Worst single-season coaching performance (1 Viewer)

[Raider Nation]

Art Shell, Oakland - 2006

Although he'll be almost impossible to beat, any other nominations?

 

[bicycle_seat_sniffer]

Marty Morhenwig? He took the wind

Mike Riley's stint in SD - pick any year your want

 

[Colin Dowling]

The 2005 Texans were much worse. The Raiders, despite Shell, had a good defense. Not great, but good. There was NOTHING about the 2005 Texans worth writing home about.

 

[Sweet Love]

Rich Kotite in 1996 (I believe it was then) 1-15...nice job.

 

[Jason Wood]

My nominations:

Bill Peterson ('72) Oilers:

1 Win -- 11 Losses

25th in total defense (out of 26)

25th in total offense (out of 26)

Rod Rust ('90) Patriots:

1 Win -- 15 Losses

28th in total offense (out of 28)

27th in total defense (out of 28)

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Les Steckel - 1984 Minnesota Vikings

24th out of 28 rated offense

28th out of 28 rated defense

+----------+--------- Offense --------------+-------- Defense --------------+----+|		  |- TOT --|--- Rush --|--- Pass --|- TOT--|--- Rush --|--- Pass --| OUT|| Year  TM |  PT  Y  A  Y YA TD  A  Y YA TD | PT  Y  A  Y YA TD  A  Y YA TD |  OF|+----------+--------------------------------+-------------------------------+----+| 1984 min |  24 25 24 18  9 24 10 22 26 21 | 28 28 24 27 27 24  8 23 26 28 | 28 |+----------+--------------------------------+-------------------------------+----+

 

[Jason Wood]

Les Steckel - 1984 Minnesota Vikings

24th out of 28 rated offense

28th out of 28 rated defense

+----------+--------- Offense --------------+-------- Defense --------------+----+|		  |- TOT --|--- Rush --|--- Pass --|- TOT--|--- Rush --|--- Pass --| OUT|| Year  TM |  PT  Y  A  Y YA TD  A  Y YA TD | PT  Y  A  Y YA TD  A  Y YA TD |  OF|+----------+--------------------------------+-------------------------------+----+| 1984 min |  24 25 24 18  9 24 10 22 26 21 | 28 28 24 27 27 24  8 23 26 28 | 28 |+----------+--------------------------------+-------------------------------+----+

Steckel was BAD...but Rod Rust was worse

 

[PSILOCYBIN]

Monte Clark, Daryl Rogers, Wayne Fontes, Marty Morningweigh - LIONS COAHCES

 

[Reaper]

Rich Kotite in 1996 (I believe it was then) 1-15...nice job.

Record or not, Kotite would Blow Herm Edwards away in an "Understanding FOOTBALL" quiz.

 

[The Kansas Comet]

Rich Kotite in 1996 (I believe it was then) 1-15...nice job.

Record or not, Kotite would Blow Herm Edwards away in an "Understanding FOOTBALL" quiz.

At least Herm has figured out that "you play to win the game!" Kotite was the first coach I thought of when I saw this thread.

 

[JaxBill]

This guy was just before my time but I remember my brothers talking about how BAD they were:

1972 Philadelphia EaglesRecord: 2 - 11 - 1Head Coach: Ed Khayat Points scored: 145 (#26 of 26 in the NFL)Points allowed: 352 (#22 of 26 in the NFL)

And this is a guy who I never really liked:

1980 New York GiantsRecord: 4 - 12 - 0Head Coach: Ray Perkins Points scored: 249 (#26 of 28 in the NFL)Points allowed: 425 (#27 of 28 in the NFL)

 

[benson_will_lead_the_way]

how bad was Lou holtz in his stint?

 

[Chase Stuart]

Phil Handler had some lean years.

 

[Spartans Rule]

Are we talking worst team, or worst coaching performance?

Because while far from the worst team, Ray Handley leading the defending NFL champs to an 8-8 record deserves some love.

 

[greenf7cat]

Ray Rhodes with GB

 

[Chase Stuart]

Are we talking worst team, or worst coaching performance?

Because while far from the worst team, Ray Handley leading the defending NFL champs to an 8-8 record deserves some love.

Along similar lines, Bill Callahan did a pretty miserable job in '03 with the Raiders.

 

[benson_will_lead_the_way]

Ray Rhodes with GB

8-8....i think he got ousted unfairly. B/c Mike Sherman was SOOO much better lol

 

[Exile]

Are we talking worst team, or worst coaching performance?Because while far from the worst team, Ray Handley leading the defending NFL champs to an 8-8 record deserves some love.

I was thinking the same thing (both your question and about Handley). Coaching performance is just one part of a team's record. Rod Rust did a horrible job, but he had almost no talent on that squad. Handley was just clearly out of his league from day one with the Giants.ETA: Rod Rust was out of his league, too...I wasn't trying to say he did a good job. But which is worst, 1-15 the year after the Pats went 5-11 or 8-8 the year after the Giants won the SB?

 

[Raider Nation]

Are we talking worst team, or worst coaching performance?

Exactly what the title says. Worst coaching performance.As COlin pointed out, the Raiders had a good D last year. That was ALL Rob Ryan, however. Shell did nothing but piss players off with his "my way or the highway" attitude before he even had a chance to command/earn their respect, then stood on the sidelines with this expression --------> as his offense was getting killed, making few noticeable in-game adjustments.

 

[Spartans Rule]

Exactly what the title says. Worst coaching performance.

That question was more rhetorical, since people keep citing god-awful teams that probably had no talent.I agree that Shell is probably #1. That was just hideous last season.

 

[Raider Nation]

Are we talking worst team, or worst coaching performance?

Because while far from the worst team, Ray Handley leading the defending NFL champs to an 8-8 record deserves some love.

Along similar lines, Bill Callahan did a pretty miserable job in '03 with the Raiders.

In all fairness, that team got really old really fast.And Rich Gannon, who was the NFL MVP the year prior, got hurt and only played in 7 games.

Who took over for him? Rick Mirer.

 

[LBH]

Pete Carroll deserves some recogniton for under achieving with an extremely young and talented Patriots club coming off a super bowl appearance. His 6-10 season with the Jets wasnt very inspiring either

Id probably go with Kotite though, with a 1-15 record, and only being able to get a win over the lowly Cardinals late in the season. Parcells went 9-7 with basically the same talent in 1997

 

[seatownfavorite]

Wasn't it Barry Switzer that called the exact same play twice on 4th and 1 on their own side of midfield late in the game. The first time there was a timeout called or something. Got stuffed badly both times. He wasn't the worst coach ever, but that has got to be one of the most boneheaded play calls ever.

 

[H.K.]

George Seifert

2001 Carolina Panthers

Record 1-15-0

Rankings out of 31 teams

Offense Points Scored 29th

Offense Yards 31st

Defense Points Against 28th

Defense Yardage Against 31st

Overall rank: 31st

Link

Team was 7-9 in 2000 and 7-9 the following year after Seifert left. What do I win?

 

[BigRed]

Switzher and Kotite have to be up there. Steckel also.

As a Colt fan, I would nominate Dowhower also.

 

[videoguy505]

I vote Art Shell. Every shot of him on the sideline was laugh-out-loud funny, or excrutiatingly painful, depending on who you were rooting for.

I'll never forget from the Bill Simmons column:

You were right about 22-year-olds (such as myself) having the good fortune to experience Art Shell's frozen demeanor for the first time. It was like poetry in non-motion every time a shot of him popped up. Aaron Brooks lobs another pass over Randy Moss for a would-be first down? Blank stare. Another false start penalty makes for another third-and-long? Blank stare. I couldn't believe it and I couldn't stop laughing. On a couple occasions I saw him "writing" stuff on a clipboard, but my guess is that he was scribbling orders down for whoever was making the McDonald's run. Then two hours and seventeen minutes into the broadcast, I actually saw him say three words to an assistant. I thought for a second he was trying to right the ship, until I realized what he was in fact saying was "Whopper with cheese."

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/print?id=25...&type=story

 

[Spartans Rule]

George Seifert

2001 Carolina Panthers

Record 1-15-0

Rankings out of 31 teams

Offense Points Scored 29th

Offense Yards 31st

Defense Points Against 28th

Defense Yardage Against 31st

Overall rank: 31st

Link

Team was 7-9 in 2000 and 7-9 the following year after Seifert left. What do I win?

This is a good one. Another fun fact about this team:

In 12 of the 15 losses, Carolina had been leading or tied in the second half of the game, and on many occasions lost the game on the opponent's final offensive drive

That's good coaching.

 

[greenf7cat]

Ray Rhodes with GB

8-8....i think he got ousted unfairly. B/c Mike Sherman was SOOO much better lol

Yeah, 8-8 with a ridiculous amount of talent.... yes, Sherman is better, much better. He doesn't have nearly as much to work with as Rhodes did and they played pretty well considering the pre-season projections before last season started.

 

[H.K.]

George Seifert

2001 Carolina Panthers

Record 1-15-0

Rankings out of 31 teams

Offense Points Scored 29th

Offense Yards 31st

Defense Points Against 28th

Defense Yardage Against 31st

Overall rank: 31st

Link

Team was 7-9 in 2000 and 7-9 the following year after Seifert left. What do I win?

This is a good one. Another fun fact about this team:

In 12 of the 15 losses, Carolina had been leading or tied in the second half of the game, and on many occasions lost the game on the opponent's final offensive drive

That's good coaching.

That team was average but far better than their results. I actually like Seifert, and obviously he is a good coach, but his heart was not in the game anymore. Essentially he retired mentally but still stood on the sidelines that year. They had a unique gift for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory which yielded a truly horriffic season.

 

[Raider Nation]

Anyone remember Peter Brown from Sporting News Radio? I'll never forget back in '96, when Cleveland was coming off a 5-11 season, Brown repeatedly (day after day after day) called Bill Belichick the "worst coach ever." He just would not take his foot off of Belichick's throat.

WHOOPS!

It's important to differentiate between a poor coaching performance and simply a poor coach.

 

[Raider Nation]

George Seifert

2001 Carolina Panthers

Record 1-15-0

Rankings out of 31 teams

Offense Points Scored 29th

Offense Yards 31st

Defense Points Against 28th

Defense Yardage Against 31st

Overall rank: 31st

Link

Team was 7-9 in 2000 and 7-9 the following year after Seifert left. What do I win?

This is a good one. Another fun fact about this team:

In 12 of the 15 losses, Carolina had been leading or tied in the second half of the game, and on many occasions lost the game on the opponent's final offensive drive

That's good coaching.

That team was average but far better than their results. I actually like Seifert, and obviously he is a good coach, but his heart was not in the game anymore. Essentially he retired mentally but still stood on the sidelines that year. They had a unique gift for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory which yielded a truly horriffic season.

Plus, history might show that Steve Young was a little better than Chris Weinke.

 

[Bojang0301]

Chuck Noll 1-13... j/k but I bet many didn't see that coming.

 

[PantherPower]

all of Steve Spurrier's year in Washington :( :X

 

[Raider Nation]

all of Steve Spurrier's year in Washington :X

Holy cow... That's like asking for Worst TV Show and forgetting "The Ropers."

Poor Patrick Ramsey. Watching him take a pounding out of the shotgun formation was harder to watch than dog fighting.

 

[Kevin Ashcraft]

I nominate Frank Ganz 1987 and 1988 in KC.

1987 4-11

1988 4-11-1

The man won ONE road game ('87 Thanksgiving Day @ DET) in his two seasons lol with one of the best secondaries of the 1980s. Each season had three Pro Bowl players on DEF, and even had one 1K Yard WR in Carlos Carson in 1987.

1983 KC John Mackovic

Offense ranked 9th in Yards

Defense ranked 12th in Yards allowed

Team went 6-10 - losing FIVE games by three points or fewer.

 

[SSOG]

Art Shell, Oakland - 2006 Although he'll be almost impossible to beat, any other nominations?

Oh yeah, Art Shell was horrible. He took a team that, in the last three seasons, had won 4, 5, and 4 games... and he only won 2 games with that obviously talented squad. Talk about underperforming. That Raiders team was a 4-win team at least! I mean, it's not like *ANYONE* was predicting before the season that Oakland would be the worst team in the league- it really came as a huge shock to everyone. And going winless in division games after posting a stellar 2-16 record against divisional foes over the last three seasons was a clear step backwards from a team that was obviously moving in the right direction.Come on, it's not like Art Shell is going to make the Hall of Fame based on the strength of last season, but Oakland as an entire team has been the biggest joke in the league for a couple of years now. Art Shell or no Art Shell, nobody was going to make that team anything other than awful. If Oakland were really such a great team, I guarantee you they wouldn't have been forced to hire a 32-year-old nobody with a superiority complex (have you seen how he wants to cut everyone over 32 just because they're over 32 and might challenge his authority?)

 

[David Yudkin]

John McKay led the expansion Buccaneers to a tidy 0-14 record in the AFC West in 1976.

Notable lowlights were ranking 28th (last) in points scored and 27th in points allowed with a 125 to 412 scoring differential. They were shut out 5 times but allowed 40+ points 4 times.

The only thing that saved the Bucs from being even worse was the fact that the league also added the Seahawks and their defense was slighlty worse.

The Bucs' 14 offensive TD were also nothing to sneeze at in terms of ineptitude. The team rushing leader had 521 yards and the #1 receiver racked up 390 yards.

 

[KnowledgeReignsSupreme]

Ah good ole Rich Kotite. Mr. call timeout on 4th down then punt.

I remember in 94 when he coaches the Eagles to 7-2 through 9 games and they lost their next 7 in a row. They even lost to the Bengals who finished 3-13 that year.

 

[QuizGuy66]

Dude, this thread did not go about 40 posts without the following name!

David Shula down?!?

5-11

5-11

3-13

7-9

1-6

---------

19-52

Btw none of the coaches mentioned here are as bad as Matt Millen is at GM'ing.

Oh I just realized it said single season. Okay, any season but the 7-9 one above

-QG

 

[Ozymandias]

Wally Hess, 1922 Hammond Pros

0-5-1 Points against: 69 Points in favor: 0

 

[brednbuddah]

Rich Kotite in 1996 (I believe it was then) 1-15...nice job.

oof, that was a rough year. the one win was over the cards IIRC, 13-10? Kotite went 3-13 the year before. 4 wins in two seasons!?!

 

[TDavi118]

Are we talking worst team, or worst coaching performance?

Because while far from the worst team, Ray Handley leading the defending NFL champs to an 8-8 record deserves some love.

Along similar lines, Bill Callahan did a pretty miserable job in '03 with the Raiders.

This is correct. The whole team despised him.

 

[Raider Nation]

Art Shell, Oakland - 2006 :(Although he'll be almost impossible to beat, any other nominations?

Oh yeah, Art Shell was horrible. He took a team that, in the last three seasons, had won 4, 5, and 4 games... and he only won 2 games with that obviously talented squad. Talk about underperforming. That Raiders team was a 4-win team at least! I mean, it's not like *ANYONE* was predicting before the season that Oakland would be the worst team in the league- it really came as a huge shock to everyone. And going winless in division games after posting a stellar 2-16 record against divisional foes over the last three seasons was a clear step backwards from a team that was obviously moving in the right direction.

I'm not well-versed in sarcasm detection.Is that what you were going for?

 

[SSOG]

Art Shell, Oakland - 2006 Although he'll be almost impossible to beat, any other nominations?

Oh yeah, Art Shell was horrible. He took a team that, in the last three seasons, had won 4, 5, and 4 games... and he only won 2 games with that obviously talented squad. Talk about underperforming. That Raiders team was a 4-win team at least! I mean, it's not like *ANYONE* was predicting before the season that Oakland would be the worst team in the league- it really came as a huge shock to everyone. And going winless in division games after posting a stellar 2-16 record against divisional foes over the last three seasons was a clear step backwards from a team that was obviously moving in the right direction.

I'm not well-versed in sarcasm detection.Is that what you were going for?

I wasn't really going for anything, I just think Shell isn't nearly as bad as everyone seems to think. He was clueless last year, true, but I definitely believe that most of his team's suck was a result of his innovative "Bed 'N Breakfast" offense. I also think that his first stint with the Raiders was one of the more underappreciated coaching jobs of the last 20 years. Get him some decent coordinators and I definitely think Shell would be an improvement over many of the coaches currently coaching (including Kiffin until further notice).

 

[TDavi118]

Art Shell, Oakland - 2006 Although he'll be almost impossible to beat, any other nominations?

Oh yeah, Art Shell was horrible. He took a team that, in the last three seasons, had won 4, 5, and 4 games... and he only won 2 games with that obviously talented squad. Talk about underperforming. That Raiders team was a 4-win team at least! I mean, it's not like *ANYONE* was predicting before the season that Oakland would be the worst team in the league- it really came as a huge shock to everyone. And going winless in division games after posting a stellar 2-16 record against divisional foes over the last three seasons was a clear step backwards from a team that was obviously moving in the right direction.

I'm not well-versed in sarcasm detection.Is that what you were going for?

I wasn't really going for anything, I just think Shell isn't nearly as bad as everyone seems to think. He was clueless last year, true, but I definitely believe that most of his team's suck was a result of his innovative "Bed 'N Breakfast" offense. I also think that his first stint with the Raiders was one of the more underappreciated coaching jobs of the last 20 years. Get him some decent coordinators and I definitely think Shell would be an improvement over many of the coaches currently coaching (including Kiffin until further notice).

Boy, this is a Calahan is the answer sir.

 

[cantrell]

The name that came to mind when I read the title was Dave Wannstedt. I remember some bad performances with the Bears in 1997-1998, but the King of Single Season Sucking is Art Shell. Last season was classic and a real joy to watch.

 

[Neil Beaufort Zod]

John McKay led the expansion Buccaneers to a tidy 0-14 record in the AFC West in 1976.Notable lowlights were ranking 28th (last) in points scored and 27th in points allowed with a 125 to 412 scoring differential. They were shut out 5 times but allowed 40+ points 4 times.The only thing that saved the Bucs from being even worse was the fact that the league also added the Seahawks and their defense was slighlty worse.The Bucs' 14 offensive TD were also nothing to sneeze at in terms of ineptitude. The team rushing leader had 521 yards and the #1 receiver racked up 390 yards.

Completely unfair. The NFL screwed expansion teams back then, and McKay had a cheap owner to deal with. The talent level on the '76 Bucs was so poor, I doubt any coach could have done anything with them.Three years later, McKay had the Bucs in the NFC Championship game. His system worked, he just needed to upgrade from terrible players to mediocre ones (and a couple of stars). Wow, I'm defending John McKay. I've officially turned into my parents.

 

[John Black]

I nominate me. I coached a 7th grade girls basketball team to a 1-19 record. The only reason we defeated one team was because the school was on strike and they had one day to practice and we only won by 4 points. The next time we played them we got killed.

SO I AM THE WORSE COACH OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!!!!!