When you look at the job history of the head coaches
that have made it to the Pro Football Hall-of-Fame, you see that for
the most part they have coached a number of different teams. It is rare
that a first-time head coach will have immediate success enough to
insure that he keeps one job for the entire time he is a head coach. It
is also rare that a head coach leaves the coaching ranks (either by
retiring or being fired) and doesn’t come back later to take another
head coach position with another team.
Even some of the coaches
we associate with one team because they were there for so long or were
very successful with that team sometimes have head coaching experience
with other teams. Hank Stram is known as the longtime coach of the
Kansas City Chiefs, but he also coached two forgettable seasons in New
Orleans. Don Shula, one of the most successful coaches of all-time, is
known more for his years with the Dolphins than his younger coaching
days with the Colts. Marv Levy is remembered as the mastermind behind
the Jim Kelly led Buffalo Bills team, but he coached the Chiefs for a
couple years in the 1970’s. Even the great Vince Lombardi who the Super
Bowl Trophy is named after because of his amazing success in Green Bay
also coached the Giants and the Redskins.
But, let’s look at the
only head coaches (through 2007) that have made it to the Pro Football
Hall-of-Fame and only coached for one team in their entire career:
Joe Gibbs
Joe
Gibbs coached the Washington Redskins from 1981 to 1992 and won three
Super Bowls in the process. One thing that contributed to his
reputation as a great coach is that he was able to win those three
Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks (Joe Theismann, Doug
Williams, and Mark Rypien). Gibbs came out of retirement to coach again
in 2004, twelve years after leaving the game of football, and the team
he chose to make his comeback with was the very same Washington
Redskins.
Bud Grant
Bud Grant had a long
and successful run as head coach of the Minnesota Vikings from 1967 to
1983. He coached players the likes of Chuck Foreman, Fran Tarkenton,
Jim Marshall, and Carl Eller. The Purple People Eater Defense rose to
prominence under Bud Grant’s watch and although he never won a Super
Bowl with the Vikings, his teams made numerous playoff appearances and
were a force to be reckoned with. Grant retired following the 1983
season, but came back and coached the Vikings for one more year in 1985
after one year away.
George Halas
One way
to make sure that you keep your head coaching job for an extended time
is to also own the team. George Halas’ only coaching experience was for
his beloved Chicago Bears organization. Halas led them for many years
and at many different times from the 1920’s to the 1960’s. During his
long run he would often times resign his coaching position or turn it
over to someone else, usually returning to it after taking one to three
years away from the team. George Halas was not someone who only coached
because he owned the team; he also had a large amount of success and is
remembered as a great football mind.
Tom Landry
In
1960, the Dallas Cowboys came into existence as a football team and
hired Tom Landry as their head coach. Landry coached the team for 29
consecutive years before leaving in 1988. The amount of great players
that came through the Dallas Cowboys during his tenure is astonishing;
Roger Staubach, Bob Lilly, Drew Pearson, Tony Dorsett, Randy White, Ed
“Too Tall” Jones, and more. It is safe to say that the Dallas Cowboys
would never have become “America’s Team” if they would’ve never taken a
chance on a young assistant coach with the New York Giants named Tom
Landry.
John Madden
Known more today for
his football announcing and an incredibly successful football video
game that bears his name, many young people either don’t know or easily
forget that John Madden made it into the Hall-of-Fame as a coach – and
he did it at a fairly young age too. Al Davis, the longtime owner of
the Oakland Raiders, hired a young little heard of John Madden to be
the head coach in 1969. Ten years later Madden retired after the 1978
season as one of the more successful coaches in history. Nearly always
having a winning record and making numerous playoff game and Super Bowl
appearances (and winning some too), Madden could have gone on to coach
almost any team he wanted and instead went into broadcasting.
Earl “Greasy” Neal
During
the 1940’s one of the most dominant teams in the NFL was the
Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles played for numerous championships and
were always one of the best teams in the league during that era. Their
accomplishments were widely known to be mainly attributed to the
coaching ability of their head coach Earl “Greasy” Neal. Neal coached
the team through a difficult time for the NFL and the United States as
a whole. Many football players in their prime, as well as graduating
college players, were either drafted or volunteered to serve for their
country during World War II. Using players left out of the war for a
number of reasons and with an ever-changing roster, Neal was still able
to continually field one of the more competitive teams in the league.
Chuck Noll
Chuck
Noll was soft spoken when it came to his public persona but he sure
knew how to get the most out of his teams. The Pittsburgh Steelers of
the 1970’s won four Super Bowls in six years and were one of the more
dominant teams even in years they didn’t win it all. With players
coming through Pittsburgh like Jack Lambert, Terry Bradshaw, Lynn
Swann, Jack Ham, Donnie Shell, Franco Harris, Rocky Bleier, Mike
Webster, Mean Joe Greene, and more it would almost be more amazing if
the team was not as successful as they were. When great coaches of the
NFL are mentioned, Noll is often overlooked and not mentioned, but the
list is incomplete without including him.
Bill Walsh
It
is safe to say that when Bill Walsh retired from the San Francisco
49ers at the end of the 1988 season that he could have written his
ticket and gone on to coach any team he wanted. Other than a brief
stint coaching at Stanford University, Walsh was content to be an
adviser to the 49ers and at times dabble in broadcasting. Walsh is
credited with, if not inventing, at least popularizing and mastering
what has become known as the West Coast Offense. With the help of
all-time great players like Joe Montana, Roger Craig, Ronnie Lott,
Jerry Rice, John Taylor, Dwight Clark, Jack Reynolds, and more; Bill
Walsh turned a perennial bottom-of-the-league San Francisco 49ers team
into the team of the 1980’s. In the process he revolutionized football
and, measured by the amount of assistant coaches of his who have gone
on to be head coaches themselves, left his mark on the league for years
to come.
It is rare that someone has enough success as a head
football coach to be voted into the Hall-of-Fame and still confine
their career to just one team, especially in the hire and fire world of
pro football. For this to happen many things need to be in place;
talented players, great coaching ability, patient ownership, and like
anything else in life a certain amount of luck.
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