7 Worst Head Coaches Ever - HA!

[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

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.

Here's an account from Pat Toomay about the TB-Denver aftermath, that actually says that the story referred to one of the Denver assistants:

After the game, upset over a fourth-quarter run-up-the-score Broncos' reverse, McKay, in his press conference, called Denver offensive coordinator Max Corley "a pr**k." "He was a pr**k when I knew him at Oregon, he's a pr**k now and he'll always be a pr**k," McKay told the assembled reporters. When, the following week, Time magazine reported that it was Ralston whom McKay had called a pr**k, our coach laughed. "I would have called him a pr**k," he told a Tampa columnist. "But a pr**k has a head."

[CSKreager]

How can you have a Worst Coaches Thread without Les Steckel and the '84 Vikings?

By far the worst year for the Vikings- 1962 had 2-11-1, but that was their second year. 2011 also had the same 3-13 record, but they lost NINE games by a touchdown or less.

1984, OTOH- that team had so many bad losses:

42-13 on opening day at home vs. the Chargers

22 sacks allowed in 2 games against the Bears

In their final 6 games of the season, all losses: 45-17, 42-21, 34-3, 31-17, 51-7, 38-14

http://www.startribune.com/hartman-wors ... 134538383/

[Shipley]

A couple more top-of-mind candidates: Scooter McLean, Walt Kiesling, Bill McPeak, Norv Turner, Jim Zorn

[mwald]

Great lists, but many of these men were in situations not conducive to winning. What about the coaches who underachived in decent to great situations? Mike White, Tommy Prothro, Ray Rhodes, Jeff Fisher and Mike Martz are a few that come to mind.

White's 1995 Raiders dropped their last six after starting 8-2. One could speculate about the reason, but nothing really stands out. Success is hard to deal with; they just caved.

Prothro's two years with a talented Rams' teams was undistinguishable to say the least, particulary for a guy who some have considered to be a great coach. And when he lost, he often blamed the players.

Ray Rhodes' flameouts in Philly and Green Bay illustrates how the Lombardi method only works if you're Vince Lombardi or Jimmy Johnson.

Jeff Fisher is puzzling. It would not be a surprise if he won a Super Bowl some day, yet his winning seasons are scant and his teams consistently lose to inferior opposition. His longevity has more to do with cultivating a strong relationship with ownership and other league brass, and the occasional signature win when his team's manhood is challenged.

Mike Martz inherited one of the best teams ever and chalked up a great W-L record. But for a man known for his aggressiveness he often caught a case of the yips in pressure situations. He was also outcoached in the biggest games, was sensitive to criticism, bungled his QB situation (not the first coach to ever do that, but we're talking Kurt Warner here), and couldn't get along with other coaches and front office management.

[BD Sullivan]

It seems odd to choose a coach who took his team to the conference championship game in his first year, but Bud Carson's path to that game was pretty bizarre.

The 1989 Browns began the year with an absolute destruction AT THREE RIVERS of the Steelers winning 51-0, following that up with a 38-24 win over the Jets. They then lost three of the next four, before then winning four straight. They then were winless for the next month, going 0-3-1 before reaching the playoffs with a home OT win vs. the Vikings and a last-minute comeback win in Houston.

In the playoffs, they narrowly missed getting bounced by the Bills when Ronnie Harmon dropped a wide open TD pass in the end zone in the closing seconds, that was followed by a game-ending pick on the goal line by Clay Matthews. Against Denver, they were on the verge of getting blown out, got to within three points by the end of the third quarter at 24-21, then lost 37-21.

The following year, the wheels came off and Carson was gone by midseason, never getting another head coaching job. In truth, a lot of "experts" were predicting that the Browns would fade in 1990, which is what happened. Sadly, except for some brief periods, they haven't been relevant since.

[Bryan]

Great lists, but many of these men were in situations not conducive to winning. What about the coaches who underachived in decent to great situations? Mike White, Tommy Prothro, Ray Rhodes, Jeff Fisher and Mike Martz are a few that come to mind.

Prothro's two years with a talented Rams' teams was undistinguishable to say the least, particulary for a guy who some have considered to be a great coach. And when he lost, he often blamed the players.

I don't know if I would say Prothro underachieved with the Rams. He inherited an aging 9-4-1 team and went 8-5-1 in 1971. Seems like a tough situation all around...replacing George Allen, inheriting an old roster (especially in the OL and on defense), while at the same time trying to remain competitive. Probably should have done better than 6-7-1 in 1972, but Gabriel had arm problems and Prothro actually had to start Pete Beathard at QB for two games (a tie to the terrible Bears, and a huge blowout loss to the Falcons). Beathard's numbers on the year were 1 TD and 7 INTs in 48 attempts. Against the Falcons, he completed 4 passes to Atlanta and 5 to Los Angeles.

[BD Sullivan]

Great lists, but many of these men were in situations not conducive to winning. What about the coaches who underachived in decent to great situations? Mike White, Tommy Prothro, Ray Rhodes, Jeff Fisher and Mike Martz are a few that come to mind.

Prothro's two years with a talented Rams' teams was undistinguishable to say the least, particulary for a guy who some have considered to be a great coach. And when he lost, he often blamed the players.

I don't know if I would say Prothro underachieved with the Rams. He inherited an aging 9-4-1 team and went 8-5-1 in 1971. Seems like a tough situation all around...replacing George Allen, inheriting an old roster (especially in the OL and on defense), while at the same time trying to remain competitive. Probably should have done better than 6-7-1 in 1972, but Gabriel had arm problems and Prothro actually had to start Pete Beathard at QB for two games (a tie to the terrible Bears, and a huge blowout loss to the Falcons). Beathard's numbers on the year were 1 TD and 7 INTs in 48 attempts. Against the Falcons, he completed 4 passes to Atlanta and 5 to Los Angeles.

The fact that Rosenbloom started immediately breathing down his neck in the second year likely didn't help.

[BD Sullivan]

In their final 6 games of the season, all losses: 45-17, 42-21, 34-3, 31-17, 51-7, 38-14

Thus, they lost their last six by an average score of 40-13.

In 1975, Forrest Gregg's head coaching career got off to a bumpy start. After losing the opener 24-17 to Cincy, the Browns had the misfortune to face three excellent teams, at home no less. They got destroyed by the Vikings, Steelers and Oilers, respectively, by scores of 42-10, 42-6 and 40-10.

Obviously, Gregg went on to improve the team, and later take the Bengals to the Super Bowl, but this is an indication that some coaches step into it when they take over an awful team.

[SixtiesFan]

Great lists, but many of these men were in situations not conducive to winning. What about the coaches who underachived in decent to great situations? Mike White, Tommy Prothro, Ray Rhodes, Jeff Fisher and Mike Martz are a few that come to mind.

Prothro's two years with a talented Rams' teams was undistinguishable to say the least, particulary for a guy who some have considered to be a great coach. And when he lost, he often blamed the players.

I don't know if I would say Prothro underachieved with the Rams. He inherited an aging 9-4-1 team and went 8-5-1 in 1971. Seems like a tough situation all around...replacing George Allen, inheriting an old roster (especially in the OL and on defense), while at the same time trying to remain competitive. Probably should have done better than 6-7-1 in 1972, but Gabriel had arm problems and Prothro actually had to start Pete Beathard at QB for two games (a tie to the terrible Bears, and a huge blowout loss to the Falcons). Beathard's numbers on the year were 1 TD and 7 INTs in 48 attempts. Against the Falcons, he completed 4 passes to Atlanta and 5 to Los Angeles.

Tommy Prothro was known for his supposedly high intelligence. In his 1977 Scout's Notebook, Joel Buchsbaum wrote:

"Tommy Prothro has the highest I.Q. of any head coach in the NFL, and Joel Buchsbaum may have the lowest I.Q. of any scout in the world, or close to it. This creates all sorts of problems for yours truly. Tommy uses his genius to make brilliant moves and at times I can't figure out why he made the moves he made. Maybe one of you very nice and smart people out there can explain the following to me. Why the Chargers made a fullback who ran too high, caught too little and never gained very much the second pick in the entire 1974 draft! Why does Prothro force his three young defensive linemen who run the forty in 4.8 or better to play read and contain and saddle them with so may responsibilities that they're forever confused with their assignments and never putting any pressure on the quarterback. Why did he agree to swap number ones and give Dallas his #2 for Clint Longley at a time the Pokes couldn't give Longley away."

Speaking of the Clint Longley trade, this was when Longley sucker-punched Roger Staubach in the Cowboy locker room. So Prothro switched number ones and gave a #2?

Speaking of Prothro's high I.Q. another time, Buchsbaum wrote that Prothro drafted a lot of "low I.Q. types, possibly because Tommy sees football as a simple game."

A big knock on Prothro was that he couldn't motivate pro football players. I recall Dan Fouts saying during his 1977 holdout something like, "Prothro couldn't motivate a bear to leave a burning forest."

[Bryan]

Tommy Prothro was known for his supposedly high intelligence. In his 1977 Scout's Notebook, Joel Buchsbaum wrote:

"Tommy Prothro has the highest I.Q. of any head coach in the NFL, and Joel Buchsbaum may have the lowest I.Q. of any scout in the world, or close to it. This creates all sorts of problems for yours truly. Tommy uses his genius to make brilliant moves and at times I can't figure out why he made the moves he made. Maybe one of you very nice and smart people out there can explain the following to me. Why the Chargers made a fullback who ran too high, caught too little and never gained very much the second pick in the entire 1974 draft! Why does Prothro force his three young defensive linemen who run the forty in 4.8 or better to play read and contain and saddle them with so may responsibilities that they're forever confused with their assignments and never putting any pressure on the quarterback. Why did he agree to swap number ones and give Dallas his #2 for Clint Longley at a time the Pokes couldn't give Longley away."

Speaking of the Clint Longley trade, this was when Longley sucker-punched Roger Staubach in the Cowboy locker room. So Prothro switched number ones and gave a #2?

Speaking of Prothro's high I.Q. another time, Buchsbaum wrote that Prothro drafted a lot of "low I.Q. types, possibly because Tommy sees football as a simple game."

A big knock on Prothro was that he couldn't motivate pro football players. I recall Dan Fouts saying during his 1977 holdout something like, "Prothro couldn't motivate a bear to leave a burning forest."

Good quote by Fouts. Prothro was definitely a strange case. He had a reputation as a master tactician coming out of college, yet his pro teams never really were known for their strategy. Despite the Longley trade, Prothro had a great knack for acquiring talent...many of his acquisitions set the table for Chuck Knox in LA and Don Coryell in SD. His first 5 picks in 1975 were essentially half the starting 1980 defense...Big Hands, Kelcher, Fred Dean, Mike Williams and Mike Fuller. Then he got Billy Shields and Rickey Young in the later rounds.