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Now this one I think is very tough.Like i've previously said i'm a Steeler fan and a little bit Dolphin fan too.I won't say Shula because he was unable to adjust to the changing game.Even though Tomlin is new he is still making ALOT of rookie mistakes.I loved Cowher and he was a great players coach and I wish he would have stayed,but I won't rate him #1 even though he was VERY GOOD! I'll have to go with Bill Parcells.The guy knows how to coach a team,knows which players will suit a system (ex. Miami last year) where last year he pieced together a team with a reject QB and some others retreads and combining it with a decent running game to make a winning combination.
If Vince Lombardi hadn't died so early, he would have gotten the Washington Redskins in the Super Bowl a lot. Indirectly, he had a hand in them getting in when they did in 1972. People forget after his stellar career with Green Bay, he coached the Washington Redskins in 1969 to their first winning season in 15 seasons. True, George Allen sold his "bringing in the veterans" philosophy and kind of mortgaged the future for immediate success, which took them to SB-VII against the undefeated Miami Dolphins. But Lombardi had the club thinking like winners. Sonny Jurgenson was quoted as saying he learned more from Lombardi in the one year he coached him than the other coaches he had put together.
When Lombardi took over Green Bay, the Packers were a horrible franchise, having won one game in 1958. But there was talent on that club as they had continually drafted high and had some great players on the squad. But they weren't great players in 1958. It was more than brutal training camps, always yelling and screaming at the players. He knew the talent he had, he knew how to tweak his system to fit who he had and knew how to draft.
He also knew opportunity. Lombardi felt he was discriminated against trying to go up the coaching ladder, being raised as an Italian American. He was never a college head coach but made a name for himself as Red Blaik's assistant coach at West Point. Then he was the offensive coordinator for the New York Giants for many years, leaving them to become head coach at Green Bay.
Knowing about that opportunity, he gave it. Back in the 1950's, not many African American football players would be on any one squad. In fact some squads had no more than 2 or 3 players in the early 60's. At that time the Washington Redskins did not have ANY on theirs (this was 1961). When Lombardi joined the Packers after the '58 season, Green Bay had 1 black player. When he left 10 years later, there were 14 on the roster.
Five NFL championships in 9 years? That symbols excellence. And that is why the symbol of excellence, the Super Bowl trophy, bears his name; the Vince Lombardi trophy.
Location: I currently exist only in a state of mind. one too complex for geographic location.
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I would have to say buddy ryan. wait, you said the best coach? I thought you said the most insane.
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