A few days ago, I outlined the criteria for my countdown of the 100 greatest coaches of all-time. You should check that out if you have not already so that you know how I would be calculating this impressive list of coaching candidates. While it is difficult to compare different eras, sports and levels of competition, it is a very interesting debate and everyone has their opinion. Here you can see mine and justification for it. So, enjoy the list of 100 greatest coaches.
Today, we start with our first ten coaches on the countdown.
100. John
Calipari
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Career College Coaching Record: 548-171 (.762 winning percentage)
NBA Coaching Record: 72-112 (.391 winning percentage)
Coach Calipari was one I struggled a lot with whether or not he belonged on the list. Cal was a complete failure in the NBA and has had numerous sanctions everywhere he has won other than Kentucky. He has never finished below second though in the SEC at Kentucky and has a championship and a runner-up. He might be the best recruiter in any college sport as well. So, it was difficult to figure out where Calipari belonged on the list.
Ultimately, I decided to include him because of his college success. He is by far the hardest coach to measure on this list because of the previous sanctions and his failed NBA career. Absolutely, he belongs on this list though. He made UMASS and Memphis threats to win the National Title. There may have been some shenanigans involved, but he still did it. Nothing has been proven at Kentucky and they are always a threat to win currently. That says something. He belongs, but because of the sanctions and lack of success at the NBA level he will stay here at number 100. If it turns out he is dirty at Kentucky than he doesn't belong on the list.
99. Buck
Showalter
That record is through April 9 of this year. The Orioles are currently in 1st Place of the American League at 55-45 which is 10 games above .500.
Due to winning percentage alone, you probably don't think Buck Showalter belongs on this list, but you would be wrong. Look at what the guy has done to turn around teams. The Yankees were last place before Showalter arrived. If you can believe it, Showalter brought the historic Yankees back to prominence. During the 1994 season, Showalter had the Yankees in 1st place and as the World Series favorites, until the baseball strike happened which unfortunately caused some damage for Showalter in New York. The strike not performance eventually lead to Showalter being fired from the Yankees. He made the playoffs in 1995 with New York as a wild card.
Showalter then managed the expansion Diamondbacks who had the NL West's top record in his second season with the team (1999). That team won 100 games in its second year of existence and went 250-236 in its first 3 years due to Showalter's leadership. Somehow though, he was fired again and the Diamondbacks won the following year.
He had another short layoff from the game before taking the job with Texas in 2002. The Texas Rangers also were last place the year before Showalter took over. The team traded Alex Rodriguez after his first season with the team and they had a massive improvement surprising everybody. Showalter won the Manager of the Year in that second season. He was fired after 4 seasons in Texas though and this is considered his least successful managerial stint.
Finally, he started coaching the Orioles and fans like myself are still thrilled to have Buck. When Showalter took over midseason 2010, the Orioles were a joke. The record was 32-73 and by far the worst in baseball. Once Showalter came in the Orioles turned the tide. During the stretch where Buck was in charge, the Orioles had the 2nd best record in baseball at 34-23. That is one dramatic turnaround. The 2011 season was okay, but it was the 2012 season that Orioles fans will never forget. I will never forget it because my son wasn't even a year old yet and got to see the Orioles win playoff games! That's right Buck Showalter ended the Orioles streak of 14 losing seasons and got them into the playoffs. This was a job that nobody wanted and Joe Girardi turned down. Buck not only took the job, but did the impossible.
Now, Buck doesn't have a ring which prevents him from being higher, but his success at turning teams around has been remarkable. Also, his team is currently in 1st place.
98. Don
Nelson
Don Nelson has the most wins all-time of any NBA Coach, so he has to be on the list somewhere. The debate comes about where to put him. Winning all those game made him a three time coach of the year which absolutely helps his case. However, the guy never coached a serious contender. Nelson never went past the conference semifinals and had a playoff winning percentage of less than .500. This guy clearly belongs on this list because of the long successful career with the most wins in NBA history, but he belongs no higher than 98.
97. Urban
Meyer
Urban Meyer has won two National Championships and came dangerously close to another one at Utah. Recently, while Ohio State was on probation he led that team to a 12-0 record as well. The man is a heck of an X's and O's coach. Perhaps the best in the country today. He made Utah a great program that eventually led that team moving to the Pac-12. He also has appeared in 5 BCS Bowl Games in just 13 years of coaching. Only one of those BCS games was a loss (the most recent Orange Bowl against Clemson). A fantastic resume that includes more championships and a higher winning percentage than John Calipari. We all know the SEC is much tougher in football than basketball too.
However, I have to knock Urban Meyer down for the program he ran at Florida. He literally let players get away with anything and may have covered up some serious crimes. One Tim Tebow does not change all of that. From all indications, Aaron Hernandez murdered people while in school at Florida and there is some discussion as to whether or not Urban Meyer may have interfered with that investigation. Besides that though, just look at Riley Cooper and the Pouncey brothers and the poor examples they became under Urban's leadership. At least 31 players were arrested in five seasons at Florida for Urban Meyer. Since he let the inmates run the asylum in a fashion never seen before in major athletics, he has to be knocked down a few pegs.
96. Tom
Coughlin
NFL Career Coaching Record: 158-130 (.549 Winning Percentage)
If I had made this list prior to 2007 there is no way that Tom Coughlin makes this list. He would not even come close, but the guy has been a consistent winner everyone he has gone. Coughlin didn't win championships in college, but he was very successful at Boston College. An upset of #1 Notre Dame happened during Coughlin's tenure at BC. This guy is credited by many as being the coach that turned Boston College into the consistent winner that it was for the 90s and much of the 2000s.
In Coughlin's pro career, there is similar success. He has been to the playoffs 9 times in an 18 year career averaging a playoff appearance every other season. The guy has two rings and a .632 playoff winning percentage. With the Giants, that playoff winning percentage increases to .727. He remains the only coach to knock off Belichick and Brady in the Super Bowl. All of that is quite impressive. What is more impressive is that his success with Jacksonville was with an expansion team. Coughlin had 4 playoff appearances in his 8 years with the Jacksonville Jaguars. During the 11 seasons since Coughlin has left, the Jaguars have managed only 2 playoff appearances. There is a consistent trend of success with Tom Coughlin when it comes to coaching.
95. Davey
Johnson
A career winning percentage of .562 is quite good especially when you consider where Johnson has been. While Johnson was a member of the Orioles, they enjoyed their only success of my lifetime until very recently. The Orioles were awful from 1984-2011 with the exception of the two years that they had Davey Johnson and one additional season. During those two years, the Orioles actually made the playoffs. Only one other time during that time did they have a contending team and that was in 1989.
In 2012, Davey Johnson led the Nationals to their first division title since 1981 (while the team was still the Montreal Expos). The fact that he was able to break the string of dominance by the Atlanta Braves was quite remarkable. He really helped to turn that franchise around.
However, Davey's greatest success came managing the New York Mets. When Johnson took over the Mets, they had not won a pennant in 11 seasons. He won 90 games in each of his first five seasons in New York. No other National League manager has ever accomplished that feat in their first five seasons with a team. He even led the Mets to the 1986 World Series Title (yes, in the Buckner series). Johnson is still the winningest manager in Mets history.
94. Nolan
Richardson
Younger people today might know Richardson for his three positions post retirement. When he finished with the Arkansas Razorbacks, he coached the Panamanian National Team from 2005-2007, followed by a stint with the Mexican National Team from 2007-present. Richardson also coached the WNBA's Tulsa Shock from 2009-2011 upon request. However, this brilliant coach most success came while coaching the Arkansas Razorbacks.
Richardson was fantastic with the Razorbacks. This team won the 1993-1994 National Championship and made several deep runs in the tournament. He would coach Arkansas for 17 seasons and make tournament appearances in 15 of those seasons. The only seasons he did not make the tournament were his first and last seasons (he was replaced mid-season during his last season). 13 of those 15 tournament appearances were for the big dance the NCAA tournament. Richardson would also make a final four and an elite eight appearance with Arkansas. Since his departure in 2002, Arkansas has yet to make it past the second round of the NCAA tournament. They have only made the tournament three times post-Richardson.
Before he coached the Razorbacks, Richardson also had success with Tulsa of the Missouri Valley Conference. During his first season as a major college coach, Nolan Richardson won the NIT championship with Tulsa. He made a postseason tournament in each of his five seasons at Tulsa. These postseason appearances included three trips to the NCAA tournament. He won the conference regular season title twice with Tulsa including a season where he won the regular and post-season titles. Richardson would win three conference tournaments in addition to all this other success at Tulsa eventually leading to him getting the Arkansas job.
In total during 22 seasons of coaching, Nolan Richardson made the postseason 20 times. One of those 22 seasons wasn't even a full season either.
93. Vince
Dooley
Coach Dooley had an extremely successful run with the Georgia Bulldogs from 1964-1988. It was a run filled with winning as the Bulldogs had only one losing season under Dooley and that was a 5-6 campaign. This run also included a 104-42-4 record in the incredibly difficult SEC. The Bulldogs won that conference 6 times under Dooley. Georgia has won 14 conference championships total, so Dooley has nearly half of those championships. Two of those championships came before 1920 and before Georgia was in the SEC. You take those two out and Dooley has half of the SEC championships won at Georgia. He also has half of Georgia's National Championships. Dooley led Georgia to the 1980 National Championship over Notre Dame. The only other championship from Georgia came during the 1942 season. Dooley really turned Georgia into a college football power.
92. Paul Mainieri
The LSU baseball coach has also had success at Notre Dame, Air Force, and St. Thomas. He has been coaching since 1983 and won more than 1000 games. LSU won Coach Mainieri a much deserved national championship in 2009. This team and this coach really earned a championship. He has only been to the College World Series 4 times, but he has captured that elusive championship. Mainieri has 2 regular season titles at LSU and 5 tournament titles. At Notre Dame, he captured 4 regular season Big East and 5 postseason titles. This guy has also won numerous coach of the year awards and is considered one of the best in the country. He also produces a great deal of MLB talent including the future ace of the Baltimore Orioles, Kevin Gausman.
91. Bob
Stoops
I actually feel like I may have underranked Stoops given the performance of Oklahoma football, but we will see. Stoops has another title contender heading into 2014 as well and he could shoot up this list with a championship. However, we have to go on the body of work at hand and not predict the future when talking about all-time greats.
Bob Stoops won the National Championship in 2000 beating my beloved Seminoles. That Oklahoma team started a downward trend for Florida State that they did not recover from until Jimbo Fisher took over as head coach. However, despite that they unfairly get labeled as choke artists in big games. They do have a losing record in BCS games, but they have been to the 2nd most BCS games. They are actually tied for the most technically since Ohio State was forced to vacate one of their appearances. Stoops also is the first and only coach to ever win all 4 BCS bowl games. You cannot be a choke artist and accomplish that feat. Finally Bob Stoops has 8 Big 12 championships in 15 years as Oklahoma head coach. More than half of his seasons have resulted in championships in the conference that holds the richest athletic program in the country. Texas has the most money and the biggest budget, but they could only manage to go 5-9 against Coach Stoops. Texas has never had back-to-back Big 12 titles in this period of time and neither has any other Big 12 school. Heck, Texas A&M won a Big 12 title in 1998 (the year before Stoops) and hasn't won since, they even left the conference eventually. Oklahoma has dominated the Big 12 under Stoops.
-Noland
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