7 Worst Head Coaches Ever - HA!

[Saban1]

Ironically, Kuharich had three head coaching jobs in the NFL (Chicago Cardinals and Washington in the 1950's and Philadelphia during the 1960's). I think that he also was head coach at Notre Dame for awhile.

[BD Sullivan]

Kuharich resigned as head coach at ND in March 1963, and must have been desperate to get out, since he took a job as supervisor of NFL officials before resigning. After Nick Skorich was let go after the 1963 season, he took the Eagles job, which irritated fans who wanted either Norm Van Brocklin or Paul Brown. In the latter case, I'm assuming the price was too high, since Brown no doubt would have demanded part ownership of the team in his deal.

[74_75_78_79_]

I came across this list from Sports Cheat Sheet by Matt Reevy.
It quoted Pro Football Reference as a source.

The 7 were, in descending order (from least worse to worse worst?):
7. Harland Svare
6. Joe Bugel
5. Marion Campbell
4. Dave McGinnis
3. Jimmy Phelan
2. David Shula

And the worst NFL Coach of all time....
1. Bart Bell!

Of course, there was no Bart Bell.
The coach he was referencing was Hall of Fame Commissioner Bert Bell.

I'm wondering if the author even knows who Bert (or Bart) Bell was or what he did for our game...

Feel free to discuss... I'm still vacillating between guffaws and OMGs.

Keeping in mind that these are..."worst" of "all time", not just simply 'bad' coaches through the years, a few of those should not be mentioned at all IMO.

Marion Campbell? First off, a pretty great DC. In Philly as HC he won at SF in the '83 opener on way to a 4-2 start in which all four wins were road wins. Then you got the 6-5 start in '85 and in the middle - if you give it all a real good look - his '84 campaign was not bad at all. Despite much greater difficulties both times in AtL, that ought to keep him FAR from such a list.

McGinnis? Not him either. Also not a bad defensive mind, wins at Oakland & Philly in his '01 7-9 campaign along with that, for-what-it's-worth, 4-2 start in '02 should make mention of him unfair.

Another Card, Joe Bugel? Phenomenal OL coach he was. Back-to-back wins at Philly in '90 & '91, the 2-0/3-2/4-4 start the first of those years, and 7-9 in '93 is what first comes to mind. However, that horrendous '97 campaign in Oakland (worst year since early-'60s, and sandwiched between White's 7-9 & Gruden's 8-8) ought to make he deserving of a brief mention, but I really think it's more suited for a sub-category for worst coach in a single season.

I think the true qualifiers for this list should be HCs who not only put forth a sub-par W/L output in their tenure(s), but who were also not good assistants as well. This would make Marinelli and Josh McD non-qualifiable as well. In fact, I think the jury's still out on Dan. His 6-0 start in Denver 2009 (paper tiger or not), ought to keep him well away from this list for now. I'm sure we'll all get to see him HC again.

[conace21]

I agree that its a pretty poor list, for all the reasons you mentioned. That 7-9 record was Arizona's head between the two playoff appearances. I think McGinnis, and Bugel should also get a mulligan for the dysfunctional organization they worked for.
Bugel's 97 Raiders team had some tough losses early. OT to Ten, last second loss to KC,and a game 's the Jets where they badly outshines the Jets, but Cole Ford missed an XP, and four FG's. One FG was blocked and returned for a score. NY won by a single point

[Saban1]

Kuharich resigned as head coach at ND in March 1963, and must have been desperate to get out, since he took a job as supervisor of NFL officials before resigning. After Nick Skorich was let go after the 1963 season, he took the Eagles job, which irritated fans who wanted either Norm Van Brocklin or Paul Brown. In the latter case, I'm assuming the price was too high, since Brown no doubt would have demanded part ownership of the team in his deal.

Paul Brown would have lost about 80K per year if he took another head coaching job. As part of the settlement when he was fired from Cleveland, the Browns were to pay him about 80K per year for 5 or 6 years, but he was not allowed to take another head coaching job or he would forfeit the money.

[John Maxymuk]

OCC mentioned the ranking of coaches I included in a Coffin Corner article and how the seven at the bottom of the list was almost the same as this listing, the difference being the inclusion of Phelan. My cutoff was 55 games so Phelan, at 50 games, missed the cut in my rankings. The algorithm itself included percentage of years reaching the playoffs and times reaching the championship game and championships, but at the bottom of the list, it was simply bad winning percentages of unsuccessful head coaches. As Bill Parcells put it in simple Jersey Guy logic, "You are what your record says you are."

In my book on coaches, I included a more pertinent list in the appendix of the 23 head coaches whose winning percentage was lower than Bert Bell's but who coached fewer than 55 games. At the bottom, of course, was Bill Peterson whose 1-18 is something special. I think these are the most spectacular flameouts:
Bill peterson
Rod rust
Cam cameron
Ed McKeever
Jim Crowley
Hugo bezdek
Harvey johnson
Phil handler
Scooter McLean
Marty feldman
Charlie ewart
Jim ringo
Pete cawthon
Heine miller
Carl Voyles
Norb hecker
Chris palmer
Marty mornineweg
Luby DiMeolo
Rod dowhower
Hank bullough
Mike nixon
Les steckel

Rod Marinelli was too good for this list in that his overall .208 winning percentage outdoes Bell's .190.

[Gary Najman]

What about Lou Holtz and Bobby Petrino? Although their tenure lasted less than a year, they should be included, as the quit on their teams.


Rich Kotite and Ray Handley are two coaches that were not considered very good, even when they won.

Of the more recent ones, Marty Mornhinweg, Eric Mangini, Lane Kiffin and Dennis Allen, beside record, I wouldn't even hire any of them as an assistant.

[rockhawk]

Ray McLean's tenure with Green Bay was awful. He was an interim co-head coach when the Packers lost their final two games of the '53 season. He remained with the team as an assistant. Then in '58 he was named the head coach again. The team's only win (a 3-point victory at home against the Eagles) was followed by a 56-0 pasting by the Colts. Of course Vince Lombardi took over in '59 and you all know the rest of the story.

I know it was the WLAF, but Roman Gabriel and his 0-10 season with the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks should get a mention.

[BD Sullivan]

What about Lou Holtz and Bobby Petrino? Although their tenure lasted less than a year, they should be included, as the quit on their teams.


Rich Kotite and Ray Handley are two coaches that were not considered very good, even when they won.

Of the more recent ones, Marty Mornhinweg, Eric Mangini, Lane Kiffin and Dennis Allen, beside record, I wouldn't even hire any of them as an assistant.

Mangini's Jets record probably saves him from Worst category, but his tenure in Cleveland was a disaster. Not surprisingly, clueless Randy Lerner inexplicably gave him total control in 2009, and he likely would have been dumped after one year had the team not finished with a four-game winning streak. Of course, that led to Lerner then hiring the lazy Mike Holmgren, who then fired Mangini a year later, and then, etc...

Handley took what had been a Super Bowl team and crashed it, and had no clue on how to deal with the media.

[Shipley]

Although Jim Zorn's 12-20 record in his two years as the Redskins' coach is not as bad as some of the other coaches mentioned here, he has to be part of the discussion because of the sheer cluelessness he displayed, and how his players openly mocked him for it. It's no accident he is no longer on any NFL staff even though he wants to be. Of course, the same could be said of Vinny Cerrato, but we're talking coaches, not general managers.