Chase Stuart
Footballguy
I'm going through the database here, and I've come up on something surprising.
If a coach's career playoff record is 10-0, and another coach's career playoff record is 0-0, I'm counting the first coach as "10 games better" than the second coach. Basically I'm seeing how many games over .500 the first coach is (10), how many games over .500 the second coach is (0), and subtracting the two.
By my count, from 1970-2005, the biggest advantage by a head coach when he coached the team with more regular season wins is +8. Joe Gibbs did this twice in 1991. He had a 12-4 career playoff record when the Redskins beat Jerry Glanville's (3-3) Falcons, and a 13-4 record when the next week they beat Wayne Fontes' (1-0) Lions.
The only other two times a coach was at home with such a big playoff advantage was Bill Belichick (10-1) vs. Jack Del Rio (0-0), but the Patriots had a worse record that year. The other was when Don Coryell (2-5) beat Chuck Noll (14-4) in Pittsburgh, but the Chargers and Steelers were both 6-3 that year.
Can anyone think of a time where the better team had a coach with much more playoff success?
(FWIW, Belichick/Schottenheimer was +17, the largest margin I can see).
If a coach's career playoff record is 10-0, and another coach's career playoff record is 0-0, I'm counting the first coach as "10 games better" than the second coach. Basically I'm seeing how many games over .500 the first coach is (10), how many games over .500 the second coach is (0), and subtracting the two.
By my count, from 1970-2005, the biggest advantage by a head coach when he coached the team with more regular season wins is +8. Joe Gibbs did this twice in 1991. He had a 12-4 career playoff record when the Redskins beat Jerry Glanville's (3-3) Falcons, and a 13-4 record when the next week they beat Wayne Fontes' (1-0) Lions.
The only other two times a coach was at home with such a big playoff advantage was Bill Belichick (10-1) vs. Jack Del Rio (0-0), but the Patriots had a worse record that year. The other was when Don Coryell (2-5) beat Chuck Noll (14-4) in Pittsburgh, but the Chargers and Steelers were both 6-3 that year.
Can anyone think of a time where the better team had a coach with much more playoff success?
(FWIW, Belichick/Schottenheimer was +17, the largest margin I can see).