Who is the best head coach not in Canton?

[football junkie]

There are 21 head coaches in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

These are those coaches: George Allen, Paul Brown, Guy Chamberlin, Jimmy Conzelman, Weeb Ewbank, Ray Flaherty, Joe Gibbs, Sid Gillman, Bud Grant, George Halas, Earl (Curly) Lambeau, Tom Landry, Marv Levy, Vince Lombardi, John Madden, Earle Neale, Chuck Noll, Steve Owen, Don Shula, Hank Stram and Bill Walsh.

There is no waiting period for a coach to be eligible for the Hall of Fame. The coach, however, must be retired.

The questions is, in your opinion who is the most worthy eligible head coach not in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? And why do you think a particular coach is the most worthy, be brief or be lengthy but please provide some sort of reasoning.

[football junkie]

Besides the 9 choices listed in the poll, these coaches also deserve serious consideration: Lou Saban, Jim Mora Sr., John Robinson and Bum Phillips. Who deserves it the most?

[mordeci]

my opinion (obviously), only Coryell. Jimmy Johnson was a good coach and a great evaluator of talent, but his career wasn't long enough to justify entry to the hall. Siefert's success was inheritted. Reeves was a better player than head coach, and he wasn't a very good player.

[Willie]

I'm not sure any of those guys belongs in the HOF. But the best one in my opinion would be Blanton Collier. He was once a Hall of Fame finalist.

After four straight non-playoff seasons Paul Brown was fired. Collier took over and coached the Browns to a 76-34-2 record over 8 seasons. The Browns won the league title in 1964.

[football junkie]

Okay I guess no one else has an opinion on this issue so I'm going to give mine. My pick is for none other than Don Coryell. He and his coaching tree revolutionized the way football is played. The "Air Coryell" offense completely changed the way the passing game has been played ever since.

Who are some of the people in Coryell's Coaching Tree? Well John Madden, for one. In 1963, Coryell gave Madden his first big break when Coryell was coaching at San Diego State. Coaching defense at SDS Madden caught the eye of Al Davis -- the rest is history.

How about Joe Gibbs? Gibbs played tight end and linebacker at SDS before earning a Master's Degree from SDS. His first coaching job also came from Coryell -- who hired Gibbs as his offensive line coach. When Coryell moved to the NFL, he took Gibbs with him and hired him as his offensive backfield coach.

Ernie Zampese was Coryell's offensive coordinator at SDS and the San Diego Chargers. He was also the offensive coordinator of the Superbowl Champion 1995 Dallas Cowboys.

Al Saunders is probably the most highly regarded offensive coordinator in the game today. He put together that offense that dominated in Kansas City and produced Priest Holmes and Larry Johnson. He's now Joe Gibbs offensive coordinator and is making $3.5 as a coordinator and deserves every cent of it. How did he get his start? Don Coryell gave him his start coaching wide receivers at SDS. Then Coryell took him along with him to the San Diego Chargers -- where he eventually replaced Coryell as head coach.

Coryell hired a Hall of Fame defensive coach, John Madden, a Hall of Fame offensive coach Joe Gibbs and between Gibbs, Madden and Zampese they've won 5 Superbowls.

Besides that Coryell was the first Head Coach to win 100 NCAA games and 100 NFL games. Here is Coryell's NFL record:
+----------+--------------+----------+
Year TM | W L T | W L |
+----------+--------------+----------+
| 1973 stlc | 4 9 1 | 0 0 |
| 1974 stlc | 10 4 0 | 0 1 |
| 1975 stlc | 11 3 0 | 0 1 |
| 1976 stlc | 10 4 0 | 0 0 |
| 1977 stlc | 7 7 0 | 0 0 |
| 1978 sdg | 8 4 0 | 0 0 |
| 1979 sdg | 12 4 0 | 0 1 |
| 1980 sdg | 11 5 0 | 1 1 |
| 1981 sdg | 10 6 0 | 1 1 |
| 1982 sdg | 6 3 0 | 1 1 |
| 1983 sdg | 6 10 0 | 0 0 |
| 1984 sdg | 7 9 0 | 0 0 |
| 1985 sdg | 8 8 0 | 0 0 |
| 1986 sdg | 1 7 0 | 0 0 |
+----------+--------------+----------+
| TOTALS | 111 83 1 | 3 6

How anybody believes this guy doesn't belong in Canton is beyond me.

[boomer]

Junkie, I'd have to say Coryell would also top my list, but I'm not sure if a guy who never made it to a Super Bowl belongs. His influence on the game and the number of succesfull coaches who came from his staffs are very impressive.

[CCN]

For me, it's close between Coryell (Offensive innovator Sid Gillman is in) and Chuck Knox. Knox was good wherever he coached. With the recent elections of Madden, George Allen and Hank Stram, I see both of them with legit shots from the Old Timers Committee.

[mojorisin71]

Seifert? I think his Carolina stint erased all notion of him being considered as a legit HOFer

[efin98]

Reeves deserves to get in. You don't have 190 wins and take four teams to the Super Bowl and not make it in.

With 186 wins Knox should be in as well.

A case should be made for Collier and Parker- Parker won two championships('52 and '53) and competed in a third('54) while Collier was in the playoffs six times winning the championship in '64 and losing it in '65, '68 and '69.

Ther others I have trouble saying yes to- Ditka might have made it in if he didn't coach in New Orleans. Flores;s shining moment winning the Super Bowl is tarnished by the fact that his career went down him after that. Coryell needed a Super Bowl appearance to make it in.

[football junkie]

The poll is still open efin, you can vote for your guy if you want. I'd encourage everyone to vote if they have a strong opinion.

And I totally agree with you on Ditka -- he killed in chances in New Orleans.

[efin98]

The poll is still open efin, you can vote for your guy if you want. I'd encourage everyone to vote if they have a strong opinion.

And I totally agree with you on Ditka -- he killed in chances in New Orleans.

I can't choose among the four I posted should be in for the poll so I'll hold off my vote unless it's a tie.

[steveironcity]

The poll is still open efin, you can vote for your guy if you want. I'd encourage everyone to vote if they have a strong opinion.

And I totally agree with you on Ditka -- he killed in chances in New Orleans.


Ditkas already in the hall as a player, and im sure thats good enough for him.

[soberdennis]

I suggest you ask two of those coaches who are in who they think is the best coach not in the HOF. John Madden mentioned it at his induction this year. I am sure Joe Gibbs would agree.
his name is Don Coryell

[Seattle1]

I went with Chuck Knox on this one.

[Ladder]

I went with Dan Reeves cuz he coached in 4 Super Bowls. Marv Levy lost 4 SBs and made the Hall of Fame. Levy did it with only one team. Reeves lost four Super Bowls but did so with two team- 3 Denver losses and 1 Atlanta loss. He had to be good to get his teams there.

[C. Snake]

And I totally agree with you on Ditka -- he killed in chances in New Orleans.

Me too. I find Ditka to be a fairly overrated coach. One great year dosen't make you a good coach. Ditka was a good coach, but not a HOF coach.