Preview
100-91
90-81
80-71
70-61
60-51
50-41
40. John McGraw
McGraw was a fantastic manager in Major League Baseball. He won 10 Pennants and 3 World Series Titles in his 33 years as manager. All of his success came with the New York Giants whom he managed for 31 years. His success was also pre-Willie Mays which allows him to crack the Top 40. Not many people remember him because he started his coaching career in the late 1800s, but the guy is a legend and an innnovator. John McGraw clearly belongs on this list.
39. Rick Pitino
NBA Career Coaching Record: 192-220 (.466 Winning Percentage)
Pitino is seen as a failure in professional basketball, but I strongly disagree with that statement. He coached in the NBA for just over 5 years and went around .500 during that time. However, the record does not tell the whole story. During his two stints in the NBA, Pitino took over the worst team in the NBA at the time. He took over a league worst Knicks team in the 80s and led them to the playoffs in both seasons as Knicks head coach. Then, after several seasons with Kentucky, Pitino came back to the NBA to coach the league worst Boston Celtics. Now, this job was probably much more enticing because Tim Duncan was sitting there to be drafted and everyone knew he was going to be a star. Unfortunately for Pitino, Duncan ended up with San Antonio, after the Spurs won the lottery. How much would the basketball world have changed if Duncan went to the worst team in the league and Pitino gotten to coach the Big Fundamental.
As it stands though, we can only judge him on what actually happened. That is despite not achieving too much in the pros, Pitino is one of the best coaches ever. He has won those two NCAA Championships. Rick Pitino won one championship at Kentucky and one championship at Louisville. In fact, his Kentucky tenure is highly underrated and one of the best coaching jobs in sports. He entered Kentucky with sanctions from the Eddie Sutton era which made the Wildcats ineligible for postseason play his first two seasons at the school. Still, he won 81% of his games at Kentucky and advanced to the Elite 8 or better 5 times in 8 seasons. They were one of the 8 best teams in the country 5 times during an 8 year tenure. That is amazing given the sanctions. It is more amazing when you think about the fact that one of his best teams was ineligible for postseason play. His second year, the Wildcats won the SEC and looked really strong, but they had to sit out. Accomplishing that in the circumstances he came into, makes it easy to see why Kentucky loved him as the coach. Kentucky of course won the title the year after Pitino left as well. Tubby Smith won with Pitino's recruits, and then Kentucky fell off until John Calipari took over a few years ago. To put things in perspective of how good Pitino was at Kentucky, he won 10% more games than John Calipari despite coming into NCAA sanctions. Pitino also made the NCAA Tournament every year he was eligible at Kentucky, and Calipari was bounced first round in the NIT one season.
Now, Pitino has made Louisville into a basketball powerhouse again. This team won an NCAA Championship recently and has advanced to 3 Final Fours under Pitino. They have 5 trips to the Elite 8 or better under Pitino as well. Pitino has also led Providence to the Final Four. He is the only coach to lead 3 different schools to the Final Four in NCAA history. Well, the only coach to do so without having those wins later vacated anyway.
38. Bill Belichick
This year, probably in week 1, Belichick will win his 200th game in the NFL. 200 wins is quite the accomplishment and Belichick is quite the coach. In fact, I'd say that he is the most prestigious active NFL coach today. Winning 3 Super Bowls and the success he has had with the New England Patriots is quite impressive. However, there is that Spygate thing and that makes ranking him difficult. I would say that it is a complete non-issue, but if it was, then they probably would have won a Super Bowl since the information was found. I would say it is a huge issue, but it just doesn't seem to be. Therefore, I decided to leave him in the group that he belongs in based on record and number of titles, but drop him a few spots. His resume can be argued with any of those in this list from 31-40, but I dropped him behind those with a very similar resume that didn't have a scandal. Still, he clearly belongs on this list and clearly belongs Top 40. I will say this though, if Belichick is able to get his 4th ring, it makes him a strong argument for the Top 10 and helps him prove that Spygate was not a big deal. Until that happens though, the doubt will remain.
37. Walter Alston
Walter Alston is the greatest manager in Dodgers history and one of the greatest managers in MLB history. With the Dodgers he won 4 World Series Titles and 7 NL Pennants. Sure, he had a loaded roster especially in the rotation, but he still did great things for the team. It was also no small task being apart of the Dodgers relocation out West. Alston is a huge figure in the history of baseball.
36. Nick Saban
NFL Career Coaching Record: 15-17 (.469 Winning Percentage)
Nick Saban had a brief an unsuccessful NFL career that was capped by him saying he was not offered or interested in the Alabama job only to leave two weeks later. You had to feel for Dolphins fans and for their owner in that instance because it seemed everyone knew Saban was full of crap. He did however make the right move and it is hard to question him. The guy is a legendary college coach and knows how to sell the goods of his university. It's the way in which he left the Dolphins that has their fans cursing his name to this day. Saban can absolutely coach at a very high level though.
The obvious reason for Saban cracking the Top 40 is his 4 National Titles. Those titles (3 at Bama, 1 at LSU) put him in elite company in college football coaching. His record at Alabama is what puts him on this list though without a doubt. His record at Michigan State was very unspectacular, he only spent one season at Toledo, and LSU just had that one spectacular season. The Tigers lost 3 or more games every season under Saban except that National Championship season. They have actually had more success under Les Miles.
So, the only question with where to rank Saban is how much credit should we give to his Alabama success? We should obviously give him a ton of credit for that success. 3 NCAA Championships in 4 years is an incredible feat no matter where you are coaching. Although, I still dispute that 2011 Championship, but that is another story for another day. Out of 7 seasons at Alabama, Saban's Tide have lost more than 2 games twice. They have won 3 National Championships and appeared in 5 BCS level games. It is easy to see that he will probably get at least one more before he retires too. Each additional top 5 season, and each additional championship would put him further up this list.
35. Larry Brown
College Basketball Career Coaching Record: 219-88 (.713 Winning Percentage)
Larry Brown has proven himself to be a terrific basketball coach. He has had success at both the collegiate and professional level. In fact, he has won a championship in NCAA and NBA. Currently, he coaches the SMU Mustangs, and he has flipped back and forth between college and pro. With the Mustangs, he advanced to the NIT Finals this past season, and probably should have been invited to the NCAA Tournament. He wasn't, but once again showed his coaching chops by leading a bad program to 27 wins and postseason play. Before Brown took the Mustangs to the NIT Finals, they hadn't advanced to the NIT tournament since 2000. This program has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 1993. Brown could easily lead them there this season.
During the 1980s, Brown coached the Kansas Jayhawks. At Kansas, Brown achieved his most coaching success. His winning percentage at Kansas was .754 and he went to the NCAA Tournament all 5 years with the Jayhawks. He went out on top with them during the 1987-1988 season winning the NCAA Championship. His first major college job was a two year stint at UCLA earlier in the decade. He won 71% of his games with the Bruins.
Despite all that success in college, Brown is best known for what he did in the pros. He is known by most as the coach of Allen Iverson for the majority of Iverson's career. Brown even led Iverson to the NBA Finals one season, which would have been a difficult task for any coach. His work with Iverson in my opinion was his best coaching job, despite never winning a title. Without Brown, Iverson was nowhere near the same player. After Philly, he left for Detroit and coached them for two years. He advanced to the NBA Finals each year in Detroit, winning the NBA Championship during the 2003-2004 season. That championship was his first year in Detroit and beat the original super team of the 2000s. Those Lakers had Gary Payton, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone, and Shaq in the starting lineup. He had success coaching 9 different organizations in the NBA, but will always be remembered for work in Philly and Detroit. Oh, and for the fact that he has an NCAA and an NBA Title.
34. Bobby Winkles
MLB Career Coaching Record: 170-213 (.444 Winning Percentage)
Bobby Winkles was not successful in either stint of his managerial career in Major League Baseball, but he is one of the greatest college coaches of all-time. With the Arizona State Sun Devils, Winkles won 75% of the games he coached. He did this in the Pac 10 at a time when they had the most dominant team in baseball and a Top 10 coach of all-time. In fact, it wasn't until Winkles left the Sun Devils that the USC program and Rod Dedeaux really took over the sport. The Trojans won five titles under Dedeaux (during the Winkles era) while Winkles won 3 with Arizona State. Once Winkles left for MLB, Dedeaux and the Trojans immediately won the next three titles. Winkles was the only guy that put up a worthy fight against Dedeaux's 10 titles. Since he did so well with this coaching legend in his conference, Winkles definitely gets bonus points.
33. John Kundla
Career College Coaching Record: 121-116 (.511 Winning Percentage)
John Kundla was a very good basketball coach who ended up in the Hall of Fame. His 5 NBA titles put him on this list, but his winning percentage keeps him from being higher. That percentage is much lower than several other legendary basketball coaches. He even had quite a few sub .500 seasons which is rare for a basketball coach of this caliber. Those 5 championships though are hard to argue against. Kundla is also in the Hall of Fame.
32. Jimmie Johnson
Career NFL Coaching Record: 80-64 (.556 Winning Percentage)
Jimmie Johnson is an absolute legend. If not for Jerry Jones thinking he knew more than Jimmie, there is no telling how many NFL Championships Johnson would have won with the Cowboys. He is one of the best NFL coaches in history. Johnson also won an NCAA Championship while coaching the Miami Hurricanes. Winning titles at the collegiate and professional football puts him in an elite company of three. The other two coaches are obviously Pete Carroll and Barry Switzer. Johnson will be remembered for his success at those two locations. He was fantastic with the Cowboys and very strong towards the end with the Miami Hurricanes. His Miami Dolphins teams at the end of his career were okay and he made 3 playoff appearances in 4 seasons. However, those Dolphins teams were nothing special. Johnson's first coaching gig at Oklahoma State was quite forgettable. With the Oklahoma State Cowboys, Johnson was basically a .500 coach living in Barry Switzer's shadow. Then he went to the U and his career took off. Although at Miami he blew two of the most memorable games ever in a 42-10 comeback loss to the Frank Reich led Maryland Terrapins and the "Hail Mary Play" against the Flutie led Boston College Eagles.
31. Barry Switzer
Career NFL Coaching Record: 40-24 (.625 Winning Percentage)
Switzer is an amazing and underrated football coach. A coach beyond the talent of even Jimmie Johnson. The latter is often considered a better coach, especially by Cowboys fans, but numbers don't lie. He had a higher winning percentage and more championships. Despite Johnson's two Super Bowls, Switzer even had the better record in professional football. At college though is the much bigger difference, Johnson left Oklahoma State because he knew he couldn't win the National Championship at that school with Switzer at Oklahoma. That is very telling about how well Switzer ran OU.
Those Oklahoma Sooners under Switzer were dominant. They won 3 National Titles and contended in most seasons under the legendary coach. He won more than 84% of his games at Oklahoma, which accounts for one of the best records of all-time. To put it in perspective, he won 10% more in his college coaching career than Nick Saban has in his. Switzer also won a Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys. Barry Switzer rarely gets the recognition he deserves and should probably be even higher (closer to 1) on this list.
-Noland
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