Top 10 NFL Coaches of all time

[PatsFanSince74]

In no particular order:

Landry
Lombardi
Knoll
Shula
Walsh
Halas
Brown
Gibbs
Madden
Belichick


That seems about right to me.

Agreed on all but Madden. He's not top ten as an HC. I'd definitely move Curly Lambeau onto that list. Six titles. Like Brown and Walsh in their days, a major innovator by building the Forward Pass into the game.

 

[DarrylS]

Look at the teams Parcells coach before he came in and look at when he leaves. He turns around horrible teams and makes them great.


Giants: Super Bowl champions

Patriots: AFC champions

Jets: Close to AFC champions

Cowboys: Got them to the playoff

Is this horseshoes???... Parcells is great, but is between 6-8 on any list...

 

[ayjackson]

I think you need to include Noll in the top 5. He certanly belongs ahead of Landry having out done him in that same era.

Well he outdid him from '74-79, but not for the other 20-25 years. Landry was much more of an innovator than Noll. Noll led some great teams to Superbowls and if that's your criteria, so be it. Landry had by far the larger lasting influence on the game.

 

[PatsFanSince74]

Well he outdid him from '74-79, but not for the other 20-25 years. Landry was much more of an innovator than Noll. Noll led some great teams to Superbowls and if that's your criteria, so be it. Landry had by far the larger lasting influence on the game.

Agreed on Landry's long term influence. He is sometimes overlooked in favor of Walsh and now BB as his accomplishments recede into the past, but he really did change the look of the offense (shotgun) and defense (invented the 4--3 and then the flex).

One of the things I look at is to how many championship games a Coach took a team; Landry took the Cowboys to 12 and won five of them and converted that into two Lombardi's. The NFCCG's he lost were memorable, two to the great Lombardi/Starr teams and another to Bud Grant and Fran Tarkenton and a fourth to Walsh and Joe. The two SB's he lost to Noll were classics, settled by a total of eight points.

But, Noll had his number in the big game, no doubt about that. Noll is remarkable for his efficiency; he took his teams to seven AFCCG's and was a perfect 4--0 in the SB's he reached.

So, not a lot of daylight between these two in that era, but definitely the edge to Landry for the time (20 consecutive winning seasons). It was kind of a Golden Age of NFL HC's with Landry in Dallas, Shula in Miami, Noll in Pittsburgh, and Grant in Minnesota.

 

[neuronet]

Parcells and Shanahan being on that list pretty much kills whatever credibility it might have been looking for.

I despise Parcells after his SB week 'screw you' to the Pats, but he is a great coach.

 

[Pats171]

how could they exclude Rod Rust?

 

[Deus Irae]

I despise Parcells after his SB week 'screw you' to the Pats, but he is a great coach.

I wasn't belittling either Shannahan or Parcells. They simply are not top-10 all time, IMO.

 

[BTTA]

Am I missing an inside joke here?

You guys keep saying that Madden is #2 on this list, but he's #7.

 

[patsfan-1982]

here is my list

#1 Vince Lombardi,

#2 Bill Walsh,

#3 Bill Belichick,

#4 Chuck Noll,

#5 Don Shula,

#6 Tom Landry,

#7 George Halas,

#8 Joe Gibbs,

#9 Bill Cowher,

#10 Hank Stram,

 

[cloud34]

I'm guessing whoever made this list thinks the NFL started around the year 1965 rather than 1920.

 

[zasw]

Personally to me, the top are fairly clear although I am fine with different orders.
Lombardi, Halas, Walsh, Belichick, Landry

I'm OK wih Parcells in the second five with guys like Noll. I can also understand those who put Parcells in the top five; of course no current pats fan is likely to do so.

I'm fine with parcells. I don't understand the hatred for him from the pat fans. Parcells brought this team up from nothing. Many fans also choose not to recall that you couldn't give a patriots ticket away before he got here. In other words the pats sucked before parcells.

 

[cloud34]

This list sounds a lot better to me....

Cold, Hard Football Facts.com: Lords of the Rings: the NFL's 10 greatest coaches

 

[PatsFanSince74]

This list sounds a lot better to me....

Cold, Hard Football Facts.com: Lords of the Rings: the NFL's 10 greatest coaches

BINGO!

Exactly my list, unordered, as stated above (Post number 24 in this thread) in response to Deus!:

Quote:
Originally Posted by Deus Irae
"In no particular order:

Landry
Lombardi
Knoll
Shula
Walsh
Halas
Brown
Gibbs
Madden
Belichick"


My response to Deus (number 24 above):

"That seems about right to me.
Agreed on all but Madden. He's not top ten as an HC. I'd definitely move Curly Lambeau onto that list. Six titles. Like Brown and Walsh in their days, a major innovator by building the Forward Pass into the game."

I'd move Belichick above Shula and put Lombardi at one over Brown, but otherwise, it's 100% the right list.
__________________

 

[goheels22002]

1. Richie Kotite
2. Steve Spurrier
3. Pete "I'm Pumped! I'm Jacked!" Carroll
4. John McKay
5. Marty "I Lose the Big Ones One Game At A Time" Schottenheimer
6. Bobby "Anybody seen my suitcase?" Petrino
7. Bert (.179 winning percentage) Bell
8. Rod Rust
9. Lou Holtz
10. Eric Mangini