7 Worst Head Coaches Ever - HA!

[JohnH19]

Speaking of Washington; Steve Spurrier was an absolute disaster...and, to think that Snyder sacrificed Marty to get him. What an idiot.

[Bryan]

Peterson is a fascinating character to me. The guy appears to be just a complete moron, but he did have success in college, and is even mentioned as having a brilliant offensive mind. His Florida State teams were pretty good, and he won a bowl game with Steve Tensi throwing passes to Fred Biletnikoff. I would love to know what transpired from 1970-1972...why he left Florida State, how he ended up at Rice, and how he got the Oilers job fresh off a 3-7-1 season at Rice. The most amazing thing about Peterson's legacy is how many quality NCAA & NFL coaches served on his staff. Perhaps they propped him up, but Peterson's list is impressive (Gibbs, Parcells, Bobby Ross, Bobby Bowden, etc.) and several of the "worst coaches" in this thread come from the Vince Lombardi tree. Food for thought.

[rhickok1109]

One of the guys on the original list, Jimmy Phelan, is in the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach, Presumably, he's on the list because he coached the hapless Dallas Texans in 1952, which was his misfortune but hardly his fault.

[BD Sullivan]

Peterson is a fascinating character to me. The guy appears to be just a complete moron, but he did have success in college, and is even mentioned as having a brilliant offensive mind. His Florida State teams were pretty good, and he won a bowl game with Steve Tensi throwing passes to Fred Biletnikoff. I would love to know what transpired from 1970-1972...why he left Florida State, how he ended up at Rice, and how he got the Oilers job fresh off a 3-7-1 season at Rice. The most amazing thing about Peterson's legacy is how many quality NCAA & NFL coaches served on his staff. Perhaps they propped him up, but Peterson's list is impressive (Gibbs, Parcells, Bobby Ross, Bobby Bowden, etc.) and several of the "worst coaches" in this thread come from the Vince Lombardi tree. Food for thought.

Amazingly, had the Oilers not signed Peterson (to a five-year deal), the Broncos would have given him a contract, since Lou Saban had just bolted back to Buffalo. Denver had already scheduled a press conference and sent a lawyer to get Peterson's contract signed. However, the Oilers dumped Ed Hughes and Bud Adams swooped in. After being shut out there, Denver signed John Ralston. who had just won back-to-back PAC 8 titles with Stanford.

At the press conference announcing Peterson's signing, Bud Adams said, "He's going to be on our payroll a heck of a long time. So we're going to have to get along with him." This from a guy who had seven coaches in 12 years.

At least part of the reason for Peterson's woeful record was his disciplinary moves. In 1973, he supposedly gave his team this typically bizarre directive: "Men, in training camp this year, you'll wear shirts to the dining hall. They'll be neat and I want those sleeves with a turtle neck or collar."

Once Sid Gillman was hired as Oilers' GM in March 1973, Peterson's days were numbered. Gillman had resigned from the Chargers in November 1971 and spent a year away before coming back.

[7DnBrnc53]

Peterson is a fascinating character to me. The guy appears to be just a complete moron, but he did have success in college, and is even mentioned as having a brilliant offensive mind. His Florida State teams were pretty good, and he won a bowl game with Steve Tensi throwing passes to Fred Biletnikoff. I would love to know what transpired from 1970-1972...why he left Florida State, how he ended up at Rice, and how he got the Oilers job fresh off a 3-7-1 season at Rice. The most amazing thing about Peterson's legacy is how many quality NCAA & NFL coaches served on his staff. Perhaps they propped him up, but Peterson's list is impressive (Gibbs, Parcells, Bobby Ross, Bobby Bowden, etc.) and several of the "worst coaches" in this thread come from the Vince Lombardi tree. Food for thought.

Amazingly, had the Oilers not signed Peterson (to a five-year deal), the Broncos would have given him a contract, since Lou Saban had just bolted back to Buffalo. Denver had already scheduled a press conference and sent a lawyer to get Peterson's contract signed. However, the Oilers dumped Ed Hughes and Bud Adams swooped in. After being shut out there, Denver signed John Ralston. who had just won back-to-back PAC 8 titles with Stanford.

At the press conference announcing Peterson's signing, Bud Adams said, "He's going to be on our payroll a heck of a long time. So we're going to have to get along with him." This from a guy who had seven coaches in 12 years.

At least part of the reason for Peterson's woeful record was his disciplinary moves. In 1973, he supposedly gave his team this typically bizarre directive: "Men, in training camp this year, you'll wear shirts to the dining hall. They'll be neat and I want those sleeves with a turtle neck or collar."

Once Sid Gillman was hired as Oilers' GM in March 1973, Peterson's days were numbered. Gillman had resigned from the Chargers in November 1971 and spent a year away before coming back.

I did see something in the Google news archive from Dec. 71 about the Broncos courting Peterson. They dodged a bullet by not getting him. Ralston was an a-hole (from what I heard), and the players didn't like him that much, but at least he drafted well and kept the Broncos moving in the right direction.

[74_75_78_79_]

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.

I'm sure there'll be those who'll use his 6-2 start in '08 to argue your case but many, many more who'll simply credit that very start to inheriting what Gibbs built.

[SixtiesFan]

Peterson is a fascinating character to me. The guy appears to be just a complete moron, but he did have success in college, and is even mentioned as having a brilliant offensive mind. His Florida State teams were pretty good, and he won a bowl game with Steve Tensi throwing passes to Fred Biletnikoff. I would love to know what transpired from 1970-1972...why he left Florida State, how he ended up at Rice, and how he got the Oilers job fresh off a 3-7-1 season at Rice. The most amazing thing about Peterson's legacy is how many quality NCAA & NFL coaches served on his staff. Perhaps they propped him up, but Peterson's list is impressive (Gibbs, Parcells, Bobby Ross, Bobby Bowden, etc.) and several of the "worst coaches" in this thread come from the Vince Lombardi tree. Food for thought.

Because of his Florida State teams, Peterson had a reputation as an expert on the passing game.

[John Maxymuk]

Peterson attended Chargers' training camp and later hired former Charger backup quarterback Don Breaux as a coach. In addition to the prominent assts already mentioned, he also employed Ken Meyer, Don James and Dan Henning.

From 1955-59, he was an asst under Paul Dietzel at LSU. On that basis FSU hired him for their dormant program in 1960' and he went 63-42-11 in 11 years, had the one year at Rice, which was a bad program, and then stepped off down an elevator shaft in Houston. In his long retirement on the Oiler payroll he did have the good humor to say that he was keeping busy writing his own dictionary. I think he actually published an autobiography, but I have not read it.

A lot of these guys, like Peterson, like Marion Campbell, like Joe Bugel, essentially fell victim to the Peter Principle by rising to their level of incompetence after establishing success at a lower level.

[BD Sullivan]

I did see something in the Google news archive from Dec. 71 about the Broncos courting Peterson. They dodged a bullet by not getting him. Ralston was an a-hole (from what I heard), and the players didn't like him that much, but at least he drafted well and kept the Broncos moving in the right direction.

John McKay certainly couldn't stand Ralston, trashing him after Denver ran up the score on the sad sack Bucs in their first year

[SixtiesFan]

I did see something in the Google news archive from Dec. 71 about the Broncos courting Peterson. They dodged a bullet by not getting him. Ralston was an a-hole (from what I heard), and the players didn't like him that much, but at least he drafted well and kept the Broncos moving in the right direction.

John McKay certainly couldn't stand Ralston, trashing him after Denver ran up the score on the sad sack Bucs in their first year

What McKay probably couldn't stand was his USC team losing to Ralston's Stanford teams in both 1970-71. Some people felt that since USC allegedly had more talent, McKay was out coached whenever he lost.