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15 Greatest Head Coaches in NFL History

Discussion in 'Miami Dolphins Forum' started by The_Dark_Knight, Jun 3, 2013.

  1. The_Dark_Knight

    The_Dark_Knight Defender of the Truth

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    Okay, should Don Shula be number one on this list? Maybe, maybe not, but certainly at #11 the Don deserves to be ahead of some of the names listed ahead of him.

    Five Super Bowl appearances
    The first head coach to go to three consecutive Super Bowls
    Two consecutive Super Bowl wins
    The ONLY head coach to have an undefeated season
    The All time winningest coach in NFL history.

    And he's listed at #11 behind George Seifert, Jimmy Johnson, John Madden, Hank Stram?

    Really?????
     
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  2. VManis

    VManis Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Those were the names that jumped out at me as well and the rationale they give for being ahead of Shula doesn't hold water.

    • Seifert - NFL's all time winningest coach with one team. Notice that little caveat at the end, that's because he is actual behind Shula and others in winning percentage
    • JJ - He is credited for building the Cowboys and taking them from worst to first. Fair enough but didn't Don do that with the Phins as well?
    • Madden - If we are counting regular season winning percentage that highly then were is George Allen on that list?
    • Stram - Guess we are weighting those AFL titles pretty heavily.
     
  3. MonstBlitz

    MonstBlitz Nobody's Fart Catcher

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    I won't comment on most of the older coaches because I know very little about them. But George ****ing Seifert ahead of Shula is criminal.
     
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  4. Frumundah Finnatic

    Frumundah Finnatic U Mad Miami?

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    Walsh at 8?
    JJ ahead of Shula?
    Bellichick isnt even on the list?

    GTFO.
     
  5. 54Fins

    54Fins "In Gase we trust"

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    over there
    Shula coached 6 SB teams.
    Still, it's silly seeing some of those names ahead of him.
     
  6. P h i N s A N i T y

    P h i N s A N i T y My Porpoise in Life

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    I got upset for a second there. NFL Network will be having a greatest coaches special. At first thought I already missed it, and they were that stupid.
     
  7. finfansince72

    finfansince72 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    George Seifert above Shula makes the list irrelevant nonsense. You just don't understand the NFL at a very basic, fundamental level if you have Seifert over Shula. Theres no argument to be made that Seifert is better than Shula. Hell Seifert being in the top 10 is absurd. Above Shula and Chuck Noll? I mean seriously, I'd laugh in someone's face and dismiss them as an idiot about sports if they even tried to sell me this load of nonsense. Embarrassing that someone actually wrote this and expects to be taken seriously.
     
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  8. firedan

    firedan Well-Known Member

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    Those guys couldn't carry Shulas jock strap.
     
  9. MikeHoncho

    MikeHoncho -=| Censored |=-

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    So it is true. Shula did wear a jock for games!

    Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk HD
     
  10. cdz12250

    cdz12250 Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Who's better by winning percentage and number of titles won?

    Lombardi.
    Halas.
    Then Shula.

    Shula won more games than either Halas or Lombardi.

    By objective measures, Shula is in the top three.
     
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  11. smahtaz

    smahtaz Pimpin Ain't Easy

    This list a great example of lazy journalism. Nothing to see here.
     
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  12. The_Dark_Knight

    The_Dark_Knight Defender of the Truth

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    Based on those names listed, if I had to make a Top 10 list...

    1. Paul Brown- Not only do his 7 titles make him the greatest, some of the greatest NFL Coaches coaches under him
    1. Vince Lombardi- 9 Seasons with the Packers, 6 titles to include 2 Super Bowls
    2. Curly Lambeau- 6 titles and 226 wins
    3. Don Shula- 6 Super Bowl appearances; 2 Super Bowl victories; only undefeated season; all time winningest coach
    4. Chuck Noll- Four Super Bowl victories in 6 years during the 70's; enough said
    5. Tom Landry- 4 Super Bowl appearances; 2 Super Bowl victories
    6. George "Papa Bear" Halas- This may seem like a slap in the face of Papa Bear, but the league was smaller then and he coached for 50 years. Odds were in his favor.
    7. Joe Gibbs- Four Super Bowl appearances; three victories in four years...with three different quarterbacks!
    8. Marv Levy (Add on)- Four consecutive Super Bowl appearances. Probably the greatest coach to never win a Super Bowl
    9. Bill Walsh- Three Super Bowl titles and the founding father of the west coast offense. He deserves the top 10
    10. Bud Grant- 4 Super Bowl appearances. Second greatest coach to never win a Super Bowl
     
  13. Jt0323

    Jt0323 Fins Up! Luxury Box

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    At first I thought it was a real article. Anyone could write the crap he did.

    see look.

    Top 10 Greatest QBs of all time!
    1. Mark Sanchez
    2. Tim Tebow
    3. Greg McElroy
    4. Ronnie Brown
    5. Ryan Leaf
    6. Cooper Manning
    7. Shane Falco
    8. Phillip Rivers
    9. Tony Romo
    10. Chad Henne
     
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  14. Frumundah Finnatic

    Frumundah Finnatic U Mad Miami?

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    I think Ronnie threw a better spiral than Sanchez.
     
  15. The G Man

    The G Man Git 'r doooonnne!!!

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  16. bakedmatt

    bakedmatt Well-Known Member

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    Good to see Shane Falco get some love.

    [​IMG]
     
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  17. Larryfinfan

    Larryfinfan 17-0...Priceless Club Member

    Wow....just wow...the LEADING all time coach in wins, playoff appearances and btw, engineered the only PERFECT season, #11....you gotta be kidding me...I suppose BB will #1 cause he's the league and media darling... I'm pretty shocked he's not in the top 2-3....someone goofed up there...
     
  18. Da 'Fins

    Da 'Fins Season Ticket Holder Staff Member Club Member

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    There have been several who've won more titles. Ranking coaches is always tough (esp. b/c we tend to ignore older eras).

    I'd have:

    1. Lombardi (easy)
    2. Paul Brown (first true innovator)
    3. Shula (won everywhere; if he had given up GM duties and had one worth his salt in 80s/90s he'd have more then 2 SBs).
    4. Walsh (changed game)
    5. Landry
    6. George Halas
    7. Chuck Noll (great stretch in 70's but the drafting was key - greatest drafts in history in early 70's imo).
    8. Lambeau
    9. Belichick
    10. Gibbs

    I don't see how any of those could be left out of the top 10. Other good ones - but I'd take them as coaches.
     
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  19. smahtaz

    smahtaz Pimpin Ain't Easy

    Their '74 draft was amazing. Swann, Lambert, Stallworth and Webster. They also added Donnie Shell as a UDFA.
     
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  20. Aquafin

    Aquafin New Member

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    this is a travesty of justice . Jimmy Johnson should never be ahead Knoll or Shula in fact I would put Mike Shanahan before Jimmy Johnson.

    I will tell you this the media needs to show Shula more respect or they wont have any credibility with me.:tantrum:
     
  21. Paul 13

    Paul 13 Chaotic Neutral & Unstable Genius Staff Member

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    Seifert? :rofl:
     
  22. RevRick

    RevRick Long Haired Leaping Gnome Club Member

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    That would be my basic list. Might argue about Levy, but Johnson on this list is beyond travesty. The original list at the top of this page is utter bovine scatology!!
     
  23. GARDENHEAD

    GARDENHEAD Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    I'm watching the ESPN show about the top 20 coaches of all time. They didn't even have Siefert in the list of 10 coaches who missed the cut. JJ was #13. They're counting down and they haven't mentioned Shula yet. He's at least in the top 5. Paul Brown #6.
     
  24. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Shula should be #1, hands down he is just the best there has been.

    JJ's issue is the list is "NFL" not "Football Coaches", so his time a :theu: doesn't count.

    All time pro football coaches I'd toss the CFL's Wally Buono on the list as well.

    Interesting thing about Bud Grant is he also got his Head Coaching start in the CFL and was there nearly a decade and had a ton of success.
     
  25. Da 'Fins

    Da 'Fins Season Ticket Holder Staff Member Club Member

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    Truly was. It's just utterly insane to think that you can come out of one draft with 4, yes, count 'em, 4 HOF players.

    Seriously ... insane.

    And then:

    '69 - Joe Green, L.C. Greenwood, Jon Kolb
    '70 - Bradshaw, Blount
    '71 - Jack Ham, Dwight White, Ernie Holmes, Mike Wagner, Larry Brown (OT)
    '72 - Franco Harris, Steve Furness (not as great as others, but still, you got a HOF RB ...)
    '73 - pretty much a bomb. But, '74 makes up for a multitude of sins.
     
  26. smahtaz

    smahtaz Pimpin Ain't Easy

    Lombardi won 5 titles and 75% of his games. He's clearly #1. It's pretty much a toss up between Shula and Halas for #2.
     
  27. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    Shula is #1, no one did what he did, and keep in mind Lombardi won his title when the NFL was rather small, it's bit like Red Auerbach's Celtics.
     
  28. WhiteIbanez

    WhiteIbanez Megamediocremaniacal

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    Paul Brown told Bill Walsh his offense would never work in the NFL.
    Hired Bill Johnson. :lol:
     
  29. PhinishLine

    PhinishLine Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    Don't see how in the end, if we judge everything by winning...you don't give the nod to the guy with the most wins. That being said, if the all-time winningest coach isn't in the Top 3...then success can't be all about winning. If that's the case, Marty Shottenheimer needs to be in the pantheons of greatness.
     
  30. GARDENHEAD

    GARDENHEAD Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    By that logic, the all time greatest runningback of all time is Emmit Smith.
     
  31. PhinishLine

    PhinishLine Season Ticket Holder Club Member

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    You can make a case for that. He's got the stats and the wins.

    Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4 Beta
     
  32. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

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    I think any top 4 would have to be Shula, Brown, Lombardi, Walsh and you could but them in whatever order you wanted and it would be hard to argue.

    The next tier would include Halas, Landry, Gibbs & Noll, again, whatever order.

    the last 2 spots could be used for any of these: Belicheck, Coughlin, Levy, Lambeau, Grant, Strahm, Gillman
     
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  33. padre31

    padre31 Premium Member Luxury Box

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    I cannot see putting Strahm on the list over Jimmy Johnson, JJ had far more long term success then Strahm.
     
  34. Onehondo

    Onehondo Senior Member Club Member

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    This!

    Miami's 1972 season was amazing and Shula was the Architect. He lost his star quarterback early in the season and plugged in Earl Morrall and didn't miss a beat. The same Earl Morrall a lot of people thought was washed up. He is truly one of the greatest coaches of all times, if not the greatest coach.
     
  35. Fin D

    Fin D Sigh

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    Huh?

    In 9 years JJ had a .555 Win% in the regular season.
    In 17 years Stram had .575 Win% in the regular season.
     
  36. MrClean

    MrClean Inglourious Basterd Club Member

    Why should we even care what some nobody named Jeric Griffin on some obscure site called rantsports.com thinks?
     
  37. steveincolorado

    steveincolorado Spook, Storme & Pebbles

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    IMO, Paul Brown.
     
  38. Da 'Fins

    Da 'Fins Season Ticket Holder Staff Member Club Member

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    This is ESPN's list up to date. Shula #3. Clearly Walsh will be #2 and Lombardi #1. There is simply no argument for Shula over Lombardi. Lombardi was dominant. The NFL was smaller but that meant teams were more stacked - which made it tougher. Shula is among the best ever but #of all-time wins shows only longevity not greatness.

    There is no way that Emmit Smith is better than Jim Brown. More longevity but no one would take Emmit at his best over Brown at his best.

    Lombardi is arguably the greatest coach in any sport, ever.

    Btw, this was a great story that Jerry Kramer (who should clearly be in the HOF) told about Lombardi the other night on ESPN:

     
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  39. Puka-head

    Puka-head My2nd Fav team:___vs Jets Club Member

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    What a load of crape this list is!
    Ronnie Brown below Sanchize?!?

    LoL Ronnie made the best of the rest list for all time top ten lefty QBs

    Sanchez? Top ten QB to get his helmet stuffed up his centers...asterix
     
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  40. Puka-head

    Puka-head My2nd Fav team:___vs Jets Club Member

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    Actually I think I would really like to party with this cat. Hes obviously got a really good connection. That shtuffs got to be dang near pure.
     

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