on a championship without him, and since we have him it looks like we can't miss." White did not disappoint: he led the league in rushing with 567 yards on 152 attempts. However, the team was unable to capitalize on White's performance compiling a record of just two wins against nine losses, including a season-ending string of six straight defeats. After the season, White sailed on to England and never again played for the Pirates. White would go on to become one of the longest serving justices in the history of the U.S. Supreme Court. After seeing the disappointing results of paying big money for a star player, in Rooney determined to pursue a star coach. He offered the head coaching job to Jock Sutherland, who was a legendary football coach and "national hero". Sutherland had just stepped down as head coach at the University of Pittsburgh. The offer was to have been in excess of the $13,000 annual salary (roughly $ today) Sutherland earned at Pitt. When Sutherland spurned the offer (due most likely to the disdain in which he held the professional game) McNally was retained as the Pirates' coach, although he announced his retirement as a player. The 1939 season started just as the previous season had ended: with a string of losses. After the third straight loss (which stretched the two season run of failure to nine games), McNally resigned as coach. Despite compiling a coaching record with the Pirates of just 6–19, Johnny "Blood" McNally would enter the Hall of Fame in 1963. McNally was replaced by Walt Kiesling, who had been McNally's assistant coach for the previous two seasons. Their seventh season less than half played, the Pirates had just hired their fifth head coach. Kiesling was unable to salvage the season; the team ended 1939 with a worst yet mark of 1–9–1. The season's lone win came in the season's final game against the Philadelphia Eagles, with whom the Steelers shared the league cellar: the Eagles compiled an identical 1–9–1 record with their season's sole bright spot being an earlier triumph over the Steelers. The victory broke a winless streak that had extended to nearly 14 months. Through the 1930s, the Pirates never finished higher than second place in their division, or with a record better than .500. 1940–41: A new name and a "new" team In early 1940, Rooney decided that he