Thursday, May 30, 2013

Throwback Thursday: Flea Flicker's Finest Football Coaches

ESPN is ranking the twenty greatest football coaches in the history of the NFL. The Flea Flicker has decided to do the same. Any "greatest of" list is going to be highly subjective. There's no right way of doing it. When it comes to coaches, one list maker might favor coaching innovations. The next list maker might just look at whether the coach won enough. Some coaches won a bunch but could never win the big one. Are they doomed to be axed from any list of the greatest coaches? It's all in the eye of the beholder. His how the Flea Flicker sees the top 25.

25. Marv Levy
24. Steve Owen
23. Mike Shanahan
22. Ray Flaherty
21. George Allen
20. Tony Dungy
19. Buddy Parker
18. Hank Stram
17. Tom Coughlin
16. Bill Parcells
15. Sid Gillman
14. Weeb Ewbank
13. Jimmy Johnson
12. Curly Lambeau
11. Bud Grant
10. John Madden
  9. Tom Landry
  8. Don Shula
  7. George Halas
  6. Chuck Noll
  5. Bill Belichick
  4. Joe Gibbs
  3. Bill Walsh
  2. Paul Brown
  1. Vince Lombardi

One thing that has always impressed me is when a coach experiences great success with one team and then moves to another and success follows. Ewbank won championships with the Baltimore Colts to close out the '50s. A decade later he won Super Bowl III with the New York Jets. In my book, Weeb Ewbank is one of the most underrated coaches. He's honored in the Hall of Fame but he always seems to be missing on any list of great coaches.

No comments:

Post a Comment