Preview
100-91
90-81
80-71
70-61
60-51
50-41
40-31
30-21
20. Bear Bryant
Bear Bryant is a coaching legend that many consider a top 5 coach ever and the best college football coach of all-time. I do not think he is, but many do believe that. I point to Bryant's "Junction Boys" season. His first year at A & M, he won 1 game out of 10 with that crazy training camp and all. You take away the Alabama years and this guy doesn't make the list. Those Alabama years were fantastic though. He won 6 National Championships. Those 6 championships put him in elite company. This guy is an amazing football coach. Best ever is overblown though. He took over a nationally relevant program and made it better with no scholarship limits and all the good players. That makes Bryant one of the most difficult coaches to place on this countdown. Two different coaches won multiple national championships at Alabama before Bryant did what he did and Bryant did very little before Alabama. Take that how you take it, but he can't make my Top 10 for those reasons. 6 Championships are incredible, but his 6 titles did not come as difficult as other coaches ahead of Bryant.
19. Bill Walsh
Career NFL Coaching Record: 92-59-1 (.609 Winning Percentage)
Bill Walsh built the 49ers into a dynasty and won three titles with them in the 1980s. He certainly would have won more than those three titles, but he retired after only 10 seasons with the 49ers. That success had Walsh winning a Super Bowl in 1/3 of his NFL seasons. If he had held on for another year or two, it is very likely that he would have 5 or more Super Bowls. He certainly would have gotten a 4th the next year. However, he did retire so he cannot get credit for that. Bill Walsh perfected and is given credit for the West Coast offense. That offense has been used by several NFL teams throughout the years and Walsh needs credit for them. I do not see him as the #2 coach in NFL history as ESPN does, but I do think he is quite good and deserves a top 20 spot. If not for having who many think are the greatest QB and greatest WR of all-time, he probably does crack the Top 10 though. However, it would have been difficult to win those Super Bowls without those legends.
18. Casey Stengel
Casey Stengal is a tough one because he won 7 championships in Major League Baseball which is among the most of any manager. However, his rosters were loaded and he only won half the games he coached. His Yankee years were rather impressive as he managed them to the World Series for each of his first 5 seasons. Those Yankee dominant teams had Berra, DiMaggio and Mantle though so I do not know how much credit we can give Stengal. Mickey Mantle is a top 5 baseball player of all-time and having him certainly was a benefit. Joe DiMaggio and his 56 game hitting streak were not too shabby either. His Yankee years, Stengal never had a losing season and he won 62% of his games, he also won 7 World Series Titles and had 10 American League Pennants. His lack of players in his other stops exposed him though because Stengal had a losing record at each of those stops. The other stops dropped Stengal to a .508 Winning Percentage. You won't trade those 7 championships for anything, but they aren't the same as seven championships that are not bought. While Stengal is still impressive, the fact that he won with the most talented roster and was a failure elsewhere has to keep him out of the Top 15.
Bobby Knight is the basketball coach everyone knows and let's be honest, we know him because of his off-court behavior. His chair throwing and his profanity are known just as much if not more than his team's accomplishments on the court. On the court though, he is a legend. This guy had the most wins in college basketball history at the time of his retirement, but has since been passed by Coach K, and Jim Boeheim. The wins for Knight were very meaningful too as he won three National Championships. In all he went to 5 Final Fours during his basketball coaching career. Knight's best coaching season came in 1975-1976 when the Indiana Hoosiers went undefeated. Those Hoosiers are the last undefeated team in college basketball history. Other teams have gone undefeated in the regular season but lost in the tournament. That Hoosier team ran the table in the regular and postseason. This guy can coach regardless of the off the court stuff. He is arguably the best coach in college basketball history.
In addition to his college basketball coaching record, he won the 1984 gold medal as the head coach for Team USA.
16. George Halas
I revealed some of my list early for some coaches in the NFL to show others why Belichick and Gibbs were not higher. One of those names I revealed was George Halas who is a pretty consistent pick to be a top 5 coach in the NFL. When ESPN ranked the greatest coaches ever they had Halas 4, Belichick 7, and Gibbs 9. I am more in line with that kind of thinking although I do believe Gibbs has accomplished more than Belichick. Halas has won 6 championships, appeared in 4 others and had another win that was overruled outside of those 10 championship appearances. So really he has 7 championships and 11 appearances in the title game. The argument against those championships is that championships aren't everything and that Halas had a lot of talent. He did have a lot of talent, but a lot of that talent was unknown before Halas and Walter Payton and those '85 Bears were long after Halas retired. Although, he was team president until his death in 1983, hired Ditka and drafted most those players.
Halas was also at the meeting in 1920 that created the NFL. Sure, he was in a league that wasn't as competitive as today, but he helped create the whole league in that has to count for something. George Halas also left the Bears during a 4 year stint in the 1940s to fight in World War 2. Before he left, the Bears had appeared in 3 straight championship games. When he got back, they won another championship. During the time he was gone when it seemed the Bears were unbeatable those Bears did win one championship. However, they also posted a losing season the year before Halas returned and posted a mediocre one the year before that. Most importantly, after Halas came back he was still just as good. I don't think anyone would say that about Gibbs. Halas retired briefly in the mid 50s only to return again in 1958. Upon returning, Halas won another title in 1963. Not only did the game not pass Halas by, but he was able to win a championship in three seperate tenures. He also won 17% more games than Lambeau and 27% more games than Gibbs. I realize that it was easier to win championships with less teams, but that means the talent is less spread out across those teams and a higher winning percentage means something. George Halas was one of the inventors of the NFL if that doesn't make him a groundbreaking figure, then I don't know what will. Still the competition level keeps him from Top 10, but #16 for Halas will do just fine.
The fact that it is Pop Warner football at the little league level should tell you all you need to know about the legendary status of Glenn "Pop" Warner. He coached several different teams in an amazing career that won him 4 National Championships. The first three championships he won for the Pittsburgh Panthers. His final championship he won for the Stanford Cardinal. He would eventually leave Stanford though for an unspectacular run at Temple. Other than Temple though, he was really good everywhere. Warner started his coaching career with the Georgia Bulldogs where he spent two seasons including an undefeated run. He followed those stints with two seperate stints at Cornell and Carlisle. The coach left Georgia for Cornell, then left for Carlisle, then came back to Cornell and back to Carlisle. During one of his stints at Carlisle the legend coached one of the greatest athletes of all-time, Jim Thorpe.
None of this compares with the best fact about Pop Warner. This guy coached two teams at the same time for 5 years during his career. He coached Iowa State and Georgia at the same time for two years, then he coached Cornell and Georgia at the same time for the next two years, then he coached Carlisle and Georgia for a year. How he was able to coach two teams simultaneously from across the country is unbelievable. How he was able to be successful is even more amazing. Warner led Iowa State to an 18-8 record during those 5 seasons. The NCAA does not give Warner credit for those wins, but they happened. The actually lower his winning percentage slightly, but add a great deal to the story.
14. Chuck Noll
Career Coaching Record: 193-148-1 (.566 Winning Percentage)
Chuck Noll coached in 4 different decades with the Steelers, but most of his success came in the 70s era of the Steelers dynasty. During the 70s, Noll won 4 Super Bowls, which is the most of any coach in NFL History for just Super Bowl wins. That alone gets him a bump. However, Noll falls outside the top ten because he probably had the best players of any coach in the Super Bowl era. The Pittsburgh Steelers have the most Hall of Famers of any franchise founded after 1933. They had 11 Hall of Famers that played under Noll and all, but Dawson and Woodson played during the 70s dynasty years. He had 9 Hall of Famers for each of his Super Bowl wins which is a crazy amount. The question then becomes did the coach elevate the players to make them Hall of Famers? I think it is a little of both. The players were amazing, but none sells Chuck Noll short. Remember, Terry Bradshaw was Phil Robertson's backup at Louisiana Tech. He took what he had and made it better, but the players were great to start with. Tony Dungy credits much of his coaching success to Chuck Noll and Dungy isn't too shabby himself. Noll always surrounded himself with great coaches and deserves to be this high especially with the Super Bowl wins. It is impossible to put him in the Top 10 though because he had so much more talent than other coaches during his era.
Chuck Noll coached in 4 different decades with the Steelers, but most of his success came in the 70s era of the Steelers dynasty. During the 70s, Noll won 4 Super Bowls, which is the most of any coach in NFL History for just Super Bowl wins. That alone gets him a bump. However, Noll falls outside the top ten because he probably had the best players of any coach in the Super Bowl era. The Pittsburgh Steelers have the most Hall of Famers of any franchise founded after 1933. They had 11 Hall of Famers that played under Noll and all, but Dawson and Woodson played during the 70s dynasty years. He had 9 Hall of Famers for each of his Super Bowl wins which is a crazy amount. The question then becomes did the coach elevate the players to make them Hall of Famers? I think it is a little of both. The players were amazing, but none sells Chuck Noll short. Remember, Terry Bradshaw was Phil Robertson's backup at Louisiana Tech. He took what he had and made it better, but the players were great to start with. Tony Dungy credits much of his coaching success to Chuck Noll and Dungy isn't too shabby himself. Noll always surrounded himself with great coaches and deserves to be this high especially with the Super Bowl wins. It is impossible to put him in the Top 10 though because he had so much more talent than other coaches during his era.
It is no secret on here that I love the Spurs model and how they do things. I give some credit to what is around them, but for me it's been mostly two guys, Duncan and Pop. The Spurs model is fantastic and there is no secret that it works. This group has 5 championships and I have no doubt without the Joey Crawford/David Stern duo it would be much higher. For some reason they and many around the country hated this model until recently and now everyone admits that it is pure brilliance. He is third in titles for NBA coaches and third on this list, but I could have easily put him #1 for NBA coaches because his model is that good. At the end the difference in championships between him and the other coaches were a big deciding factor. I could say that they had better players, but I don't necessarily agree with that 100%. After all, I do constantly talk about how underrated Duncan and that he is a Top 5 all-time great. I'd put Duncan at #2 for players I have seen play. The guy is simply fantastic and I hope he gets two more titles before he retires to pass Jordan. If Pop gets two more titles, he can move up too, but there isn't that much room for him to come up.
12. Augie Garrido
Garrido is the 2nd highest active coach on this countdown. He is also the second highest college baseball coach on the list and #12 overall. Why does he deserved to be ranked so high? Let's start with the fact that he has only had 1 losing season while coaching every year since 1969. Across all levels, Augie Garrido has more wins than any collegiate baseball coach. The guy has won nearly 2000 games coaching 5 different schools. Currently, he is the head coach for the Texas Longhorns where he won his 4th and 5th National Titles. Those titles were won in 2002 and 2005. Before winning it all for Texas, Garrido won 3 National Titles at Cal State Fullerton (1979, 1984, and 1995). In between seperate successful stints at Fullerton, Garrido coached Illinois. He has also coached Cal Poly and San Francisco State, but is best known for his work at Cal State and at Texas. The game has not passed Garrido by either as Texas advanced to the College World Series this past season in 2014. It would be his 15th trip to the College World Series. Winning 5 out of 15 times to the baseball's big show is pretty incredible. As a FSU fan, I admire his ability to win 1/3 of the time he has been to Omaha. Garrido is a living legend, a fantastic coach, and well deserving member of this countdown. Augie Garrido is a perfect choice for number 12.
11. Don Shula
Don Shula is another coach who coached in four different decades. Shula though did it for two historic franchises. He started off as the coach for the Baltimore Colts and then moved to take the job with the Miami Dolphins. This legend would win titles for both franchises. However, both Super Bowl titles came in Miami. His 1968 NFL Championship was not a Super Bowl win because the Colts would go on to lose to Joe Nammath's guarantee win Jets. Shula would win 76% of his games in Baltimore though and is considered by many Baltimore fans to be the greatest coach in NFL history. The Super Bowl run in 1968 was with Earl Morrall and not Johnny Unitas. With Unitas they likely would have won. Shula was still able to rally the troops and have a fantastic season. The undefeated Dolphin team of 1972 was a very similar story. Starting QB Bob Griese was injured in Week 5 and replaced by Earl Morrall. Still, with the backup the Dolphins were able to stay undefeated before Griese was able to make a comeback. The little known fact about Don Shula is that he was able to win two NFL championships with Earl Morrall with two different teams. Morrall's record as a QB with Shula is 25-1-1 and he is 38-35-2 without Shula as Head Coach. That right there speaks to Shula's brilliance as a coach. Shula's Dolphins were able to repeat the following year with Bob Griese getting a full season under center.
His success in Miami goes beyond those two Super Bowl wins, he was just simply brilliant there. Despite having the worst ranked pass offense in 1982 behind QB David Woodley (be honest you have never heard of him), the Dolphins were able to reach the Super Bowl. They would then draft Dan Marino and return to the Super Bowl in 1984. Shula and Marino would lead the Dolphins to two more AFC Championship games. Then, Jimmy Johnson took over and the Dolphins did not return there. Shula won 11% more games in Miami than did Johnson and was much more successful as Dolphins coach than the other NFL legend. I did not even talk about Shula's success in 1971 leading the Dolphins to a Super Bowl then. In all, Shula has 3 NFL Championships, 2 Super Bowls, and has appeared in 6 Super Bowls. He has appeared in 9 Conference Championship games as well. He's had success with starters and backups, legends and never was players. The guy can flat out coach and deserves this #11 spot.
Coming up next is the Top 10!
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