Ho ho ho, of us! Christmas is right here, and good ol’ jolly St. Nick is heading down the chimney with precisely what you requested for. If you’re an NFL head coach although, that in all probability means he’s headed down the chimney with a gifted assistant to place in your workers to make you look even higher. Until they depart for their very own head teaching gig in fact, wherein case, you would like them the most effective and hope for a strong alternative.
Great head coaches don’t at all times create different nice head coaches underneath their wing. Bill Belichick is arguably the best head coach of all time, and his teaching tree has produced a myriad of stinkers like Matt Patricia, Josh McDaniels (strong OC, although), Bill O’Brien (turned bitter actual fast), and Nick Saban (bear in mind, that is contemplating their accomplishments as an NFL head coach). The solely actually nice head coach Belichick ever had on his teaching workers was Brian Flores, and everyone knows how that turned out. Belichick was the top coach for 2021 NFL Coach of the Year Mike Vrabel when Vrabel was a participant, however I’m not going to depend that towards Belichick’s tree — simply as how I wouldn’t depend the likes of Don Shula and Mac Speedie underneath Paul Brown’s tree. Those mentorships got here as gamers, not coaches, and thus, shouldn’t be thought-about a part of the “coaching tree.”
Belichick hasn’t had the most effective luck with regards to assistants turning into nice head coaches, however some coaches land hit after hit after hit within the coordinator division. Maybe it’s luck. Maybe it’s an unimaginable eye for teaching expertise. This Christmas I wished to seek out the most effective teaching timber in NFL historical past, the sorts of timber that might draw all consideration in the lounge on Christmas Eve.
“How would I do this though? What are the guidelines?” you may be questioning. Thank you for asking.
For starters, I’m solely counting individuals’s information as head coaches. I don’t care how nice an offensive coordinator or defensive genius these individuals have been. If they couldn’t lower it as head coaches, they didn’t get any of the credit score. Secondly, all people underneath every tree needed to serve at the least one season on the primary head coach’s workers. That doesn’t essentially imply as an offensive or defensive coordinator. They may’ve been an O-line coach or defensive backs coach, however they needed to serve at the least one season underneath the star on high. Third, and I shouldn’t need to say this, however this checklist is my choice. I’ve checked out every tree’s common season win proportion, postseason appearances, postseason win proportion, convention championship totals, and Super Bowl wins, and am utilizing these for my credentials to find out the order of this checklist. It can get complicated at factors. For instance, one of many stats I take advantage of on this checklist is Seasons per Super Bowl (S/SB — what number of seasons between Super Bowls for every tree as a collective complete). Since a few of the coaches on these timber coached earlier than the Super Bowl period, I needed to solely depend seasons wherein they coached within the Super Bowl period into consideration for that stat, clearly. Also, I perceive that because the NFL has worn on, it has change into considerably simpler to achieve the postseason as postseason brackets have expanded. So, though some timber could have larger postseason percentages than others on this checklist, that doesn’t essentially imply they have been higher at attending to the postseason. Finally, whereas there are some timber with shining branches that stand out among the many relaxation, I’m each department on each tree. Every assistant who become a head coach might be thought-about for this piece, and a sequence of unhealthy head coaches may make a fantastic department look unhealthy.
Furthermore, I can’t be together with coaches that got here within the second era of teaching timber. I’m searching for direct descendants from every of those coaches solely. For instance, whereas Andy Reid might be traced again to Bill Walsh, he solely ever labored underneath Bill Walsh’s disciple Mike Holmgren. Therefore, Reid falls underneath Holmgren’s tree, not Walsh’s. Got it? Good.
Also, since some coaches on this checklist nonetheless have college students at present head teaching within the NFL, I’ve given sure coaches further playoff appearances to their totals relying on whether or not or not their groups can be within the postseason if it began in the present day.
I actually hope I coated every little thing. With all that mentioned, right here is our high 10 checklist of the most effective teaching timber in NFL historical past.