Same old Buddy: Brash as ever

Hes older now, walks slowly, looks smaller. Buddy Ryan is 80-years old now, 21 years removed from his days coaching the Eagles, 16 years removed from his last coaching job.

A lot has changed. A lot hasn't.

He still talks a great game.

If we had had the owner they have there know, Ryan said, we would have probably won five or six Super Bowls.

Five or six. Typical Buddy. Its reassuring to know hes still got that old-time Buddy Ryan bluster.

Ryan, who captured the spirit of Philadelphia (see story) during his five-year trash-talking, Cowboy-hating, bounty-paying, body bag-filling reign as Eagles head coach, will be honored at halftime of the Eagles game Monday night at the Linc against the Bears, who Ryan won a Super Bowl ring with as defensive coordinator in 1985.

Joining Ryan on the field at halftime will be about 20 of his former players, including Pro Bowlers Seth Joyner, Clyde Simmons, Keith Jackson and Keith Byars.

I appreciate getting to come back to Philadelphia, Ryan said Sunday in a conference call with Philly media. I was looking forward to seeing a bunch of the guys. I hadn't seen some of them since I left there. I always enjoy going back to Philly because you usually get a big crowd, and we're looking forward to being there.

Ryans last three teams won 31 games, but he was fired after the 1990 season and a third consecutive playoff loss, the first one in a conference semifinal in Chicago -- the Fog Bowl -- the next two in home wild-card games.

We went to the playoffs three years in a row, we just needed a little bit to go to the Super Bowl, Ryan said. We had been very successful against the people in our division. We should have continued that and went right along and one more year would have been there. That was the sad thing, we didn't get a chance to do it. Had some great players.

We were going to draft a couple people that we needed, and we knew who they were and they would have helped us get going. We had an opportunity to pick up a big offensive tackle Erik Williams. We could have got him.

Instead, Ryan was fired by owner Norman Braman and replaced by Rich Kotite, a move that infuriated Ryan.

Then again, Ryan was infuriated by almost every decision made by Braman, aka The Guy in France.

Two decades later, hes still blasting Braman.

The ownership I had was tough to coach under, Ryan said. The one that you have there now, Jeff Lurie, he's done a great job to help to build. I think he's done a super job.

Ryans return to Philly is part of a renewed effort on the part of Lurie to re-connect with the Eagles past.

Eric Allen and Jim Johnson were added to the teams Honor Roll last week, and several other Eagles, including Joyner and Tra Thomas, are serving as honorary captains for various home games.

The Eagles are honoring Ryan in conjunction with the 13th annual Otho Davis Scholarship banquet Tuesday evening at the Sheraton Society Hill. Davis, the Eagles legendary trainer from 1973 through 1995, was very close with Ryan.

The Otho Davis Foundation has awarded over 100,000 in scholarships for aspiring sports medicine students.

So its a big homecoming weekend for Ryan, who will return home to Kentucky on Wednesday.

Well, you know, the greatest defense to ever play in the NFL is the '85 Bears, Ryan said. The best front four that was ever assembled, and there has been a bunch of them, was Reggie White, Clyde Simmons, that group there, Jerome Brown, Mike Pitts, Mike Golic. So that was really the best athletes on the front four of all the big ones. And I've been associated with most of the big ones in a coaching capacity.

We thought we had a great team, and we needed one more draft to get there. You know we had reached the playoffs three years in row so we needed to win a Super Bowl, but we didn't get a chance.

Ryans teams went 0-3 in the playoffs, scored just one touchdown in those three games, losing by a combined 61-25.

But those teams are remembered for the tremendous personalities that all came together during one unforgettable era in South Philly.

Ive lived in Philadelphia since being drafted in 1971 by the Eagles, said Harold Carmichael, the Eagles all-time leading receiver and president of the Otho Davis Scholarship Foundation. There have been many good times for the Eagles in those 40 years, but Buddys years were special.

Those guys were like rock stars. You knew them by a single name. When you said Buddy, Reggie, Randall, Jerome, Wes, Andre, Quick, Seth, and Clyde, people knew immediately who you were talking about.

Ryan was as much a personality as he was a coach. Hes one of only three head coaches in NFL history to coach three or more playoff games without winning any, yet hes still loved in a city that doesnt love very many coaches.

I don't know, he said when asked why that is. I just tried to be myself and it worked out in a way the fans were very jubilant. They loved our team. Great fans. It's always a pleasure to get back and see those people. ...

You got to be yourself. People can see through the false. Can't go nowhere far if your false.

Its been a tough few years for Ryan, whose wife Joanie has Alzheimer's Disease and lives in an assisted care facility. Ryan sold his beloved horse farm to be closer to Joanie. Then he contracted cancer this summer that required surgery in September and daily radiation treatments.

He gets his pleasure these days from watching sons Rex and Rob, who are both NFL coaches. Rex is the Jets head coach, Rob defensive coordinator of the Cowboys, who lost 34-7 to the Eagles last weekend.

I felt sorry Rob, Ryan said. They looked great. They looked like world champions, the Eagles did, on both sides of the ball.

Buddy still talks about winning championships. He won one with the Jets, another with the Bears. Monday night, for at least one night, hell be cheered at the Linc like a champion.

It's a great pleasure and a great honor, he said. I enjoyed my five years. They were great.

E-mail Reuben Frank at rfrank@comcastsportsnet.com