Peter King ranks the five greatest pro football coaches of all time

[Ivan]

Paul Brown is in there so King doesn't have to pick Belichick first.

Disagree. I think Belichick himself considers Brown the GOAT, believes he was the greatest contributor to the game that there ever was and would not want to be considered greater than him. But that's just my opinion. After that game on and he gets the #2 spot.


#1 Paul Brown. Father of football as we have known it before Roger Goodell ruins it for everyone. Belichick is the Brown devotee, he believes that Brown was the model coach/innovator and used him as his model for coaching and building a program/team/franchise.

#2 Bill Belichick He has managed to do what no one else can do, consistently create championship caliber teams for over 15 years in an era of exploding salaries and volatile movement of players due to free agency and cap limitations. 6 Super Bowl appearances. 4 Lombardi Trophy's, and 10 AFCCG Game appearances, and he's not done yet.


Now it gets controversial:

#3 Landry-FTR I hated the Cowboys my entire life but while Lombardi was a great motivator who had a great short run Landry was an innovator with a long long run of success, and his innovations revolutionized the game far more than Lombardi did.

#4 Bill Walsh Similar reason, Walsh had the Chamionship success and also took the game to new levels.

#5 George Halas One of the real founders of the game and an all time great on many levels. Halas and Brown were the two most influential people in the game over the first fifty-sixty years.


Shula, Noll, Lombardi, etc etc after that but that is my top five. I put more weight on their contributions to the game than just championships but it's just how I see that.

 

[Ivan]

Hey,



Everyone really needs to take a minute to savor just how BUTTHURT Don Shula is at Belichick getting GOAT LOVE.

 

[Triumph]

Great story!

I was in his steakhouse in Tampa (or Naples maybe) in 2004 or so and I saw him walking around. Didn't say anything to him. I was busy eating.

If you go to a SB, check out the media hotel.

Youre bound to see the movers and shakers of the NFL there.

 

[Ring 6]

walsh was revolutionary, as was landry

noll had probably the most stacked roster ever assembled (and probably the most drugged) - noll was good, but outside my top 5

Noll took over a terrible team.
No coach wins without talent.
Not sure how winning less and being considered "an innovator" is more important than winning more.

 

[yukon cornelius]

Noll took over a terrible team.
No coach wins without talent.
Not sure how winning less and being considered "an innovator" is more important than winning more.

you're over simplifying


Noll was a great coach; but he also had the greatest number of HOF players ever assembled; did he have a hand in building that team? sure.....but even Jimmy Johnson was able to win with the crew that was assembled in Dallas

Landry & Walsh were simply better is all

 

[Ring 6]

not at all - Parcells was a great judge of talent, and his fear-based coaching got him quick success.....but he tended to lose his players after awhile, he didn't have the genius of Lombardi to pat someone on the back when they thought they'd get yelled at, and kick them in the ass when they thought they deserved praise

Lombardi was a master psychologist....Parcells was just, well, an *******......he assembled talent well, and he surrounded himself with great assistants (what DID he do without BB?)....

Parcells peaked with the great Giants teams with a slew of great young assistants.....it's no coincidence he never achieved that level of success again, and some would say he saw steady decline after that run.....not saying Parcells isn't a top 10 all-time, but I have him a lot farther down than some


Coryell was the father of the modern passing attack......take a look at the innovations he's credited with: the single back formation, pre-snap motion, his offense forced the implementation of nickel & dime schemes, pre-snap reads & option routes, route trees, move tight ends

Coryells coaching tree is just as impressive as a lot of the other greats, and one could argue BB owes quite a bit to Coryell

He doesn't have the rings, but Coryell's legacy in terms of innovation is hard to argue against

Parcells after leaving the giants with 2 rings won as many playoff games as Coryell won in his career.

 

[Ring 6]

you're over simplifying


Noll was a great coach; but he also had the greatest number of HOF players ever assembled; did he have a hand in building that team? sure.....but even Jimmy Johnson was able to win with the crew that was assembled in Dallas

Landry & Walsh were simply better is all

when you win 4 SBs in 6 years your players are considered better. Chicken and egg.
Noll accomplished more than either of them.
Best coach if his generation hands down.

 

[Deus Irae]

There's always a mystique with the older guys. It all comes in on reputation. My dad thinks OJ Simpson was the best running back who ever played, so I'll echo that. My kids might echo that. Meanwhile my kids will be watching Zeke Elliot and Todd Gurley, who if you transported them back in time to the early 70s, would have made OJ Simpson look like James White running the ball.

Show them Barry Sanders, Earl Campbell, and Jim Brown. They'll understand.

 

[yukon cornelius]

Parcells after leaving the giants with 2 rings won as many playoff games as Coryell won in his career.

didn't know this became a Parcells vs Coryell discussion...

the fact that Parcells is vastly overrated is a stand alone argument - i think he's 111-5 in playoffs and 2-1 in Superbowls WITH Bill Belichek on his staff......he's 0-3 in the playoffs without him with; if we're talking BB as a top 5 all time HC, one could extrapolate that Parcells obviously rode his coattails.....he's a great GM, i'll give him that; I'm far from the only person to believe Parcells is overrated, no matter how well he marketed himself


the argument that Don Coryell doesn't get enough merit in discussions of great all-time NFL coaches when he revolutionized the modern NFL passing game (and forced the evolution of the defense), the fact that he still isn't in the Hall, IS a travesty

 

[Ring 6]

didn't know this became a Parcells vs Coryell discussion...

the fact that Parcells is vastly overrated is a stand alone argument - i think he's 111-5 in playoffs and 2-1 in Superbowls WITH Bill Belichek on his staff......he's 0-3 in the playoffs without him with; if we're talking BB as a top 5 all time HC, one could extrapolate that Parcells obviously rode his coattails.....he's a great GM, i'll give him that; I'm far from the only person to believe Parcells is overrated, no matter how well he marketed himself


the argument that Don Coryell doesn't get enough merit in discussions of great all-time NFL coaches when he revolutionized the modern NFL passing game (and forced the evolution of the defense), the fact that he still isn't in the Hall, IS a travesty

Ok. No sense continuing.
You believe that winners should not get credit and a guy who won 3 playoff games in his life belongs in the hall.
There is no chance we will come close to agreement on this.

 

[captain insano]

who cares what peter king thinks?

 

[yukon cornelius]

Ok. No sense continuing.
You believe that winners should not get credit and a guy who won 3 playoff games in his life belongs in the hall.
There is no chance we will come close to agreement on this.

when you ludicrously boil the discussion down to those points, yeah, there is no point

was Jimmy Johnson a better coach than Don Shula?



Noll was a great coach....imho both Landry and surely Walsh were far greater football minds

 

[mgteich]

Brown/Belichick/Lombardi/Walsh

Landry/Shula/Noll/Halas/Gibbs/Madden

I could see an argument for Lambeau being in the top 10, as well.

A fine list!

I would have Lambeau in the top 10 over Madden.

 

[Tunescribe]

Any Top Five list must have George Halas in it.

 

[DarrylS]

Always thought that because of his admiration for Brown that equaling his number of wins would be his benchmark... glad I am wrong

 

[TinhWoodhead]

Was Cleveland even an NFL team when Brown coached? I'm not sure. He does have some remarkable accomplishments, though.

did they named the team after him?

 

[Ring 6]

when you ludicrously boil the discussion down to those points, yeah, there is no point

was Jimmy Johnson a better coach than Don Shula?



Noll was a great coach....imho both Landry and surely Walsh were far greater football minds

What does Jimmy Johnson va Shula have to do with noll vs coryell?

How are you ranking "football minds"?
What was going on in Landry genius mind while Noll was dominating the era?
How did that superior mind translate into less success?

I'll take 4 SBs vs 2 in the exact same era and you can have your impression of who was smarter.

Football is about results not opinions.
Again not much point in us discussing this as we have different views of the goals of a coach.

 

[tasmlab]

There is no way BB would name his team the New England Belichicks.

I'm fine if they ever want to rename the team that though.

 

[yukon cornelius]

What does Jimmy Johnson va Shula have to do with noll vs coryell?

How are you ranking "football minds"?
What was going on in Landry genius mind while Noll was dominating the era?
How did that superior mind translate into less success?

I'll take 4 SBs vs 2 in the exact same era and you can have your impression of who was smarter.

Football is about results not opinions.
Again not much point in us discussing this as we have different views of the goals of a coach.

you said it comes down to wins and championships.....therefore jimmy johnson > than shula by your logic


and it was never coryell vs noll....try and follow the actual discussion if you could


my simple opinion was that noll was overrated slightly because of the 4 championships.....yes, he took a team chock full of future HOFers and won with them; he's basically the Joe Torre of the NFL - he did a great job managing and motivating the greatest collection of talent the league has ever seen, and won with them.....that alone makes him a great coach

the argument i actually made is that, in my opinion, i rank a guy like bill walsh over a coach like noll......walsh helped usher in an offensive revolution

the same goes for landry in my mind - he more or less created the 4-3 defense, middle linebackers exist because of landry's scheme.....he pioneered the use of multiple formations

when i look at the all-time greats, i value not only the wins but their lasting impression on the game; landry & walsh both helped usher in the age of modern football imho, and that transcends simple wins


the coryell take was another stand alone - he gets lost in these conversations unfairly when one considers the thumbprint he left on the modern game.....his resume of innovations is ridiculous

 

[Actual Pats Fan]

It takes a special kind of stupidity to fire both Paul Brown AND Bill Belichick.

It's really weird, but Modell's teams won titles right after he fired those guys. I believe Billick pulled out his thumb and "Look what I found!"