Best Head Coaches Currently In The NFL

[over the mountain]

I dont know what exactly John Harbough does in baltimore.

He was a special teams coach before the Ravens tapped him to be their HC (their second choice).

He doesnt call the O or D plays. (I believe he has 0 input as well)

I assume he has some input on the overall gameplans but before Calwell took over, Cameron made it very clear that the entire offensive scheme and play calls was his and his alone (much to his demise and stubborness).

Baltimore media does give him credit for having an "open grievance" meeting with players mid-way through the season where alot of players (like the recently cut Pollard) spoke openly and bluntly to John about what they dont like. Reports are that Harbaugh let the players vent w/out reprecussion . . and vent they did.

Reprecussions didnt come until the offseason.

I suppose he gets credit for ultimately axing Cameron .. conflicting reports about whether that was all harbaugh decision, all Bischotti decision or a harbaugh-newsome-bischotti decision.

I get that they just won the SB and have been to the playoffs all 5 years of his HC tenure . . . i just dont get what exactly he does.

[That Guy]

being a head coach is about leadership. if you don't call the plays, but the plays are working, who cares?

rex has lead his team into being a bunch of egos that have more hype than substance. coughlin runs a much tighter ship. zorn let people walk over him.

as long as you employ the right people and make the important calls (like firing an O coordinator that isn't working) at the right times... well, that's why you're there.

part of why a lot of coordinators fail as head coaches is because a different skill set is required. X's and O's is still important, but it's a secondary skill at that point.

[MTK]

As a HC you have input in every aspect of the team. Just because he doesn't call plays doesn't mean he's not involved.

[over the mountain]

yeah, i suppose and I hear what you two are saying.

I listen to baltimore sports talk radio on my daily commutes, it seems John does less than most other "hands off" head coaches.

I prefer the Xs and Os type head coach. I hate belicheck but it seems his intelligence and success can be traced to his roots as a low end video guy who would compile weekly video clips of the opponents to help the coordinators identify weaknesses and strengths.

[SmootSmack]

In my opinion, Coughlin is one of the most underrated HC's in NFL history. Cares about his staff, beyond the players. They'll run through walls for him. Deftly handles the NY media. And let's not overlook what he accomplished with the expansion Jags as well.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

In my opinion, Coughlin is one of the most underrated HC's in NFL history. Cares about his staff, beyond the players. They'll run through walls for him. Deftly handles the NY media. And let's not overlook what he accomplished with the expansion Jags as well.

Definitely agree. At this point his resume speaks for itself.

Tom Coughlin Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks - Pro-Football-Reference.com

Games over .500: 30
Super Bowl Wins: 2
Overall Championships: 2
Conference Championships: 2
Division Championships: 7

[FRPLG]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

In my opinion, Coughlin is one of the most underrated HC's in NFL history. Cares about his staff, beyond the players. They'll run through walls for him. Deftly handles the NY media. And let's not overlook what he accomplished with the expansion Jags as well.

Have to agree...as much as it pains me. He was on the verge of crapping out there and some how figured out how to adjust his approach to make it work. Remember before the first SB he had one foot out the door and all the players pushing him.

[mlmpetert]

OKay I was reading the question wrong. I was reading it as "who are the current top coaches in the NFL". While I think Coughlin is a good one, I think his abilities are waning and that, more importantly, there are coaches currently better then him.

Ill add Coughlin to my list of top NFL coaches that are still coaching. With that logic Ill also add Shanahan and drop Mike Smith and John Fox.

[irish]

Originally Posted by mlmpetert

OKay I was reading the question wrong. I was reading it as "who are the current top coaches in the NFL". While I think Coughlin is a good one, I think his abilities are waning and that, more importantly, there are coaches currently better then him.

Ill add Coughlin to my list of top NFL coaches that are still coaching. With that logic Ill also add Shanahan and drop Mike Smith and John Fox.

It seems to me that if you think Coughlin's abilities are waning then you have to think that Belichick's are too.

[irish]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

In my opinion, Coughlin is one of the most underrated HC's in NFL history. Cares about his staff, beyond the players. They'll run through walls for him. Deftly handles the NY media. And let's not overlook what he accomplished with the expansion Jags as well.

Definitely agree. Coughlin is the Rodney Dangerfield of head coaches.

[MTK]

Coughlin just won a SB in 2011 and his abilities are waning?

[mlmpetert]

He's never really had a powerhouse team during his tenure in NY. He averages 9 regular season wins a year, had 12 wins once, and has been to the playoffs once in the last 4 years. Whats weird is his football teams in NY have been consistently very average during the regular season and extremely streaky during the post season; he has never won a playoff game in NY without also winning the Super Bowl.

I think Coughlin winning the Super Bowl in 2011 was more of a "any given Sunday" type thing.

[FRPLG]

I guess you CAN argue with success then. Sheesh

[MTK]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

I guess you CAN argue with success then. Sheesh

lol

I can only imagine if Shanahan had won 2 SB's in recent years here. People would be crowning him the greatest of all time.

But with Coughlin it's like eh, who cares.

What's that, Harbaugh wins a SB? Eh, what does he even do?

[GTripp0012]

I support a lot of the pro-Coughlin sentiments. I do think there are better coaches in the NFL, but it's hard to argue with his accomplishments, and it's always tough to separate a good coach from a strong organization considering it's hard to be a top organization with a weak coaching staff and vice versa.

Coaches improve and decline much like players do, but the tricky thing with evaluating coaching careers is that age is not the number one indicator of where a guy is in his career. A thirty year old defensive end tells me something about the player's profile even knowing nothing else. Telling me a coach is fifty years old doesn't really tell me much of anything.

I do think age matters for coaches and there is certainly some evidence to back that up, but in the case of someone like Sean Payton, I can't tell you he's not going to be a better coach in his late 40's than he was in his late 30's. I wouldn't expect Payton to be as strong a coaching figure the next four years as he was the four prior to the suspension (sometimes guys just burnout), but that has little to do with his age and more to do with his accomplishments.