Mike Nixon Mike Nixon ( November 21 , 1911 – September 22 , 2000 ) is a former American football player , coach and scout who spent close to a half - century connected to the game . His most prominent positions have been as head coach of the National Football League ' s Washington Redskins and Pittsburgh Steelers . Early life . The son of a coal miner , Nixon was born and raised in the Pittsburgh area community of Masontown , Pennsylvania and attended the University of Pittsburgh , where he played three seasons under the legendary Jock Sutherland , including action in the 1933 Rose Bowl . At Pitt , he won All - America recognition as a running back , while also working summers in the same coal mines as his father . He then advanced to the NFL , but played just one season with the Steelers in 1935 before entering the coaching fraternity at his alma mater the next year . During this same period , he also played third base in minor league baseball ' s Southern Association , while seeking other coaching opportunities . When Sutherland resigned on March 6 , 1939 , Nixon stayed on for a year before joining Bill Kern ' s staff at West Virginia University . It was shortly after this period that Nixon changed his name from its original " Nicksick , " basing the decision on a discussion with Sutherland , who said it would help him with respect to coaching positions in the South . Professional coaching career . Nixon departed after two seasons to return to the professional level as an assistant with the NFL ' s Brooklyn Dodgers . With player shortages beginning that year due to World War II , Nixon briefly resumed his playing career by signing a contract with the team on November 19 , 1942 . Nixon himself eventually left to serve as a lieutenant in the U . S . Navy for three years , but returned in 1946 as a Steelers assistant under his former coach Sutherland . He stayed in that role for the next six seasons , but left on June 3 , 1952 to join Joe Kuharich , who had been named head coach with the Chicago Cardinals . Kuharich ' s tenure with the team was brief , but when he was named as head coach of the Redskins after the 1953 NFL season , Nixon followed him to the nation ' s capital . Kuharich ' s five - year tenure in Washington was only slightly better than his Cardinals stint , with the mentor leaving for the head coaching position at the University of Notre Dame following the conclusion of the 1958 NFL season . On December 22 of that year , Nixon earned his first head coaching position when he was promoted by Redskins ' owner George Preston Marshall . The next two years would be miserable for Nixon , who watched his team compile a record of 4 - 18 - 2 , predictably resulting in his dismissal after the 1960 NFL season had ended . After seeking another head coaching job , Nixon settled for an assistant ' s role on February 11 , 1961 back with the Steelers under Buddy Parker . After a 6 - 8 campaign in his first year , the team improved to a 9 - 5 record the following year , and was one game away from winning the Eastern Conference title in 1963 . However , by the time the next season started , age and injuries had caught up with the Steelers . Two weeks before the start of the 1965 NFL season , Parker abruptly quit . Nixon was promoted to head coach the next day , but endured ( up to that time ) the franchise ' s worst season with a 2 - 12 mark . Nixon was fired after the season ended , but found work a few months later , again with Kuharich , now the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles . Following a 9 - 5 season in 1966 , the team won three less games the following year , then bottomed out with a 2 - 12 mark in 1968 . Once again , Nixon was looking for work after Kuharich was dismissed after the arrival of new owner Leonard Tose . On July 1 , 1969 , Nixon was signed as a scout for the Cleveland Browns , spending his first season looking only at teams in the American Football League . The strategy was for Nixon to gauge the strengths and weaknesses of the teams that would be facing the Browns after they changed leagues because the NFL - AFL merger . In subsequent years , Nixon would focus on college scouting , becoming the team ' s director of college scouting on February 20 , 1974 . He would keep that role until his retirement in the early 1980s .