Sporting News' 50 greatest coaches of all time

[AR182]

anybody missing from the list ? or rated too high or too low ?

i'm not so sure that woody hayes should be as high as 27th or that tommy lasorda should be on the list...

Jeff D'Alessio

Wednesday, Jul. 29, 2009 - 11:53 a.m. ET

John Wooden, SN's No. 1 coach, won 10 national championships at UCLA.Headlining the new issue of Sporting News Magazine: our list of sports' 50 greatest coaches of all time, as selected by a panel of 118 Hall of Famers, championship coaches and other experts.

John Wooden, who at UCLA won a record 10 Division I men's basketball championships in 12 years, was a runaway winner. SN's 1970 Sportsman of the Year picked up 57 first-place votes from the panel, which includes seven World Series-winning managers, four Super Bowl champion coaches and the winningest coaches in the NBA, NHL and college basketball.

"When I think of Coach Wooden, the first word that comes to mind is execution," said Gail Goodrich, who wrote an appreciation of his former coach in SN. "We never worried about the opponent, only about how we were going to play."

Green Bay Packers great Vince Lombardi came in second place in SN's rankings, picking up 20 first-place votes. Wrote Bart Starr, Lombardi's Hall of Fame quarterback: "(He said), 'Gentlemen, we are going to relentlessly chase perfection, knowing full well we will not catch it because nothing is perfect. But we are going to relentlessly chase it because in the process we will catch excellence.' He paused for a moment, got up even closer to those of us sitting up front, looked us in the eye and added, 'I am not remotely interested in being just good.' Wow."

SN turned to former players of the top 20 coaches on the list, asking each to relive a moment that best defined their greatness. Among those joining Goodrich and Starr as guest authors: Hall of Famers Dwight Stephenson, Paul Warfield, Tommy Heinsohn, Luc Robitaille, Mike McCormack, Gale Sayers, Lynn Swann, Isiah Thomas and Roger Staubach.

SN's greatest coaches

1. John Wooden, college basketball
2. Vince Lombardi, NFL
3. Bear Bryant, college football
4. Phil Jackson, NBA
5. Don Shula, NFL
6. Red Auerbach, NBA
7. Scotty Bowman, NHL
8. Dean Smith, college basketball
9. Casey Stengel, MLB
10. Knute Rockne, college football
11. Pat Summitt, women's college basketball
12. Paul Brown, NFL
13. Joe Paterno, college football
14. George Halas, NFL
15. Chuck Noll, NFL
16. Bob Knight, college basketball
17. Joe Gibbs, NFL
18. Tom Landry, NFL
19. Mike Krzyzewski, college basketball
20. Bill Belichick, NFL
21. Adolph Rupp, college basketball
22. Joe McCarthy, MLB
23. Eddie Robinson, college football
24. Bobby Bowden, college football
25. John McGraw, MLB
26. Bill Walsh, NFL
27. Woody Hayes, college football
28. Connie Mack, MLB
29. Bud Wilkinson, college football
30. Pat Riley, NBA
31. Pete Newell, college basketball
32. Joe Torre, MLB
33. Bill Parcells, NFL
34. Tom Osborne, college football
35. Walter Alston, MLB
36. Bo Schembechler, college football
37. Toe Blake, NHL
38. Sparky Anderson, MLB
39. Al Arbour, NHL
40. Amos Alonzo Stagg, college football
41. Tony La Russa, MLB
42. Geno Auriemma, women's college basketball
43. Dick Irvin, NHL
44. Ara Parseghian, college football
45. Chuck Daly, NBA
46. Bobby Cox, MLB
47. Hank Iba, college basketball
48. Tommy Lasorda, MLB
49. Gregg Popovich, NBA
50. Herb Brooks, NHL

 

[kickserv]

Nick Bollettieri................Tennis

 

[skodaa]

I'll say Top 25

I'll say Top 25

Who did I leave out?

1. John Wooden, college basketball

2. Vince Lombardi, NFL

3. Bear Bryant, college football

4. Phil Jackson, NBA

5. Don Shula, NFL

6. Red Auerbach, NBA

8. Dean Smith, college basketball

12. Paul Brown, NFL

13. Joe Paterno, college football

15. Chuck Noll, NFL

16. Bob Knight, college basketball

18. Tom Landry, NFL

19. Mike Krzyzewski, college basketball

20. Bill Belichick, NFL

23. Eddie Robinson, college football

24. Bobby Bowden, college football

26. Bill Walsh, NFL

27. Woody Hayes, college football

29. Bud Wilkinson, college football

30. Pat Riley, NBA

33. Bill Parcells, NFL

34. Tom Osborne, college football

36. Bo Schembechler, college football

44. Ara Parseghian, college football

 

[2muchchalk]

Shula too high but should def be on there.

lasorda should not be a this list, he is a clown.

 

[RollTide72]

Kinda hard to argue with the top names on this list. I think you could make an argument for Wooden, Lombardi and Bryant in any order 1 - 3.

Not a Phil Jackson fan, so might be a bit biased but don't see him as a top 5 coach of all time.

I'm sure there are some worthy names that didn't make the list but at first glance I can't argue with too many on here. At least they got a group of athletes to vote and this isn't just some hacks list.

 

[MadJack]

no Earl Weaver :shrug:

 

[gardenweasel]

no Earl Weaver :shrug:

amen,brother.....and i put auerbach ahead of jackson...

 

[MadJack]

no Brian Billick :shrug:








































:142smilie

 

[hedgehog]

Jimmy Johnson:shrug:

 

[JT]

Earl Weaver AND Whitey Herzog are better then the majority of mlb picks there. Torre at #32? I read that McCarthy was basically a drunk. Well, at least during his Red Sox tenure.

 

[zoomer]

Kent Reachem....Pocket Pool








Sorry AR, the devil made me do it

 

[JOSHNAUDI]

Often imitated but never duplicated - Bella Karoli

The names on that list won championships with grown men - Bella did it with 12 year old little girls

 

[bleedingpurple]

Its too bad the Vikes never won the big one, it cost Bud Grant from being on the list. Bud Grant and his offensive coordinator Jerry Burns truly invented the West Coast offense.

 

[AR182]

i think they made a big mistake by not putting sid gillman on this list....he revolutionized the passing game in football....here is a list i got of the people who coached under gillman (from the nfl site)...

Al Davis, owner of the Oakland Raiders

Chuck Noll, who coached the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl titles

Ara Parseghian, former coach at the University of Notre Dame

Bo Schembechler, former coach at the University of Michigan

Bill Walsh, who coached the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl titles

Chuck Knox, former coach of several NFL teams

Dick Vermeil, coach of several NFL teams

George Allen,coach of the LA Rams & Wash. Redskins.....

this guy should be in the top 20 at least....

 

[AR182]

Bud Grant and his offensive coordinator Jerry Burns truly invented the West Coast offense.

never heard this before..always heard that it derived from don coryell's (from the 1970's) & bill wash's offensies...

 

[Chadman]

I've also heard people around here say that Burns had a lot to do with the origination or early forms of the West Coast offense. Happened before my time up here, so I don't know.

 

[AR182]

I've also heard people around here say that Burns had a lot to do with the origination or early forms of the West Coast offense. Happened before my time up here, so I don't know.

hey chad....if you believe whatever wikipedia says...here is what i got from them....

The term "West Coast Offense," as it is now commonly used, derives from a remark made by then-New York Giants coach Bill Parcells after the Giants defeated the San Francisco 49ers 17-3 in the 1985 playoffs. Parcells, a believer in tough defense over finesse-oriented offense, scornfully derided the 49ers' offense with the statement, "What do you think of that West Coast Offense now?"[1] However, with four championships in the 80s and five total, versus only 2 for the Giants during that span, it would appear that Parcells didn't have as much clout behind his statement as he might have thought. In 1993, a Bernie Kosar quotation was publicized by Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman (or "Dr. Z"). Originally the term referred to the "Air Coryell" system used by two west coast teams beginning in the 1970s, the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders. However, a reporter mistakenly applied Kosar's quotation about the Air Coryell system to the 1980s-era attack of Walsh's San Francisco 49ers.[2] Initially, Walsh resisted having the term misapplied to his own distinct system, but the moniker stuck. Now the term is also commonly used to refer to pass-offenses that may not be closely-related to either the Air Coryell system or Walsh's pass-strategy.


that said.....i do believe that bud grant should be under consideration for a top 50 spot....

 

[Mr. Poon]

I think they did a pretty good overall job. Disagree where some of the college football coaches fall in the rankings. Wilkinson should be closer to the top. If Urban Meyer or Pete Carroll put together the streaks he did, their face would be on Mt. Rushmore, or at least Mt. Bristol.

Anyway, Osborne and Parseghian should be much higher than Bowden and Robinson in my mind.

 

[bleedingpurple]

hey chad....if you believe whatever wikipedia says...here is what i got from them....

The term "West Coast Offense," as it is now commonly used, derives from a remark made by then-New York Giants coach Bill Parcells after the Giants defeated the San Francisco 49ers 17-3 in the 1985 playoffs. Parcells, a believer in tough defense over finesse-oriented offense, scornfully derided the 49ers' offense with the statement, "What do you think of that West Coast Offense now?"[1] However, with four championships in the 80s and five total, versus only 2 for the Giants during that span, it would appear that Parcells didn't have as much clout behind his statement as he might have thought. In 1993, a Bernie Kosar quotation was publicized by Sports Illustrated writer Paul Zimmerman (or "Dr. Z"). Originally the term referred to the "Air Coryell" system used by two west coast teams beginning in the 1970s, the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders. However, a reporter mistakenly applied Kosar's quotation about the Air Coryell system to the 1980s-era attack of Walsh's San Francisco 49ers.[2] Initially, Walsh resisted having the term misapplied to his own distinct system, but the moniker stuck. Now the term is also commonly used to refer to pass-offenses that may not be closely-related to either the Air Coryell system or Walsh's pass-strategy.


that said.....i do believe that bud grant should be under consideration for a top 50 spot....

No I understand who gets credited for the West Coast offense but watch what the Vikes did in the 70s and it isnt any different. Some announcers even point that out.

 

[Trampled Underfoot]

Where is that faggot ass Hawaii coach on the list?