Bill Austin

Who was Bill Austin?

William Lee Austin was a former American football player and coach in the National Football League, having played for the New York Giants for seven seasons and served as head coach for both the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1966 to 1968 and the Washington Redskins in 1970. He died on May 24, 2013 at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Bill played for Oregon State University in college, earning All-Coast honors as a tackle in 1948. He also played in the 1949 East-West Shrine Game.

Austin coached for the Green Bay Packers during two of their championship seasons before becoming the Steelers head coach. However, during his three years with the Steelers, he failed to produce a winning season, finishing 11-28-3 over that span, and was replaced after the 1968 season by Chuck Noll. In 1969, Austin once again joined his former boss with the Packers, Vince Lombardi, in Washington as an assistant, then took over as head coach when Lombardi died of cancer on September 3, 1970. Dismissed after that season, he returned to his role as an assistant coach in the NFL for the remainder of his career, including a stint as Offensive Line Coach for the New York Giants in the early 1980s.