ESPN's top 20 coaches of all-time (1 Viewer)

[Ghost Rider]

They are doing one a day and so far have:

20. Tony Dungy19. Mike Shanahan18. Sid Gillman17. Marv Levy16. Hank Stram

15. Bud Grant

14. Tom Coughlin

13. Jimmy Johnson

12. John Madden

11. Bill Parcells

10. Curly Lambeau

09. Joe Gibbs

08. Tom Landry

07. Bill Belichick

I will update this post every day when another is added.

Anyone else following this? While ESPN is fairly clueless in general nowadays, I still find it fascinating to see how this list will pan out.

Anyone want to make predictions on top 5? I think the top 5, in order, will be:

5. Belichick

4. Gibbs

3. Noll

2. Walsh

1. Lombardi

Shula and Landry will just miss out on the top 5, probably being 6 and 7, I think.

 

[Grimace59]

I'd put Halas in the top 5

 

[zed2283]

They are doing one a day and so far have:

20. Tony Dungy

Stopped reading after this.

 

[Ghost Rider]

I think Dungy got the "First black coach to win a Super Bowl" nod, which I understand. There is no way he should have been on there otherwise, IMO. Very good head coach, yes, but while he made TB relevant, he couldn't get them over the hump, and then they won it the first year after he was fired, and then he had Peyton Manning for seven years and only managed one championship. His conservative nature doesn't work as well come postseason time nowadays.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Where's Rex Ryan?

 

[Tau837]

They are doing one a day and so far have:

20. Tony Dungy19. Mike Shanahan18. Sid Gillman17. Marv Levy16. Hank Stram

15. Bud Grant

14. Tom Coughlin

I will update this post every day when another is added.

Anyone else following this? While ESPN is fairly clueless in general nowadays, I still find it fascinating to see how this list will pan out.

Anyone want to make predictions on top 5? I think the top 5, in order, will be:

5. Belichick

4. Gibbs

3. Noll

2. Walsh

1. Lombardi

Shula and Landry will just miss out on the top 5, probably being 6 and 7, I think.

You must have inadvertently forgotten Paul Brown.

My top 7:

1. Lombardi

2. Brown

3. Shula

4. Halas

5. Walsh

6. Noll

7. Landry

I'd have to think about it more after that.

Curly Lambeau deserves a mention, but it's hard to figure out how to slot him in since he was so much earlier than everyone else on the list.

 

[tdmills]

I don't hold what Lombardi did back in the 1960's in as high of a regard as what happened in the 1980's-present.

Lombardi won 4 championships in 6 years when the NFL had between 14-16 teams in the entire league. His final championship came at the end of the merger, which expanded the league to 24 teams.

Bill Walsh won 3 super bowls in 8 years when the NFL had 28 teams.

Belichick won 3 super bowls in 4 years when the NFL had 32 teams, in a salary cap era.

 

[CapnJB]

Holmgren will probably fall into the 8-10 range.

 

[Sabertooth]

I agree. Holmgren was a great coach. If not for the refs blowing many calls in favor of the Stealers, he'd be the only coach to win Super Bowls with two different teams.

 

[tdmills]

I agree. Holmgren was a great coach. If not for the refs blowing many calls in favor of the Stealers, he'd be the only coach to win Super Bowls with two different teams.

Agreed, they should've won that game as well. His development of QBs is awesome as well.

 

[Tau837]

Holmgren will probably fall into the 8-10 range.

It's more likely that he won't be in the top 20.

 

[Ghost Rider]

Holmgren will probably fall into the 8-10 range.

It's more likely that he won't be in the top 20.

Agreed. With 13 left, the following are locks:

Lombardi

Walsh

Biggs

Belichick

Noll

Landry

Shula

Parcells

Paul Brown

Halas

That's 10. Three more, and I think Jimmy Johnson, Cowher and Madden are likely to be those three. Not saying I agree with those three, but I think that's who they will be, unless I am missing someone obvious, which I almost feel like I am.

Regarding the legacies of Cowher and Holmgren, imagine what happens if some of those awful calls are not made and the Seahawks end up winning that game. Not only does Holmgren become the first coach to win a Super Bowl with two teams, but I suspect Cowher doesn't retire when he did, instead coaching more to chase that elusive ring.

 

[Sabertooth]

I agree. Holmgren was a great coach. If not for the refs blowing many calls in favor of the Stealers, he'd be the only coach to win Super Bowls with two different teams.

Agreed, they should've won that game as well. His development of QBs is awesome as well.

Unrivaled I would say.

 

[Raiderfan32904]

Not one mention yet of John Madden?

HOF coach, SB Champion.

103-32-7 career coaching record, 76.3% winning pct,

5 AFC championship games

in a 10 year career.

 

[gandalas]

Not one mention yet of John Madden?

HOF coach, SB Champion.

103-32-7 career coaching record, 76.3% winning pct,

5 AFC championship games

in a 10 year career.

Look two posts above yours. He is there.

 

[Raiderfan32904]

Not one mention yet of John Madden?

HOF coach, SB Champion.

103-32-7 career coaching record, 76.3% winning pct,

5 AFC championship games

in a 10 year career.

Look two posts above yours. He is there.

I see that now. Conveniently buried off the bullet list. Bronco fan concedes he'll be there, but won't even include him on his list. Yeah, doesn't surprise me.

 

[Chase Stuart]

Holmgren will probably fall into the 8-10 range.

It's more likely that he won't be in the top 20.

Agreed. With 13 left, the following are locks:

Lombardi

Walsh

Biggs

Belichick

Noll

Landry

Shula

Parcells

Paul Brown

Halas

That's 10. Three more, and I think Jimmy Johnson, Cowher and Madden are likely to be those three. Not saying I agree with those three, but I think that's who they will be, unless I am missing someone obvious, which I almost feel like I am.

Regarding the legacies of Cowher and Holmgren, imagine what happens if some of those awful calls are not made and the Seahawks end up winning that game. Not only does Holmgren become the first coach to win a Super Bowl with two teams, but I suspect Cowher doesn't retire when he did, instead coaching more to chase that elusive ring.

I would say Curly Lambeau and Madden are locks.

 

[Workhorse]

I think the top 5 will be:

1. Vince Lombardi

2. Paul Brown

3. Bill Walsh

4. Bill Belichick

5. Don Shula

 

[Ghost Rider]

Not one mention yet of John Madden?

HOF coach, SB Champion.

103-32-7 career coaching record, 76.3% winning pct,

5 AFC championship games

in a 10 year career.

Look two posts above yours. He is there.

I see that now. Conveniently buried off the bullet list. Bronco fan concedes he'll be there, but won't even include him on his list. Yeah, doesn't surprise me.

Sensitive much?

Actually, when looking it up a bit more, Madden is definitely a lock. I had forgotten how awesome his winning percentage was, and I don't think only winning one championship will be held against him since he was often going against the Steelers dynasty.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

Madden's name recognition is almost higher than anyone else from that era due to the game alone.

 

[Don Quixote]

Jimmy Johnson at #13. http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/page/greatestcoach13/greatest-coaches-nfl-history-jimmy-johnson

 

[Bracie Smathers]

Paul Brown is number one with a bullet.

Lombardi only coached in the NFL for 9 years. He had fantastic success, winning 3 NFL championships and the first two Super Bowls and is well deserving to be mentioned as one of the top NFL coaches but he's not in the class of Paul Brown.

Paul Brown's coaching legacy shows an over-arching dominance from high school to college to the Naval training base during WWII to the AAFC to the NFL. He developed ground breaking coaching techniques that are still used today and his coaching tree that is unparalleled.

Everyone knows of six degrees of Kevin Bacon. Here are the direct coaching descendents of Paul Brown who either played under him or coached under him directly. All of these NFL head coaches will be prominently listed in the top-twenty NFL coaches:

One degree of separation

- Chuck Noll = Four Super Bowl victories

- Don Shula = Four Super Bowl victories,Two Super Bowl losses

- Blanton Collier = One NFL Championship, One NFL championship loss

- Bill Walsh = Four Super Bowl victories

Second degree of separation:

- Tony Dungy (from Chuck Noll) One Super Bowl victory

- Mike Holgren (from Bill Walsh) One Super Bowl victory with Two Super Bowl losses

- John Fox (from Chuck Noll) One Super Bowl loss

with four other less prominent HCs, Ray Perkins, Bill Arnsparger, Chuck Knox, Buddy Ryan

Third degree of separation:

- Bill Parcels (from Ray Perkins) Two Super Bowl victories, One Super Bowl loss

- Jeff Fisher (from Buddy Ryan) One Super Bowl loss

- Jon Gruden (from Bill Mike Holmgren) One Super Bowl victory

- Andy Ried (from Mike Holmgren) One Super Bowl loss

- Lovie Smith (from Tony Dungy) One Super Bowl loss

- Mike Tomlin (from Tony Dungy) One Super Bowl victory and one SB loss

Fouth degree of separation:

- Bill Belichick (from Bill Parcels) Four Super Bowl victories and two SB losses

- Bill Cowher (from Marty Shottenhiemer via Bill Arnsparger) One Super Bowl victory with one SB loss

- Tom Coughlin (from Bill Parcels) Two Super Bowl victories

Paul Brown directly coached his team to:

- All four AAFC championships

No other team won an All American Football Conference champsionship. The Browns under Paul Brown, dominated the league to such a degree that the league folded. In his AAFC records were an UNDEFEATED SEASON that occured decades prior to Don Shula's Miami Dolphins undefeated season in the early 1970s (Shula is a direct descendent of Paul Brown having played guard on early Cleveland champship teams)

The Browns were incorporated into the NFL during the 1950 season. The league decied to pit the upstart Browns against the NFL champion Eagles but the Browns beat the Eagles in their very first game by a score of 35 to 19 in Philadelphia. The Eagles tried to save face by claiming that the Browns were a BASKETBALL TEAM because they used the arm of Hall of Fame Quarterback Otto Graham who passed for 346 yards.

Paul Brown heard what the Eagles said. Later that season the Browns faced off against Philadelpia in the second-last game of the season. Here is the box score of the Browns offense from December 3rd 1950:

Runs - 41 for 69 yards

Passes - ZERO ATTEMPTS, ZERO YARDS, ZERO TOUCHDOWNS, ZERO INTERCEPTIONS

That is right, Paul Brown DIDN'T ATTEMPT A SINGLE PASS. The first and ONLY time in NFL history that a team didn't attempt ONE PASS.

Oh yeah, the Browns BEAT THE EAGLES 13 to 7 on their way to their first NFL Championship in their FIRST NFL season.

That my friends is Paul Brown in a nutshell.

He went to every single NFL Champship game from 1950 to 1956, winning half of those Championship games. He only had one losing season with the Browns, in 1956 but then came back and went to to another NFL Championship game in 1957.

Brown's coaching legacy in his coaching tree shows>

One NFL Championship

25 Super Bowl Victories

He developed so many innovations that built the game into what it is today. so many that I won't bother to list them but consider one wrinkle that he came up with that in his golden years, after Art Modell fired him and he wound up going to an expansion team, the Bengals, he developed a horizontal passing scheme for his weak armed QB with a young offensive coach, Bill Walsh, in what later would be called the West Coast offense.

The statistics that the Browns and Paul Brown wracked up in the AAFC have never been folded into the NFL even though many NFL teams came into the NFL along with the Browns in 1950 and even though the Browns dominated the decade of the 1950s the AAFC was still considered inferior and has never been recognized. If they were it would be an even bigger landslide in favor of Paul Brown and what he contributed to the game.

 

[Tau837]

Not one mention yet of John Madden?

HOF coach, SB Champion.

103-32-7 career coaching record, 76.3% winning pct,

5 AFC championship games

in a 10 year career.

The OP asked us for our top 5, not our top 20. I agree with the post above that says Madden should fall in the 11-13 range.

 

[Tau837]

Holmgren will probably fall into the 8-10 range.

It's more likely that he won't be in the top 20.

Agreed. With 13 left, the following are locks:

Lombardi

Walsh

Biggs

Belichick

Noll

Landry

Shula

Parcells

Paul Brown

Halas

That's 10. Three more, and I think Jimmy Johnson, Cowher and Madden are likely to be those three. Not saying I agree with those three, but I think that's who they will be, unless I am missing someone obvious, which I almost feel like I am.

Regarding the legacies of Cowher and Holmgren, imagine what happens if some of those awful calls are not made and the Seahawks end up winning that game. Not only does Holmgren become the first coach to win a Super Bowl with two teams, but I suspect Cowher doesn't retire when he did, instead coaching more to chase that elusive ring.

I would say Curly Lambeau and Madden are locks.

I mentioned Lambeau, but I'm not sure how to judge him since his career was so much earlier than most. Where would you rank him? Also, do you have any blog posts that address this topic? If so, will you link?

 

[Chase Stuart]

I mentioned Lambeau, but I'm not sure how to judge him since his career was so much earlier than most. Where would you rank him? Also, do you have any blog posts that address this topic? If so, will you link?

He won 6 NFL titles, so I have to think he's in the top ten. He's 4th in career wins and 4th in career games over .500: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/

I wrote this article on coaching records -- not coaches -- that put him 3rd.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/blog/?p=2331

 

[Buffaloes]

if it is an espn list, don't be surprised if the combo of their signature myopia and love for all things Northeast will push Belichick into the top 2.

ETA my top 5:

1. Brown

2. Walsh

3. Lombardi

4. Shula

5. Gibbs

 

[Adam Harstad]

I agree. Holmgren was a great coach. If not for the refs blowing many calls in favor of the Stealers, he'd be the only coach to win Super Bowls with two different teams.

Agreed, they should've won that game as well. His development of QBs is awesome as well.

Unrivaled I would say.

Shanahan's track record ain't too shabby, either. John Elway, Steve Young, Brian Griese, Jake Plummer, Jay Cutler, and Robert Griffin all made pro bowls under Shanahan. All six of them had their best seasons with Shanahan coaching (obviously not that impressive of a claim when it comes to Griffin ).

Bill Walsh's resume for QB development isn't as lengthy as either Shanahan's or Holmgren's, but when the first three names on your list are Ken Anderson, Joe Montana, and Steve Young, you pretty much win by default. Plus, he gets partial credit for Holmgren and Shanahan, since they are often considered branches of his coaching tree.

It's interesting that all three of these guys were so closely related, to be honest. Working with Walsh in 1987 and 1988, Holmgren from 1989 to 1991, and Shanahan in 1992 had to be the greatest quarterbacking masterclass in history. No wonder Steve Young broke all those records.

 

[joey]

Not that he'll make the top 20 but Tom Flores appeared in, and won, 2 Super Bowls.

That's an elite class to be in. But I don't think his winning % is good enough to make this list.

Signed,

Homer

 

[Godsbrother]

I agree. Holmgren was a great coach. If not for the refs blowing many calls in favor of the Stealers, he'd be the only coach to win Super Bowls with two different teams.

Agreed, they should've won that game as well. His development of QBs is awesome as well.

Holmgren's play-calling and time management were awful in that game.

 

[apalmer]

I agree. Holmgren was a great coach. If not for the refs blowing many calls in favor of the Stealers, he'd be the only coach to win Super Bowls with two different teams.

Cheer up--when Kleenex decides to sponsor a list of all-time great coaches, he'll win in a landslide.

 

[Ghost Rider]

John Madden is 12.

Also, Johnson at 13 is too high.

 

[3nOut]

This being ESPN, I think Da Coach will sneak in there somewhere in the 10-6 range. Not a bad record (121-95) overall and a .631 winning percentage with the Bears, which is what he would have ended up with had he not taken over a bad New Orleans team. Ditka's Bears won their Division 6 out of 7 years in their best years (1984-1990) flanked by finishing second outside those years (1983 and 1991).

 

[Ghost Rider]

I assumed Ditka would not make it, but given the buddy system voters tend to have when doing this, the fact that Ditka works for ESPN might very well get him in there.

Cowher is another interesting one. I thought he would be a cinch for the 15-20 range, but now, he will either not make it or be way too high.

 

[Tau837]

I definitely do not think of either Ditka or Cowher as being among the top 20 coaches of all time.

Agree Jimmy Johnson is too high, and so is Coughlin IMO.

I don't think Dungy should be on the list.

Lambeau should be in the top 11 somewhere, which would lock it up (Lombardi, Brown, Halas, Shula, Walsh, Landry, Noll, Gibbs, Belichick, Parcells, Lambeau, in some order). But it's an ESPN production, so I fully expect them to ignore Lambeau in favor of Ditka, or something like that.

 

[Ghost Rider]

In regards to Jimmy Johnson, people love to (incorrectly) say that Mike Shanahan has never done anything outside of the two Super Bowl winning seasons, but if you take away the four seasons those two guys won Super Bowls, their records look like this:

Johnson 55-57

Shanahan 141-119

Plus, Johnson's starting QB in EVERY season he coached in the NFL was a future Hall of Famer, while Shanahan was often having to go with guys like Griese, Plummer and Rex Grossman as his starter, and Shanahan's resume looks better, while Johnson's looks worse.

People love to use the "He inherited a 1-15 team," but, no, he inherited a 3-13 team and made them worse in his first season, before turning things around, so he does not get a pass for that first season. And people love to act like that 3rd Super Bowl was Johnson's, but sorry, it doesn't work that way. Johnson simply didn't have enough longevity and sustained greatness to be called one of the best 20 NFL coaches ever. But I get why some love to overrated him, as he was the coach of the Dallas Cowboys, America's Team, the team that always dominates the headlines when they are very good/great.

 

[Chase Stuart]

In regards to Jimmy Johnson, people love to (incorrectly) say that Mike Shanahan has never done anything outside of the two Super Bowl winning seasons, but if you take away the four seasons those two guys won Super Bowls, their records look like this:

Johnson 55-57

Shanahan 141-119

Plus, Johnson's starting QB in EVERY season he coached in the NFL was a future Hall of Famer, while Shanahan was often having to go with guys like Griese, Plummer and Rex Grossman as his starter, and Shanahan's resume looks better, while Johnson's looks worse.

People love to use the "He inherited a 1-15 team," but, no, he inherited a 3-13 team and made them worse in his first season, before turning things around, so he does not get a pass for that first season. And people love to act like that 3rd Super Bowl was Johnson's, but sorry, it doesn't work that way. Johnson simply didn't have enough longevity and sustained greatness to be called one of the best 20 NFL coaches ever. But I get why some love to overrated him, as he was the coach of the Dallas Cowboys, America's Team, the team that always dominates the headlines when they are very good/great.

You can't ignore Johnson's success in college, either, when it comes to why people have a high opinion of him. Not relevant necessarily for this topic, but it's a big reason why he has such a sterling reputation.

 

[Chase Stuart]

Even for ESPN, leaving Lambeau off the list would make no sense. He's one of only two coaches to win six NFL championships. And it's not like he doesn't have a famous name. I think he'll probably be in the top six.

 

[JustinHawkins]

My top 7: 1. Lombardi2. Brown3. Shula4. Halas5. Walsh6. Noll7. Landry.

Not having Gibbs is comical. Has any other coach won 3 SBs with 3 different starting QBs and 3 different starting RBs?

 

[LususV]

I think Dungy got the "First black coach to win a Super Bowl" nod, which I understand. There is no way he should have been on there otherwise, IMO. Very good head coach, yes, but while he made TB relevant, he couldn't get them over the hump, and then they won it the first year after he was fired, and then he had Peyton Manning for seven years and only managed one championship. His conservative nature doesn't work as well come postseason time nowadays.

Totally agreed. Dungy was a worse version of Marty Schottenheimer with one of the best QB's in the history of the game (in his prime). As much as I liked Joe Montana, Schottenheimer just got his last hurrah.

 

[Tau837]

My top 7: 1. Lombardi2. Brown3. Shula4. Halas5. Walsh6. Noll7. Landry.

Not having Gibbs is comical. Has any other coach won 3 SBs with 3 different starting QBs and 3 different starting RBs?

I don't put nearly as much stock in that as some do (particularly Redskins fans).

 

[Ghost Rider]

In regards to Jimmy Johnson, people love to (incorrectly) say that Mike Shanahan has never done anything outside of the two Super Bowl winning seasons, but if you take away the four seasons those two guys won Super Bowls, their records look like this:

Johnson 55-57

Shanahan 141-119

Plus, Johnson's starting QB in EVERY season he coached in the NFL was a future Hall of Famer, while Shanahan was often having to go with guys like Griese, Plummer and Rex Grossman as his starter, and Shanahan's resume looks better, while Johnson's looks worse.

People love to use the "He inherited a 1-15 team," but, no, he inherited a 3-13 team and made them worse in his first season, before turning things around, so he does not get a pass for that first season. And people love to act like that 3rd Super Bowl was Johnson's, but sorry, it doesn't work that way. Johnson simply didn't have enough longevity and sustained greatness to be called one of the best 20 NFL coaches ever. But I get why some love to overrated him, as he was the coach of the Dallas Cowboys, America's Team, the team that always dominates the headlines when they are very good/great.

You can't ignore Johnson's success in college, either, when it comes to why people have a high opinion of him. Not relevant necessarily for this topic, but it's a big reason why he has such a sterling reputation.

Probably true.

Totally agreed. Dungy was a worse version of Marty Schottenheimer with one of the best QB's in the history of the game (in his prime). As much as I liked Joe Montana, Schottenheimer just got his last hurrah.

Interesting comparison. Dungy was one-and-done in six of his 11 playoff appearances as a coach.

My top 7: 1. Lombardi2. Brown3. Shula4. Halas5. Walsh6. Noll7. Landry.

Not having Gibbs is comical. Has any other coach won 3 SBs with 3 different starting QBs and 3 different starting RBs?

I don't put nearly as much stock in that as some do (particularly Redskins fans).

Why not? When you consider that his three championships came in a time span where Walsh's 49ers and Parcells' Giants were near-perennial contenders, it looks even more impressive.

 

[Anarchy99]

In regards to Jimmy Johnson, people love to (incorrectly) say that Mike Shanahan has never done anything outside of the two Super Bowl winning seasons, but if you take away the four seasons those two guys won Super Bowls, their records look like this:

Johnson 55-57

Shanahan 141-119

Plus, Johnson's starting QB in EVERY season he coached in the NFL was a future Hall of Famer, while Shanahan was often having to go with guys like Griese, Plummer and Rex Grossman as his starter, and Shanahan's resume looks better, while Johnson's looks worse.

People love to use the "He inherited a 1-15 team," but, no, he inherited a 3-13 team and made them worse in his first season, before turning things around, so he does not get a pass for that first season. And people love to act like that 3rd Super Bowl was Johnson's, but sorry, it doesn't work that way. Johnson simply didn't have enough longevity and sustained greatness to be called one of the best 20 NFL coaches ever. But I get why some love to overrated him, as he was the coach of the Dallas Cowboys, America's Team, the team that always dominates the headlines when they are very good/great.

You can't ignore Johnson's success in college, either, when it comes to why people have a high opinion of him. Not relevant necessarily for this topic, but it's a big reason why he has such a sterling reputation.

Probably true.

>Totally agreed. Dungy was a worse version of Marty Schottenheimer with one of the best QB's in the history of the game (in his prime). As much as I liked Joe Montana, Schottenheimer just got his last hurrah.

Interesting comparison. Dungy was one-and-done in six of his 11 playoff appearances as a coach.

My top 7: 1. Lombardi2. Brown3. Shula4. Halas5. Walsh6. Noll7. Landry.

Not having Gibbs is comical. Has any other coach won 3 SBs with 3 different starting QBs and 3 different starting RBs?

I don't put nearly as much stock in that as some do (particularly Redskins fans).

Why not? When you consider that his three championships came in a time span where Walsh's 49ers and Parcells' Giants were near-perennial contenders, it looks even more impressive.

Two of the three titles came in strike seasons. Granted, a ring is a ring, but I remember those seasons and both years seemed like they weren't quite like a regular year of football.

 

[kOOk]

People can get too obsessed with numbers in discussions like this, it's a way to justify their stance. Eschewing that, I might put Parcells at 1. Madden up high, too. I look at it as if you could pick one coach, who would it be?

 

[Tau837]

Two of the three titles came in strike seasons. Granted, a ring is a ring, but I remember those seasons and both years seemed like they weren't quite like a regular year of football.

 

[Ghost Rider]

Curly Lambeau made it; he is number 10.

 

[Bruno Tataglia]

Where's Rex Ryan?

 

[PlasmaDogPlasma]

Two of the three titles came in strike seasons. Granted, a ring is a ring, but I remember those seasons and both years seemed like they weren't quite like a regular year of football.

I don't think that should be held against him. He handled the challenges of the strikes better than the rest.

 

[FattyVM]

Yea... no Landry? GFT.

 

[msudaisy26]

Paul Brown is number one with a bullet. Lombardi only coached in the NFL for 9 years. He had fantastic success, winning 3 NFL championships and the first two Super Bowls and is well deserving to be mentioned as one of the top NFL coaches but he's not in the class of Paul Brown. Paul Brown's coaching legacy shows an over-arching dominance from high school to college to the Naval training base during WWII to the AAFC to the NFL. He developed ground breaking coaching techniques that are still used today and his coaching tree that is unparalleled. Everyone knows of six degrees of Kevin Bacon. Here are the direct coaching descendents of Paul Brown who either played under him or coached under him directly. All of these NFL head coaches will be prominently listed in the top-twenty NFL coaches: One degree of separation- Chuck Noll = Four Super Bowl victories- Don Shula = Four Super Bowl victories,Two Super Bowl losses- Blanton Collier = One NFL Championship, One NFL championship loss- Bill Walsh = Four Super Bowl victories Second degree of separation:- Tony Dungy (from Chuck Noll) One Super Bowl victory- Mike Holgren (from Bill Walsh) One Super Bowl victory with Two Super Bowl losses- John Fox (from Chuck Noll) One Super Bowl losswith four other less prominent HCs, Ray Perkins, Bill Arnsparger, Chuck Knox, Buddy Ryan Third degree of separation:- Bill Parcels (from Ray Perkins) Two Super Bowl victories, One Super Bowl loss- Jeff Fisher (from Buddy Ryan) One Super Bowl loss- Jon Gruden (from Bill Mike Holmgren) One Super Bowl victory- Andy Ried (from Mike Holmgren) One Super Bowl loss- Lovie Smith (from Tony Dungy) One Super Bowl loss- Mike Tomlin (from Tony Dungy) One Super Bowl victory and one SB loss Fouth degree of separation:- Bill Belichick (from Bill Parcels) Four Super Bowl victories and two SB losses- Bill Cowher (from Marty Shottenhiemer via Bill Arnsparger) One Super Bowl victory with one SB loss- Tom Coughlin (from Bill Parcels) Two Super Bowl victories Paul Brown directly coached his team to:- All four AAFC championshipsNo other team won an All American Football Conference champsionship. The Browns under Paul Brown, dominated the league to such a degree that the league folded. In his AAFC records were an UNDEFEATED SEASON that occured decades prior to Don Shula's Miami Dolphins undefeated season in the early 1970s (Shula is a direct descendent of Paul Brown having played guard on early Cleveland champship teams) The Browns were incorporated into the NFL during the 1950 season. The league decied to pit the upstart Browns against the NFL champion Eagles but the Browns beat the Eagles in their very first game by a score of 35 to 19 in Philadelphia. The Eagles tried to save face by claiming that the Browns were a BASKETBALL TEAM because they used the arm of Hall of Fame Quarterback Otto Graham who passed for 346 yards. Paul Brown heard what the Eagles said. Later that season the Browns faced off against Philadelpia in the second-last game of the season. Here is the box score of the Browns offense from December 3rd 1950: Runs - 41 for 69 yardsPasses - ZERO ATTEMPTS, ZERO YARDS, ZERO TOUCHDOWNS, ZERO INTERCEPTIONS That is right, Paul Brown DIDN'T ATTEMPT A SINGLE PASS. The first and ONLY time in NFL history that a team didn't attempt ONE PASS. Oh yeah, the Browns BEAT THE EAGLES 13 to 7 on their way to their first NFL Championship in their FIRST NFL season. That my friends is Paul Brown in a nutshell. He went to every single NFL Champship game from 1950 to 1956, winning half of those Championship games. He only had one losing season with the Browns, in 1956 but then came back and went to to another NFL Championship game in 1957. Brown's coaching legacy in his coaching tree shows> One NFL Championship25 Super Bowl Victories He developed so many innovations that built the game into what it is today. so many that I won't bother to list them but consider one wrinkle that he came up with that in his golden years, after Art Modell fired him and he wound up going to an expansion team, the Bengals, he developed a horizontal passing scheme for his weak armed QB with a young offensive coach, Bill Walsh, in what later would be called the West Coast offense. The statistics that the Browns and Paul Brown wracked up in the AAFC have never been folded into the NFL even though many NFL teams came into the NFL along with the Browns in 1950 and even though the Browns dominated the decade of the 1950s the AAFC was still considered inferior and has never been recognized. If they were it would be an even bigger landslide in favor of Paul Brown and what he contributed to the game.

I could be wrong but I only see Shula with 2 Super Bowl victories not 4. What am I missing?

 

[dgreen]

My top 7: 1. Lombardi2. Brown3. Shula4. Halas5. Walsh6. Noll7. Landry.

Not having Gibbs is comical. Has any other coach won 3 SBs with 3 different starting QBs and 3 different starting RBs?

I'm as big of a Gibbs fan as anyone. But, at the top of this list, we are splitting hairs trying to separate some of these guys. They are all great coaches. I think arguments can be made for Gibbs over many of those guys and arguments can be made for those guys over Gibbs.