you?re in your own little world,? Plank said. ?When you get guys who have been around forever, you can see how egos get out of control. You can be intoxicated into thinking that you are really that good.?

Yet Plank also thinks the Sandusky scandal will be the last of its kind.

Let?s hope he?s right.

?A few years ago, I was with the New York Jets and (head coach) Rex Ryan gave an impassioned speech to the team,? Plank said. ?By the time I walked back to the office, my wife had called me and said, ?I understand Rex was very emotional, that he had tears in his eyes.?

?I sat there stunned. This is how fast times are changing. The days of keeping quiet are gone. Anything that happens goes viral in five minutes. In the past, people felt they could operate with stealth, and do it without knowledge getting out. Those days are gone. And that?s a good thing.?

http://www.azcentral.com/2012/review/news/articles/20121227story-of-year-bickley.html

 

[Buckskin86]

Preds' Doug Plank prepares for playoff matchup against former team
Orlando coach Doug Plank downplays storyline but says a win against the Philadelphia Soul would be "satisfying"

August 2, 2013|By Brendan Sonnone, Orlando Sentinel

The Orlando Predators take on the Philadelphia Soul in the opening round of the Arena Football League playoffs. Preds coach Doug Plank guided the Soul to the ArenaBowl last year in his one season with the franchise and is well aware of the challenge his team faces.

A cracking sounds echoes throughout the empty Florida Citrus Bowl as two Orlando Predators collide in a supposedly non-contact practice drill.

While teammates cheer at the impact, coach Doug Plank grins.

"Philly week," Plank shouts to his team.

The Preds (7-11) will take on the host Philadelphia Soul (12-6) at the Wells Fargo Center at 7 Saturday night in the opening round of the Arena Football League playoffs. It will be a homecoming for Plank, who guided the Soul to an ArenaBowl berth last year in his only season with the franchise.

"Any time that you play against a team that you've coached for or played for, whether it's players or coaches, everybody is going to pick up their game a little bit more," Plank said. "Whatever extra enthusiasm or attention I want to apply to this game, they're going to do the same."

Plank took over a Soul team that went 6-12 in 2011, the season before he arrived. He left for Orlando after the Preds gave him complete control of personnel decisions, which he did not have in Philadelphia.

Plank wanted the challenge of resurrecting a franchise that went 4-14 last season and missed the postseason for the first time since 1991.

"I didn't leave [Philadelphia] with one bad thing to say about anybody," Plank said. "I felt like I could make a difference [in Orlando]. The train wasn't off the tracks like it was in Orlando.''

cont...

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...0802_1_philadelphia-soul-preds-rayshaun-kizer

 

[Buckskin86]

Doug Plank is still hitting 'em hard in any arena
By Chuck Fouts, Saturday

When Doug Plank was playing football at Norwin High School in North Huntington Pennsylvania all he could think about was playing for his beloved Penn State University. But then on a recruiting trip a PSU scout told him that he was too small to be a defensive back at a major division one school. Luckily for Plank, Earle Bruce, then an assistant at The Ohio State University was passing through the area. Bruce saw Doug and asked him how he felt about becoming a Buckeye. The rest, as they say, is collegiate football history.

After three years of playing defensive back under the venerable coach Woody Hayes at Ohio State, Plank was drafted by the Bears in the 12th round of the 1975 draft. Many of you will remember that draft for the running back the Bears drafted in the first round but that's another story (here's a hint: Doug's middle name is Walter). Plank soon became known throughout the NFL as one of the league's fiercest hitters. His style was lead with the helmet and hit the target as hard as you can. Of course this style of play also earned him a rather dubious reputation of being a dirty player. Remember, this was before spearing was so frowned upon by the league. There was no denying that the style worked as Plank led the Bears in tackles his rookie year.

Doug Plank played his entire 8 year career with the Bears and finished with 15 interceptions and almost that many concussions. Late in his playing days defensive coordinator Buddy Ryan developed a new defense that would soon make the Chicago Bears the most feared team in the league. It was basically an eight man front with one or two blitzers on every play. He called his new defense the "46". Now I tell you this because many Chicago fans have always thought it was because there were four down lineman and six backers that Buddy chose to call it the "46" defense. It was not. It was named after the uniform number of his hard hitting safety who always played one or two steps off the line of scrimmage and was sometimes coming after the quarterback and sometimes dropping back into coverage. Ryan once said "Saying the 46 is a simple eight man front scheme is like saying Marilyn Monroe was just a girl." When Plank's career was prematurely ended by yet another concussion Ryan told him the new defense was going to make him famous. This was only semi-prophetic as I believe the jersey number is now far more famous than the man.

Soon after his retirement from professional football Plank moved to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area in Arizona where he became the owner of several Burger King franchises. After a very successful 15 year career in the fast food restaurant business Plank was called back into football. In 2002 he became an assistant coach in the Arena Football League. He was soon promoted to being a head coach and in 2007 was named coach of the year while with the Georgia Force. This led to assistant coaching stints back in the NFL with the Atlanta Falcons and New York Jets. After a few years away Plank is now back in the Arena league. In fact his new team, the Orlando Predators just recently lost in the playoffs to another of his old teams, the Philadelphia Soul.

cont..

http://www.chicagonow.com/chicago-s...-plank-is-still-hitting-em-hard-in-any-arena/

 

[Buckskin86]

Secrets Of A Hitter: How Doug Plank Inspired The NFL's Meanest Defense

Adapted from Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), available now.


Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football

Of all the Bears I spent time with, my favorite was Doug Plank. He was off the roster by '85 yet remained the spirit of the team, the personification of the vicious, hard-hitting 46, the defensive scheme that defined the Bears in the 1980s. We met in Scottsdale, where Plank has lived for the last several years. In his playing days, he was a shade under six feet, a biscuit under 200, a quick, mean safety who roamed all over the field. His hair was surfer blond, his eyes a glazed, happy blue. Every player has a Doug Plank story. He was a maniac. From first play to last, his career was defined by big hits. "I remember his final game," wrote Steve McMichael, a defensive end who embodied the Bear's chaotic spirit. "A big old behemoth pulling guard … came around. Here goes Doug, forcing the play. He came up, the guy didn't try to cut him, so Doug took him on high. Doug took his ass out—boom, hit him as hard as he could. It laid out the guard, but it pinched both nerves on both sides of [Doug's] neck so badly that all he could do was stand there."

"Nah, that's not what happened," Plank told me. "It was a short pass, a curl. I was coming from my safety position cause the pass was only 10 yards. I was breaking on the ball and didn't realize that another one of our players was coming just as hard from the other side. Otis Wilson. As I was getting ready to put my helmet into the receiver, he fell down. At the last second—I don't even know if I really remember this—I saw a flash of Otis coming full speed. We went head first. Next thing I know, I was on all fours with something dripping from my face. My helmet had come down and opened my nose. It was busted, blood pouring out. And next to me is Otis on his back, eyes wide open, staring into oblivion, out cold."

cont...

http://deadspin.com/secrets-of-a-hitter-how-doug-plank-inspired-the-nfls-1455135275