NFL fans have pride when someone from their team graduate on to become successful somewhere else (unless, of course, they beat their former team!). So it had us wondering what the ranking of the greatest NFL coaching staffs ever would look like?
In late December of 1958, the NFL Championship Game was tied after four quarters, forcing the NFL to have their first overtime game ever. In the end, the Baltimore Colts beat the New York Giants, 23-17, in what has since been called, “The Greatest Game Ever Played.” A total of 17 different people involved in that game are now enshrined at Canton, Ohio, in the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame.
What’s interesting to us, almost 60 years later, is that on the Giants sideline, head coach Jim Lee Howell was stacked with possibly the greatest duo of coordinators in the history of the game: Offensive Coordinator Vince Lombardi and Defensive Coordinator Tom Landry. Howell won one championship in seven seasons, but between his two coordinators, they would go on to win seven NFL championships in 39 seasons.
It’s safe to say – that’s the best pair of NFL coordinators ever.
You could even make an argument that it ranks as one of the greatest NFL coaching staffs ever – but then that would ruin this article.
Other Super Coaching Duos or Trios
Along the same lines as the Landry-Lombardi duo, there have been others that are nearly as awesome.
1962 San Diego Chargers – HC Sid Gillman, OC Al Davis, DC Chuck Noll
Sid Gillman won one championship in 18 years, and Chuck Noll famously won four Super Bowls in 23 years with the Steelers. While Al Davis didn’t do much as a coach, he helped as an owner/GM to get three Super Bowl wins for the Raiders. Combined, they had a huge part in eight championships, even though one of those was an AFL title. But the one season all three were together, in 1962, they only went 4-10, so never mind.
1968-75 Cincinnati Bengals – HC Paul Brown, QB Coach Bill Walsh
If you’ve ever watched the Bill Walsh episode of NFL Network’s “A Football Life,” then you know how Bill Walsh helped develop the Bengals offense in Cincinnati for Paul Brown, despite remaining just the QB coach, and how Brown eventually passed him over in hiring Brown’s own replacement. If you haven’t watched it yet, do yourself a favor and watch it for free here.
7 Greatest NFL Coaching Staffs Ever
If Jim Lee Howell was a higher-profile name, with more championships, maybe this would be a completely moot point, but we’re looking deeper.
No. 1 — 1990 N.Y. Giants
HC Bill Parcells, WR Tom Coughlin, DC Bill Belichick, LB Al Groh, DL Romeo Crennel, Asst. ST Charlie Weis
Bill Parcells/Bill Belichick Photo Credit: George Rose, Getty Images
It’s tough to look at this group – even with Groh, Crennel and Weis, and say there was a better coaching trio than Parcells, Coughlin and Belichick, each of whom have won multiple Super Bowl titles with their teams. Belichick has surpassed his mentor on the all-time coaching ranks, and Coughlin turns out to be Belichick’s greatest adversary. It’s just an amazing, spectacularly grumpy trio. I mean, AWESOME!
No. 2 — 1986 San Francisco 49ers
HC Bill Walsh, DC George Siefert, QB Mike Holmgren, WR Dennis Green, DB Ray Rhodes
Bill Walsh, Mike Holmgren Photo Credit: Focus on Sport, Getty Images
Well into the 2000s, this staff was considered the all-time greatest, as the Bill Walsh coaching tree continues to grow big branches to this day, with great head coaches like Andy Reid, Mike Tomlin, Gus Bradley, John Harbaugh and Ron Rivera to name a few.
No. 3 — 1958 New York Giants
HC Jim Lee Howell, OC Vince Lombardi, DC Tom Landry
Tom Landry, Jim Lee Howell, Vince Lombardi Photo Credit: New York Daily News Archive
Somewhere, during every single football game, Jim Lee Howell’s grandkids are telling their wives — my grandpa taught those two numbnuts everything they ever knew about football.
No. 4 — 1992 Green Bay Packers
HC Mike Holmgren, Off. Asst. Jon Gruden, DB Dick Jauron, QB Steve Mariucci, TE/OL Andy Reid, DC Ray Rhodes
Mike Holmgren Photo Credit: Allen Kee, Getty Images
No wonder Holmgren turned into a super head coach (having Brett Favre as your starting quarterback certainly helps, too), but look at that staff he had in his first year as an NFL head coach! Gruden, Mariucci and Reid went on to be considered offensive/QB geniuses in their own right, but it all started with Holmgren … which really all started when he was with Bill Walsh’s 49ers.
No. 5 — 2003 Philadelphia Eagles
HC Andy Reid, OC Brad Childress, DC Jim Johnson, LB Ron Rivera, DB Steve Spagnuolo, ST John Harbaugh, Asst. DB Sean McDermott
Andy Reid/Jim Johnson Photo Credit: Drew Hallowell, Getty Images
While it’s true that Harbaugh is the only one on this list to have won a Super Bowl as a head coach, you have to respect the rest of these guys. Johnson is one of the greatest defensive coordinators of all time, Rivera helms the Panthers currently, and his DC is McDermott.
No. 6 — 1992 Pittsburgh Steelers
HC Bill Cowher, DC Dom Capers, DB Dick LeBeau, LB Marvin Lewis
Bill Cowher/Dick LeBeau Photo Credit: Joe Robbins, Getty Images
What was in the water during the 1992 NFL season? Both the Packers and Steelers landed top-five all-time NFL coaching staffs, even though neither team ended up winning the Super Bowl that season. (Stupid Cowboys, which had a pretty good coaching staff of their own, with Jimmy Johnson, Dave Wannstedt, Norv Turner and Dave Campo.)
No. 7 — 1999 Baltimore Ravens
HC Brian Billick, DC Marvin Lewis, LB Jack Del Rio, DL Rex Ryan
Brian Billick Photo Credit: The Sporting News, Getty Images
I really struggled putting this group on the list and they are a distant, distant sixth behind the Steelers of ’92. But considering Billick won a Super Bowl and the other three are current NFL head coaches, it deserves some mention. Lewis is on this list twice, including his time with those very same ’92 Steelers, and he has to go down as one of the most underappreciated coordinators of all time.
BONUS — 1995 Cleveland Browns
HC Bill Belichick, OL Kirk Ferentz
Bill Belichick Photo Credit: Patrick Murphy-Racey, Getty Images
This staff was part of another NFL Network episode of “A Football Life,” but it wasn’t really all about the coaching staff that made this such an amazing staff. (Nick Saban had just left the Browns DC job in 1994 to coach Michigan State.) It was all about the non-coaches on this staff that ended up shaping the NFL for much of the 2000s. Here are the names involved with the Browns management:
- Ozzie Newsome, Director of Pro Personnel
- Michael Lombardi, Director of Player Personnel
- Scott Pioli, Scouting Assistant
- Mike Tannenbaum, Player Personnel Assistant
- Jim Schwartz, Scout
- Thomas Dimitroff, Scout
- Eric Mangini, PR Intern
- Phil Savage, Scout
Finally, I’d like to point out that four different “Bills” were the top head coaches on these great coaching staffs — from Walsh to Cowher to Belichick to Parcells. AND YET — there are no Buffalo Bills on this list.
With all of that behind us, I thought it would be pertinent to reference Belichick’s New England Patriots coaching staffs. Surprisingly, he hasn’t had coaches move on to great success, like Parcells and Walsh did. His assistant coaches have all been great assistant coaches, though, including Crennel, Mangini, Weis, Rob Ryan, Josh McDaniels, Bill O’Brien and Matt Patricia.
What about the ’92 Cowboys or the ‘96 Buccaneers? They’d make my top 10 list, how’s that?
