Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Of course appearing in the Playoff Bowl don't count. Yes, it looks like many mentioned in this thread will be from the '60s or prior. Charley Winner and his three winning seasons in StL ('66, '68, '70) come to mind. And how about Jack Patera (9-7 in '78 & '79)? Tommy Prothro also a worthy mention if only for his 'setting the table' for both Knox (Rams) and Coryell (Chargers) respectively. Who else?

Guy Chamberlin

Seriously though... wow, tough question. John Ralston and Bill Johnson come to mind. Both had >.500 winning percentages in the 70s. Along with Charley Winner who was mentioned.

Al Davis. 23-16-3 in three years. Could have had a great coaching career had he not had other plans....

Mike White was 15-17 in his two years as Raiders head coach in 1995-96, the first two years back in the Bay Area. In '95, he started out 8-2, but the Raiders lost their last six games. In '96, all but one of the nine losses were by a touchdown or less, with two of them coming in OT and two others by two points or less. White got fired and Joe Bugel came in, resulting in the team imploding with a 4-12 record. That led to Gruden getting hired.

One coach who I put in (although he made the playoffs in the 1982 strike-shortened season, but only because they chose 8 teams per conference instead of 5) is Jim Hanifan. I think that he made the most with less, and developed DB Roy Green into arguably the top WR in the league in 1983 and 1984. I remember when Bill Bidwill fired him after the 1985 season, he didn't tell him, only changed the locks of his office,

Teo wrote:I remember when Bill Bidwill fired him after the 1985 season, he didn't tell him, only changed the locks of his office,

As always, a class move by Bidwill, who I'm pretty sure did the same thing to Coryell. Especially considering how close Hanifan had come to a playoff berth the year before.

Alex Webster led the Giants to winning records in 1970 (they missed out on the last day) and 1972.

Also, Norm Van Brocklin led the Falcons to winning records in 1971 and 73, and had them in the playoff hunt in 1972 until the next to the last week, when they lost 20-0 in San Francisco.

Jeremy Crowhurst wrote:Al Davis. 23-16-3 in three years. Could have had a great coaching career had he not had other plans....

All names mentioned so far are good ones. I did initially have Hanifan in mind but '82 paused that. But Al Davis...that very well may be the Family Feud/"survey says" #1 answer (with a Bullet)! He would have been a great HC! Maybe better than Rauch, Madden, or Flores.

74_75_78_79_ wrote:

Jeremy Crowhurst wrote:Al Davis. 23-16-3 in three years. Could have had a great coaching career had he not had other plans....

Al Davis... He would have been a great HC! Maybe better than Rauch

Rauch left because Davis never really gave up coaching--Rauch went 25-3 during the two regular seasons, including a Super Bowl berth and a close loss in the AFL title game, prior to his departure.

Since a coach's success in the modern era is defined by his ability to get his team to the postseason, and the ones that fail to do so in a proscribed limit of time find themselves out of a job, the title of this thread is kind of like asking "Who are the best fishermen never to have caught a fish?"

Several years back we had a thread on the best PLAYERS to never have made the postseason, which makes more sense, since it is easier for a good player to be successful with a lousy team than it is for a good coach. The top names to come out of that discussion, IIRC, were Dick Butkus, Gale Sayers, Archie Manning, Larry Wilson and Tommy Nobis.