Who is the 5th best coach of all time?

Share this page

Giant Octopodes

Giant Octopodes

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 29, 2015
Messages
1,438
Reaction score
981
Points
113
Location
Michigan
The "Mount Rushmore" of NFL coaches is pretty well established, I think it would be hard to argue against the 4 greatest coaches of all time being Bill Belichick, George Halas, Paul Brown, and Vince Lombardi, though folks may quibble regarding their order. If someone has an argument for why someone of those 4 doesn't deserve their spot or who deserves it more I'm certainly open to it.

Bill Belichick: needs no introduction on this board. We all know why he's here.
George Halas: the OG. Helped form the NFL, was a player, a coach, an owner, won a ridiculous number of games and championships, it goes on from there.
Paul Brown: defined what it means to be a NFL coach. The first to scout opponents, prospects, etc. Developed modern formations and concepts for the QB. Made the sport what it is.
Vince Lombardi: a key player in the lore of the NFL. Best post season winning percentage ever. Lots of championships. They named the Super Bowl trophy after him.

So that to me is easily the top 4, but who is #5? I think that is a lot more arguable and wide open and I'm curious what others think.
 
Hard to leave off Shula with Walsh and Gibbs in the conversation. As much as I hate Shula, he needs to be up there.
 
I'd go with Walsh, but my dark horse candidate is Tom Coughlin just because he beat Belichick twice and in both games the Giants were extremely well-prepared for us.
 
Walsh or Landry



take your pick
 
bideau said:
How could I forget Landry?
And yes, F Shula, but 347 wins is hard to ignore.
Click to expand...
he should have won more in the playoffs. He also was a known cheater.

oh and F Gibbs too - for some reason Coach Bill hates him and ran up the score. That is good enough a reason for me to hate him too!!
 
mikiemo83 said:
oh and F Gibbs too - for some reason Coach Bill hates him and ran up the score. That is good enough a reason for me to hate him too!!
Click to expand...

That must go back to his Giants days.
 
bideau said:
How could I forget Landry?
And yes, F Shula, but 347 wins is hard to ignore.
Click to expand...


1 of Walsh, Shula and Landry, in that order for me.

Also, I'm not so sure about Halas in the top 4 to be honest. Yeah he was there in the beginning and yes he coached forever but his big contribution to the NFL was the T formation offense. He was hard nosed but he wasn't an innovator. Plus in the '20s and '30s the NFL wasn't popular. Halas was crude & tough as a coach. He wasn't revered until he became the fatherly owner of the franchise.

My list:
1. BB, master student of the game & and a compilation of all the great coaches, master tactician, efficient cap wizardry, took Walsh's "player strength" theory from QB to every position, perfected data analysis in player evaluation and game planning. Treats all players equally. edit: known as a great interviewer able to get into the mind of potential players.

2. Lombardi, invented the concept of the coach as a leader of men and also a life manager. Every coach's ideal motivator.

3. Paul Brown, the father of modern football and BB's role model.

4. Bill Walsh, began the theory of coaching to players' strengths. Business like leader who demanded perfection for his short pass offense dictated by his noodle armed QB Virgil Carter.

5. Don Shula (don't @ me, he definitely deserves to be here)
 
chevss454 said:
Also, I'm not so sure about Halas in the top 4 to be honest. Yeah he was there in the beginning and yes he coached forever but his big contribution to the NFL was the T formation offense. He was hard nosed but he wasn't an innovator. Plus in the '20s and '30s the NFL wasn't popular. Halas was crude & tough as a coach. He wasn't revered until he became the fatherly owner of the franchise.
Click to expand...

Agree with the Halas opinion. Top 10, not top 5
 
mikiemo83 said:
Walsh, Landry


F shula
Click to expand...


Shula needs to be eliminated from the conversation due to the fact that he single handedly prevented Marino from winning a super bowl. As much of a douche as Marino was, he was a generation ahead of his time and by rights should have captured a Lombardi with even a middling head coach who hadn't been passed by by the game.
 
Would Walter Camp be in consideration for the Rushmore of Coaches? The guy is more accurately a college coach, but he basically codified the game of football...
 
foley11 said:
Shula needs to be eliminated from the conversation due to the fact that he single handedly prevented Marino from winning a super bowl. As much of a douche as Marino was, he was a generation ahead of his time and by rights should have captured a Lombardi with even a middling head coach who hadn't been passed by by the game.
Click to expand...

Shula, the coach, won with historically great defenses and he also won with historically great offenses. He won games in the dead ball era and won in the live ball era. He won more games than any other coach...ever. BB can't catch him until after the 2024 season. So IF Shula's Dolphins with Marino had won a championship or IF his Colts had won SB III or IF his early '80s Dolphins had defeated the Walsh/Montana 49ers or the Riggins/Redskins in the SB, Shula would be much higher on my list. Shula's biggest problem in winning in the playoffs is that his starting QB was often injured and backups named Morrall, Matte and David Woodley suddenly became his QB.
Shula, the person, is known to be a jerk, but Shula was a great coach.
He belongs in the top 5.
 
chevss454 said:
Shula, the coach, won with historically great defenses and he also won with historically great offenses. He won games in the dead ball era and won in the live ball era. He won more games than any other coach...ever. BB can't catch him until after the 2024 season. So IF Shula's Dolphins with Marino had won a championship or IF his Colts had won SB III or IF his early '80s Dolphins had defeated the Walsh/Montana 49ers in the SB, Shula would be much higher on my list. Shula's biggest problem in winning in the playoffs is that his starting QB was often injured and backups named Morrall, Matte and David Woodley suddenly became his QB.
Shula, the person, is known to be a jerk, but Shula was a great coach.
He belongs in the top 5.
Click to expand...


I think younger Shula was all those things you are talking about. I think his last 10 years it was more about his ego than being the right man for the job.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top