Worst Head Coach to win a Super Bowl? (1 Viewer)

[Raider Nation]

Let's simplify this a bit. There have been 44 Super Bowls. To be fair, no rational person would nominate a coach who has won two or more Super Bowls. You don't win 2+ championships by accident, even if you have superb assistants. That takes 12 coaches out of the equation right off the bat.

Noll - 4

Belichick-3

Walsh - 3

Gibbs - 3

Shula - 2

Flores - 2

Landry - 2

Seifert - 2

Parcells -2

Johnson -2

Lombardi -2

Shanahan -2

That's 29 Super Bowls. That leaves a nice tidy 15 coaches who have won exactly one Super Bowl.

They'll all fit perfectly into the poll, though some certainly don't belong on any "worst coach" list.

This figures to be a 4-horse race between Ewbank, McCafferty, Switzer & Billick. We'll see.

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

Switzer was the only name that came to mind when I read the poll.

 

[Abraham]

Not sure how Switzerland doesn't get every vote...

 

[Raider Nation]

Not sure how Switzerland doesn't get every vote...

He was 45-26 as an NFL HC. Ewbank was barely above .500 and McCafferty wasn't a whole lot better.Are you implying his assistants did ALL the work? (Not that I would argue... just wondering.)

 

[Abraham]

Not sure how Switzerland doesn't get every vote...

He was 45-26 as an NFL HC. Ewbank was barely above .500 and McCafferty wasn't a whole lot better.Are you implying his assistants did ALL the work? (Not that I would argue... just wondering.)

no. I'm implying that jimmy Johnson did all the work. That team already knew how to win.

 

[Raider Nation]

Not sure how Switzerland doesn't get every vote...

He was 45-26 as an NFL HC. Ewbank was barely above .500 and McCafferty wasn't a whole lot better.Are you implying his assistants did ALL the work? (Not that I would argue... just wondering.)

no. I'm implying that jimmy Johnson did all the work. That team already knew how to win.

Calling the same play in Philly on 4th & 1 after Emmitt got stoned on the first 4th & 1 is hard to live down.

 

[MarshallRob]

How is Weeb Ewbank, a Hall of Famer, on this list? He won three NFL championships and to quote you: "You don't win 2+ championships by accident, even if you have superb assistants."

 

[Christo]

Not sure how Switzerland doesn't get every vote...

He was 45-26 as an NFL HC. Ewbank was barely above .500 and McCafferty wasn't a whole lot better.Are you implying his assistants did ALL the work? (Not that I would argue... just wondering.)

no. I'm implying that jimmy Johnson did all the work. That team already knew how to win.

Then why didn't they win four in a row?

 

[Chase Stuart]

How is Weeb Ewbank, a Hall of Famer, on this list? He won three NFL championships and to quote you: "You don't win 2+ championships by accident, even if you have superb assistants."

Yeah, this part had me . I was pretty sure it was a joke that I just didn't get, seeing as how the guy won the two most famous games in NFL history.

 

[SproutDaddy]

How in the world does Tony Dungy have votes?

 

[Chase Stuart]

Putting Hank Stram and John Madden on the list, while leaving Tom Flores off of it, is pretty absurd. You might as well change the title to say worst head coach to win exactly one Super Bowl if that's what you're going for.

 

[Raider Nation]

How is Weeb Ewbank, a Hall of Famer, on this list? He won three NFL championships and to quote you: "You don't win 2+ championships by accident, even if you have superb assistants."

By "championships," of course, I mean "Super Bowls." Nothing personal against Weeb. Lombardi is only listed with 2 "championships" in the OP.The man's overall record was 134-130-7. Hardly awe-inspiring, especially considering he coached Unitas and Namath.

 

[Raider Nation]

Putting Hank Stram and John Madden on the list, while leaving Tom Flores off of it, is pretty absurd. You might as well change the title to say worst head coach to win exactly one Super Bowl if that's what you're going for.

Neither of them will win this poll. Does it really matter?I thought it would be more fun to put 15 names than 4 names. Edit the poll if it's gonna keep you awake.

 

[Ghost Rider]

How in the world does Tony Dungy have votes?

Outside of the year that the Colts won the Super Bowl, his postseason record isn't exactly stellar. I think he is one of those coaches that is both underrated and overrated, depending on what circles you talk about him in. But Switzer should win this going away.

 

[MarshallRob]

How is Weeb Ewbank, a Hall of Famer, on this list? He won three NFL championships and to quote you: "You don't win 2+ championships by accident, even if you have superb assistants."

By "championships," of course, I mean "Super Bowls." Nothing personal against Weeb. Lombardi is only listed with 2 "championships" in the OP.The man's overall record was 134-130-7. Hardly awe-inspiring, especially considering he coached Unitas and Namath.

He's the only coach to lead two different franchises to championships, he's the first coach to lead an expansion team to a championship, and three championships is three championships no matter what they were called.

 

[Raider Nation]

How is Weeb Ewbank, a Hall of Famer, on this list? He won three NFL championships and to quote you: "You don't win 2+ championships by accident, even if you have superb assistants."

By "championships," of course, I mean "Super Bowls." Nothing personal against Weeb. Lombardi is only listed with 2 "championships" in the OP.The man's overall record was 134-130-7. Hardly awe-inspiring, especially considering he coached Unitas and Namath.

He's the only coach to lead two different franchises to championships, he's the first coach to lead an expansion team to a championship, and three championships is three championships no matter what they were called.

You win. My mistake.No harm done anyway... Switzer is lapping the field and won't be caught. That's really all I wanted to know.

 

[Hastur]

Not sure how Switzerland doesn't get every vote...

He was 45-26 as an NFL HC. Ewbank was barely above .500 and McCafferty wasn't a whole lot better.Are you implying his assistants did ALL the work? (Not that I would argue... just wondering.)

no. I'm implying that jimmy Johnson did all the work. That team already knew how to win.

Calling the same play in Philly on 4th & 1 after Emmitt got stoned on the first 4th & 1 is hard to live down.

I was at that game I credit Switzer for saving my life. If the 'boys had won, the eagle fans would have made sure I was never to be seen again...

 

[Iwannabeacowboybaby!]

Switzer was in a no win situation, win the Super Bowl or you fail. He was gift wrapped that SB but at least he didn't screw it up.

 

[Raider Nation]

I'm just wondering how a moron like Switzer managed to win 3 National Championships and 12 Big Eight titles at Oklahoma.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

How in the world does Tony Dungy have votes?

n/kguy is a 1st ballot hall of famer

 

[SSOG]

I'm just wondering how a moron like Switzer managed to win 3 National Championships and 12 Big Eight titles at Oklahoma.

Look at the rest of the teams in the Big 8. There's your answer.

 

[GregR_2]

I'm just wondering how a moron like Switzer managed to win 3 National Championships and 12 Big Eight titles at Oklahoma.

By paying good players to attend Oklahoma?

 

[Manster]

switzer gets my vote. i couldnt stand him as the Cowboys HC.

when i think about Jerah running Jimmy outta town and then having the balls to say he could win with any HC, and then bringing in a clown like Switzer...........still pisses me off!!

 

[FreeBaGeL]

Barry Switzer, Jon Gruden, Chan Gailey.

Same story.

 

[QuizGuy66]

switzer gets my vote. i couldnt stand him as the Cowboys HC.when i think about Jerah running Jimmy outta town and then having the balls to say he could win with any HC, and then bringing in a clown like Switzer...........still pisses me off!!

Apparently he could...at least for a year -QG

 

[Jockstraps]

I'm just wondering how a moron like Switzer managed to win 3 National Championships and 12 Big Eight titles at Oklahoma.

Look at the rest of the teams in the Big 8. There's your answer.

There's your answer?......What about the 3 Natioanl Championships?

 

[GregR_2]

Never really looked at Weeb Eubank's history before this thread. Now that I've done so...

Wow. Guy is lucky to be in the Hall of Fame. It seems like he just had the good fortune that in the rare years his teams did well (and such years are quite rare), they happened to be years where the circumstances around him just happened to have made them historic games.

I won't dispute that he probably should be in the HoF from the angle of "can you tell the story of the NFL without strong mention of this person."

But if we were making a Hall based strictly on how good of a coach the person is rather than how his career played out, I'm not seeing anything particular from his record to make me think he even should be in the Hall of the Very Good, let alone the Hall of Fame.

I was trying to think of a way to relate his career records with today and decided to go with how often he'd make the playoffs. I think a great coach should make the playoffs as often as not in today's NFL. You pretty much need to go 10-6 or a .625 winning percentage these days to feel pretty confident that you'll make the playoffs. And even then you still won't sometimes, though that's balanced out by occasionally making it as a 9-7 team. Using that .625 as a measure, Eubanks teams would only have made the playoffs 4 years out of his 20 seasons as a coach. To put that in perspective, if all games were decided with coin tosses, you'd expect any given team to go to the playoffs 37.5% of the time. Eubanks teams would have gone to the playoffs 20% of the time. So in his career he didn't even manage to hit average if results were completely random. He only managed in 25% of his seasons to finish more than 1 game above .500.

I thought it was very off base criticizing RaiderNation for including Eubanks when RN clearly stated how he went about making a quick list of coaches to include and made it clear he didn't go through it name by name. But now that I have actually looked at Eubanks... speaking as I have to as someone who never saw his teams play and only being able to judge him on his record, I'd say he definitely belongs in this list. I'd probably take most of the coaches in that list if I was picking a coach for my team going forward. He had a fortunate career that the few times he won, they happened to be historic, but otherwise he seems like a mediocre coach at best.

 

[J-Dawg]

A couple of guys are ahead of my time, but my vote went to Switzer. I could have coached that team to a SB with all the talent they had. An amazing team that just needed somebody there to wear a headset on the sidelines.

 

[Raider Nation]

Never really looked at Weeb Eubank's history before this thread. Now that I've done so...Wow. Guy is lucky to be in the Hall of Fame. It seems like he just had the good fortune that in the rare years his teams did well (and such years are quite rare), they happened to be years where the circumstances around him just happened to have made them historic games.I won't dispute that he probably should be in the HoF from the angle of "can you tell the story of the NFL without strong mention of this person." But if we were making a Hall based strictly on how good of a coach the person is rather than how his career played out, I'm not seeing anything particular from his record to make me think he even should be in the Hall of the Very Good, let alone the Hall of Fame. I was trying to think of a way to relate his career records with today and decided to go with how often he'd make the playoffs. I think a great coach should make the playoffs as often as not in today's NFL. You pretty much need to go 10-6 or a .625 winning percentage these days to feel pretty confident that you'll make the playoffs. And even then you still won't sometimes, though that's balanced out by occasionally making it as a 9-7 team. Using that .625 as a measure, Eubanks teams would only have made the playoffs 4 years out of his 20 seasons as a coach. To put that in perspective, if all games were decided with coin tosses, you'd expect any given team to go to the playoffs 37.5% of the time. Eubanks teams would have gone to the playoffs 20% of the time. So in his career he didn't even manage to hit average if results were completely random. He only managed in 25% of his seasons to finish more than 1 game above .500.I thought it was very off base criticizing Raider Nation for including Eubanks when RN clearly stated how he went about making a quick list of coaches to include and made it clear he didn't go through it name by name. But now that I have actually looked at Eubanks... speaking as I have to as someone who never saw his teams play and only being able to judge him on his record, I'd say he definitely belongs in this list. I'd probably take most of the coaches in that list if I was picking a coach for my team going forward. He had a fortunate career that the few times he won, they happened to be historic, but otherwise he seems like a mediocre coach at best.

Give Chase time to point out why your conclusion is flawed.

 

[massraider]

I'm just wondering how a moron like Switzer managed to win 3 National Championships and 12 Big Eight titles at Oklahoma.

Look at the rest of the teams in the Big 8. There's your answer.

There's your answer?......What about the 3 Natioanl Championships?

Barry Switzer was one heck of a recruiter. Bosworth wrote about how Switzer showed up at his high school, walking the halls with him in a full length fur coat. The guy was a rock star. Now, that kind of routine isn't for everyone, and that's why kids go to Notre Dame. Those kids rooted for Luke Skywalker. Darth Vader fans went to OK.There are a lot of people here that know a lot more about college football than me, but I think even a casual fan knows how important recruiting is. Barry just got the best talent, then ran the incredibly simple Bone, and just mowed people down.

 

[SSOG]

I'm just wondering how a moron like Switzer managed to win 3 National Championships and 12 Big Eight titles at Oklahoma.

Look at the rest of the teams in the Big 8. There's your answer.

There's your answer?......What about the 3 Natioanl Championships?

There was no national championship game, so largely what a team had to do was just beat the teams on their schedule. Oklahoma was located near a recruiting hotbed and played against lousy conference competition. Switzer was a fantastic recruiter (which is probably more important than coaching itself when it comes to college success), and he perfected a revolutionary offense that caught the country off guard (think: Urban Meyer and the spread). Basically, just imagine taking the University of Florida and putting it in the Big East. That was Oklahoma in the '70s.

 

[Neil Beaufort Zod]

I think Gruden is a less-pathetic version of Switzer. He took Dungy's team and won a SB, mainly because he had the good fortune of playing a team he just coached that never bothered to change their signals much. Then, not too much after that.

I give him more credit because Dungy himself couldn't win a SB with Dungy's team, so Gruden got the team over the hump. That put him ahead of Switzer, who simply took a SB-winning team and won a SB. Like someone else said...he didn't screw it up.

I would have been disappointed if anyone but Switzer won this poll.

Also, Switzer certainly can be given credit for being a good college coach. It's not hard to believe someone can be successful coaching college players but not NFL players.

 

[Abraham]

I'm just wondering how a moron like Switzer managed to win 3 National Championships and 12 Big Eight titles at Oklahoma.

He had the biggest budget...?

 

[Jason Wood]

Not sure why Weeb shouldn't be in the conversation He was a pretty average coach by any measure.

But I voted Switzer -- even though he's FAR from a bad coach. Dude won big in pros and college, can't front on that toooooooooooo much.

 

[Godsbrother]

A couple of guys are ahead of my time, but my vote went to Switzer. I could have coached that team to a SB with all the talent they had. An amazing team that just needed somebody there to wear a headset on the sidelines.

And if it wasn't for Neil O'Donnell throwing 2 absurd picks in the 4th quarter of Super Bowl XXX Switz wouldn't have even qualified for this poll.

 

[Chase Stuart]

Not sure why Weeb shouldn't be in the conversation He was a pretty average coach by any measure.

But I voted Switzer -- even though he's FAR from a bad coach. Dude won big in pros and college, can't front on that toooooooooooo much.

Ewbank's certainly not an average coach by the one measure highlighted in the OP, which is number of championships. And he built two teams from the ground up. He was responsible for getting Unitas and Namath on those teams.In 1946, the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) was formed. That's where the Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers were formed. One of the founding teams was the Miami Seahawks, who sported this hot logo. They still finished with the worst record in the AAFC, and relocated to Baltimore and named themselves the Colts (rich horse racing/breeding tradition in Baltimore, obviously). The Colts went 2-11-1 in 1947, 7-7 in 1948 and then 1-11 in 1949. Due to the politics involved, when the NFL merged with/swallowed the AAFC, they took the 49ers, Browns ... and Colts. The Colts were awful in the AAFC, and in 1950, predictably finished 1-11 in the NFL.

After that, the team (donning green and silver) folded.

In 1951, a team called the New York Yanks (with their own dubious, complicated franchise history) went 1-9-2 that season and sold themselves back to the NFL. They were repurchased by Giles Miller and moved to Dallas, and played the '52 season as the Dallas Texans. That team went 1-11, and did so in particularly ugly fashion. Miller sold the team back to the NFL, and a few months later they were sold to Carroll Rosenbloom who wanted to bring a football team back to Baltimore. That team -- the official Colts franchise -- went 3-9 in 1953. At this point in time, the history of Baltimore football was associated with nothing but losing, and this actual team had gone 5-29-3 over the past three seasons. That's when they hired Ewbank -- on the advice of Browns coach Paul Brown -- who had spent some time in Cleveland and at Brown (where he coached Joe Paterno, the oldest person in the history of the world). Ewbank's team won 3 games against in '54, then 5, 5, 7 and then two straight NFL championships. He did this while playing in the NFL West, the dominant division of the time.

Then he took over the New York Titans, a team that had gone 7-7, 7-7 and 5-9 over their first three seasons, which overstated how good they actually were. In addition to being one of the poorest clubs and on the verge of being insolvent, over the first three seasons of the AFL, only the Raiders had a worse points differential than the Titans. Then Ewbank rebuilt the Jets the same way he rebuilt the Colts, and five years later, had his team winning the Super Bowl against his old franchise.

Ewbank wasn't an all-time great coach. But his record and his place in history needs to be placed in some perspective. He took two teams teetering on going defunct and made them champions.

 

[Tau837]

How in the world does Tony Dungy have votes?

n/kguy is a 1st ballot hall of famer

At the risk of hijacking this thread:I expect he'll get in, but I don't think he is such a strong candidate that he's a lock to make it on his first ballot.Here are the last 3 coaches inducted:Madden was inducted in 2006. He retired after the 1978 season.Hank Stram was inducted in 2003. He retired after the 1977 season.George Allen was inducted in 2002. He retired after the 1977 season.What makes Dungy so much more compelling than these guys, who each had to wait at least 25 years? I think race will obviously be a factor for Dungy that those guys didn't have, but is that it?

 

[Jason Wood]

How in the world does Tony Dungy have votes?

n/kguy is a 1st ballot hall of famer

At the risk of hijacking this thread:I expect he'll get in, but I don't think he is such a strong candidate that he's a lock to make it on his first ballot.Here are the last 3 coaches inducted:Madden was inducted in 2006. He retired after the 1978 season.Hank Stram was inducted in 2003. He retired after the 1977 season.George Allen was inducted in 2002. He retired after the 1977 season.What makes Dungy so much more compelling than these guys, who each had to wait at least 25 years? I think race will obviously be a factor for Dungy that those guys didn't have, but is that it?

Agreed. I don't think there's such a thing as a first ballot coaching Hall of Famer. Probably Phil Jackson in hoops, but in football? As you astutely point out JWB, there's not much precedent.

 

[Christo]

A couple of guys are ahead of my time, but my vote went to Switzer. I could have coached that team to a SB with all the talent they had. An amazing team that just needed somebody there to wear a headset on the sidelines.

I don't understand your "logic." Switzer was handed a great team (no one's arguing that he wasn't) and lead them to an NFC championship game and a Super Bowl win. But that makes him a bad coach?

 

[Christo]

I'm just wondering how a moron like Switzer managed to win 3 National Championships and 12 Big Eight titles at Oklahoma.

Look at the rest of the teams in the Big 8. There's your answer.

Yeah, Tom Osbourne and the Huskers were a bunch of scrubs.

 

[Christo]

I'm just wondering how a moron like Switzer managed to win 3 National Championships and 12 Big Eight titles at Oklahoma.

He had the biggest budget...?

You try getting kids to spend four years in Norman, OK when they could go to Austin,TX, Los Angeles or Miami.

 

[Aaronl5]

Tony Dungy! I don't even give him credit for that win. He stepped into it like Switzer did.

 

[Abraham]

I'm just wondering how a moron like Switzer managed to win 3 National Championships and 12 Big Eight titles at Oklahoma.

He had the biggest budget...?

You try getting kids to spend four years in Norman, OK when they could go to Austin,TX, Los Angeles or Miami.

Fair point. But the cost of living is lower there then the other places you mentioned, so their salaries and bonuses likely stretched a lot further.

 

[Phurfur]

Not sure how Switzerland doesn't get every vote...

He was 45-26 as an NFL HC. Ewbank was barely above .500 and McCafferty wasn't a whole lot better.Are you implying his assistants did ALL the work? (Not that I would argue... just wondering.)

no. I'm implying that jimmy Johnson did all the work. That team already knew how to win.

Then why didn't they win four in a row?

Barry Switzer!

 

[QuizGuy66]

Btw, even my anti-Steeler tendencies couldn't get me to vote for anyone besides Switzer

-QG

 

[Ministry of Pain]

Tony Dungy! I don't even give him credit for that win. He stepped into it like Switzer did.

Let's start when he was the DC of the MN Vikings under Denny Green. You might want to look back and see the type of DLines he unleashed on the NFL. He turned John Randle into perhaps a HoF inductee. Next he takes over the poorest most dicombobulated horrible excuse for an NFL franchise in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and turns them into a winner and also makes HoF candidates like Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch, Rhonde Barber, that was one of the best defenses ever constructed and they did win a SB the season after he left. He then goes to another sorry franchise that never won much and he ends up building a decent pass rushing defense and wins the Super Bowl. The season afte rhe elaves they go to the SB again. In 13 seasons he avg about 11 wins a year with 2 of the worst franchises in NFL history. 139-69 record or a 2:1 ratio in wins to losses, 1-0 in the Super Bowl, and you can be assured if he wanted to coach again tomorrow that teams would line up. He is a 1st ballot HoF coach and not that it matters but he was the 1st black HC to ever win the SB so he broke through a lot of barriers in order to get there. His son committed suicide the year before he won the Super Bowl too, guy overcame a lot to lift the Lombardi Trophy up. He has a new book coming out, you would be wise to pick it up and read it. He also on top of being a great coach is an amazing human being and community leader, I find that to count for something as well.

 

[Tau837]

Tony Dungy! I don't even give him credit for that win. He stepped into it like Switzer did.

Let's start when he was the DC of the MN Vikings under Denny Green. You might want to look back and see the type of DLines he unleashed on the NFL. He turned John Randle into perhaps a HoF inductee. Next he takes over the poorest most dicombobulated horrible excuse for an NFL franchise in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and turns them into a winner and also makes HoF candidates like Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch, Rhonde Barber, that was one of the best defenses ever constructed and they did win a SB the season after he left. He then goes to another sorry franchise that never won much and he ends up building a decent pass rushing defense and wins the Super Bowl. The season afte rhe elaves they go to the SB again. In 13 seasons he avg about 11 wins a year with 2 of the worst franchises in NFL history. 139-69 record or a 2:1 ratio in wins to losses, 1-0 in the Super Bowl, and you can be assured if he wanted to coach again tomorrow that teams would line up. He is a 1st ballot HoF coach and not that it matters but he was the 1st black HC to ever win the SB so he broke through a lot of barriers in order to get there. His son committed suicide the year before he won the Super Bowl too, guy overcame a lot to lift the Lombardi Trophy up. He has a new book coming out, you would be wise to pick it up and read it. He also on top of being a great coach is an amazing human being and community leader, I find that to count for something as well.

Look, Dungy is a great man and a great coach, no doubt about it. Yes, teams would line up to sign him. Those things do not by themselves equate to HOF coach, nor to "first ballot" HOF coach. Frankly, I think if he were white, he would be a HOF bubble candidate at best, but I think the first black coach to win a Super Bowl is enough to put him over the top.That said, I don't think of him as being among the best of the best all time, which is what calling him a first ballot lock suggests to me. He didn't win multiple championships, and, in fact, his teams were frequently disappointing in the postseason. He is not widely regarded as an innovator of the game along the lines of Paul Brown or Bill Walsh. He didn't compile a particularly lengthy record of success in comparison to other HOF coaches.Anyway, just to be clear, you are projecting Dungy to be in the HOF class of 2014 if he does not coach again in the NFL. Meaning no more than 4 players can join him in that class (not including Senior Committee nominees).I think you are wrong. We'll see.

 

[GregR_2]

Never really looked at Weeb Ewbank's history before this thread. Now that I've done so...Wow. Guy is lucky to be in the Hall of Fame. It seems like he just had the good fortune that in the rare years his teams did well (and such years are quite rare), they happened to be years where the circumstances around him just happened to have made them historic games.I won't dispute that he probably should be in the HoF from the angle of "can you tell the story of the NFL without strong mention of this person." But if we were making a Hall based strictly on how good of a coach the person is rather than how his career played out, I'm not seeing anything particular from his record to make me think he even should be in the Hall of the Very Good, let alone the Hall of Fame. I was trying to think of a way to relate his career records with today and decided to go with how often he'd make the playoffs. I think a great coach should make the playoffs as often as not in today's NFL. You pretty much need to go 10-6 or a .625 winning percentage these days to feel pretty confident that you'll make the playoffs. And even then you still won't sometimes, though that's balanced out by occasionally making it as a 9-7 team. Using that .625 as a measure, Ewbank teams would only have made the playoffs 4 years out of his 20 seasons as a coach. To put that in perspective, if all games were decided with coin tosses, you'd expect any given team to go to the playoffs 37.5% of the time. Eubanks teams would have gone to the playoffs 20% of the time. So in his career he didn't even manage to hit average if results were completely random. He only managed in 25% of his seasons to finish more than 1 game above .500.I thought it was very off base criticizing RaiderNation for including Ewbank when RN clearly stated how he went about making a quick list of coaches to include and made it clear he didn't go through it name by name. But now that I have actually looked at Ewbank... speaking as I have to as someone who never saw his teams play and only being able to judge him on his record, I'd say he definitely belongs in this list. I'd probably take most of the coaches in that list if I was picking a coach for my team going forward. He had a fortunate career that the few times he won, they happened to be historic, but otherwise he seems like a mediocre coach at best.

It aint the Hall of Stats. ...

You seem to have completely missed the point. It is not the Hall of Stats. Nor is it the Hall of Great Coaches. It's the Hall of Coaches/Players who had great or dramatic careers. The best coach doesn't always have the best career. Even the same coach can have a poor career in one place vs a great career in another (see Browns head coach Bill Belichick vs Patriots head coach Bill Belichick).The OP is asking about which is the better coach, not which had the more HoF worthy career. As I said very clearly, Ewbank deserves to be in the HoF for his career, but his record, he doesn't look like he belongs in the Hall of Great Coaches.

...If someone wasn't paying attention at that time, they are are terribly out-of-the-loop.

Or they weren't born yet.

 

[GregR_2]

Tony Dungy! I don't even give him credit for that win. He stepped into it like Switzer did.

Let's start when he was the DC of the MN Vikings under Denny Green. You might want to look back and see the type of DLines he unleashed on the NFL. He turned John Randle into perhaps a HoF inductee. Next he takes over the poorest most dicombobulated horrible excuse for an NFL franchise in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and turns them into a winner and also makes HoF candidates like Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch, Rhonde Barber, that was one of the best defenses ever constructed and they did win a SB the season after he left. He then goes to another sorry franchise that never won much and he ends up building a decent pass rushing defense and wins the Super Bowl. The season afte rhe elaves they go to the SB again. In 13 seasons he avg about 11 wins a year with 2 of the worst franchises in NFL history. 139-69 record or a 2:1 ratio in wins to losses, 1-0 in the Super Bowl, and you can be assured if he wanted to coach again tomorrow that teams would line up. He is a 1st ballot HoF coach and not that it matters but he was the 1st black HC to ever win the SB so he broke through a lot of barriers in order to get there. His son committed suicide the year before he won the Super Bowl too, guy overcame a lot to lift the Lombardi Trophy up. He has a new book coming out, you would be wise to pick it up and read it. He also on top of being a great coach is an amazing human being and community leader, I find that to count for something as well.

Look, Dungy is a great man and a great coach, no doubt about it. Yes, teams would line up to sign him. Those things do not by themselves equate to HOF coach, nor to "first ballot" HOF coach. Frankly, I think if he were white, he would be a HOF bubble candidate at best, but I think the first black coach to win a Super Bowl is enough to put him over the top.That said, I don't think of him as being among the best of the best all time, which is what calling him a first ballot lock suggests to me. He didn't win multiple championships, and, in fact, his teams were frequently disappointing in the postseason. He is not widely regarded as an innovator of the game along the lines of Paul Brown or Bill Walsh. He didn't compile a particularly lengthy record of success in comparison to other HOF coaches.Anyway, just to be clear, you are projecting Dungy to be in the HOF class of 2014 if he does not coach again in the NFL. Meaning no more than 4 players can join him in that class (not including Senior Committee nominees).I think you are wrong. We'll see.

To use the same distinction I did before... I think Dungy and Ewbank are sort of opposites in a way. I think Dungy rates higher in the Hall of Great Coaches than he does in the Hall of Fame (though I think he gets into the latter without any problem, if maybe not 1st ballot). I think Ewbank rates much higher in Hall of Fame than he does in Hall of Great Coaches.

 

[Chase Stuart]

To use the same distinction I did before... I think Dungy and Eubanks are sort of opposites in a way. I think Dungy rates higher in the Hall of Great Coaches than he does in the Hall of Fame (though I think he gets into the latter without any problem, if maybe not 1st ballot). I think Eubanks rates much higher in Hall of Fame than he does in Hall of Great Coaches.

Please, it's Ewbank.