Top 20 Superbowl Era Coaches - Ranking Index

[MJS]

I created an index to rank super bowl era coaches. Let me start by saying that I didn't include ALL coaches who ever coaches. That would have been really tough. I consulted winningest coaches lists to create my own list, and then scored them based on win percentage (100 points times their win percentage), playoff appearances (10 points per appearance), conference championships (20 points per championship), and superbowl wins (30 points per win). I only included coaches who had an overall winning record. Let me know if you think I left off any big ones.

 

Here's how the top 20 worked out (blue indicates a current NFL coach, red indicates a former Bills coach):

 

(Updated to include Jimmy Johnson. I foolishly omitted him. Sorry folks )

 

This is a very simple index and doesn't account for anything besides winning and playoff performance.

 

For those interested in Bills coaches, I also indexed all of them:

 

 

(For those wondering why Marv's points differ, it's because the first ranking takes into account his Chiefs time as coach.)

Edited June 28, 2019 by MJS

[NoHuddleKelly12]

3 minutes ago, MJS said:

I created an index to rank super bowl era coaches. Let me start by saying that I didn't include ALL coaches who ever coaches. That would have been really tough. I consulted winningest coaches lists to create my own list, and then scored them based on win percentage (100 points times their win percentage), playoff appearances (10 points per appearance), conference championships (20 points per championship), and superbowl wins (30 points per win). I only included coaches who had an overall winning record. Let me know if you think I left off any big ones.

 

Here's how the top 20 worked out (blue indicates a current NFL coach, red indicates a former Bills coach):

 

 

This is a very simple index and doesn't account for anything besides winning and playoff performance.

 

For those interested in Bills coaches, I also indexed all of them:

 

Flat out shocking to see Jauron elbowing his way to #10...just shows the degree of ineptitude this franchise that we are lucky or unlucky enough to love, has suffered at the hands of football ignoramuses through the years with few notable exceptions. Here’s to hoping we have turned the corner!!

[MJS]

Oh, and here's all the current head coaches. Oddly enough Sean McDermott is tied with good old Doug Marrone:

 

 

2 minutes ago, NoHuddleKelly12 said:

Flat out shocking to see Jauron elbowing his way to #10...just shows the degree of ineptitude this franchise that we are lucky or unlucky enough to love, has suffered at the hands of football ignoramuses through the years with few notable exceptions. Here’s to hoping we have turned the corner!!

It was shocking to me that Sean McDermott is already 5th in franchise history. THAT shows how bad it has been, to me. He has a single playoff appearance to his name and a below .500 win percentage.

 

I do like him though.

Edited June 28, 2019 by MJS

[row_33]

1 hour ago, MJS said:

 

It was shocking to me that Sean McDermott is already 5th in franchise history. THAT shows how bad it has been, to me. He has a single playoff appearance to his name and a below .500 win percentage.

 

I do like him though.

 

The roll call of a few forgotten names would cause many of us to have a panic attack....

 

 

[Seasons1992]

1 hour ago, MJS said:

 

It was shocking to me that Sean McDermott is already 5th in franchise history. THAT shows how bad it has been, to me. He has a single playoff appearance to his name and a below .500 win percentage.

 

I do like him though.

 

This team has been BAD for MANY years outside of a few. Happy we have the people/team in place from top to bottom that will succeed, finally.

 

Yeah I said it.

 

Yeah I had a couple beers out at lunch also.........................................

[row_33]

11 minutes ago, Seasons1992 said:

 

This team has been BAD for MANY years outside of a few. Happy we have the people/team in place from top to bottom that will succeed, finally.

 

Yeah I said it.

 

Yeah I had a couple beers out at lunch also.........................................

 

12 years at the most since 1973 have been above horrible

 

[Cripple Creek]

2 hours ago, MJS said:

I created an index to rank super bowl era coaches. Let me start by saying that I didn't include ALL coaches who ever coaches. That would have been really tough. I consulted winningest coaches lists to create my own list, and then scored them based on win percentage (100 points times their win percentage), playoff appearances (10 points per appearance), conference championships (20 points per championship), and superbowl wins (30 points per win). I only included coaches who had an overall winning record. Let me know if you think I left off any big ones.

 

Here's how the top 20 worked out (blue indicates a current NFL coach, red indicates a former Bills coach):

 

 

This is a very simple index and doesn't account for anything besides winning and playoff performance.

So a SB win would get you 30+20+10?  Or do you get 10 for each playoff game won in a post season plus the bonuses for conference and SB win?

 

I’m surprised to see Walsh that low, would have guessed higher.

 

 

[DaBillsFanSince1973]

I don't quite understand the ranking system your using, I guess it's based off points/wins?  but as for the bills coaches, I would rank them based off championships and Lou has two back to back afl championships.

[RoyBatty is alive]

Rex Ryan is listed as out 6th best HC of all time, God that is downright embarrassing

[Ethan in Cleveland]

Whatever methodology you used that ranks SuperBowl winning coaches below ones that have not and leaves out two time SuperBowl Champion Jimmy Johnson is severely flawed.  

 

[mannc]

Bud Grant over Bill Walsh....I think you need a new system.

 

i think a few Packer fans would disagree with McCarthy over Lombardi, too.

Edited June 28, 2019 by mannc

[MJS]

1 hour ago, Cripple Creek said:

So a SB win would get you 30+20+10?  Or do you get 10 for each playoff game won in a post season plus the bonuses for conference and SB win?

 

I’m surprised to see Walsh that low, would have guessed higher.

 

Yes, if you go to and win the Superbowl you get 10 points for each playoff appearance, plus 20 for a conference championship, plus 30 for the win in the super bowl.

1 hour ago, DaBillsFanSince1973 said:

I don't quite understand the ranking system your using, I guess it's based off points/wins?  but as for the bills coaches, I would rank them based off championships and Lou has two back to back afl championships.

Each aspect is assigned points which are then added up for your total score. Your overall win percentage gives you points out of 100, so if you have a .500 win percentage, that's 50 points.

 

Then you get 10 points for each playoff appearance. Then you get 20 points for each conference championship win. Then you get 30 points for each super bowl win.

 

Saban's AFL championships count for 20 points each, equivalent to a conference championship. But in the overall coach ranking, I only consider super bowl era coaches.

[MJS]

37 minutes ago, mannc said:

Bud Grant over Bill Walsh....I think you need a new system.

 

i think a few Packer fans would disagree with McCarthy over Lombardi, too.

Lombardi didn't play all that long in the Superbowl era. This is a Superbowl era coach ranking.

 

I assigned points as I thought best and let the chips fall. If Bill Walsh didn't stack up to Bud Grant, oh well.

[Cripple Creek]

9 minutes ago, MJS said:

 

Yes, if you go to and win the Superbowl you get 10 points for each playoff appearance, plus 20 for a conference championship, plus 30 for the win in the super bowl.

Consider then that you’re giving more points (potentially) for wild card teams and penalizing those w byes. Maybe a sliding scale (5 points for wild card win, 10 for first round win etc.

[LABILLBACKER]

1 hour ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

Rex Ryan is listed as out 6th best HC of all time, God that is downright embarrassing

Rex & Skeletor rank as my 2 worst coaches. 

[RoyBatty is alive]

3 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Rex & Skeletor rank as my 2 worst coaches. 

 I give Skeletor a pass considering the roster he had, no he press confernces, god they were just downright horrid.

[MJS]

38 minutes ago, Cripple Creek said:

Consider then that you’re giving more points (potentially) for wild card teams and penalizing those w byes. Maybe a sliding scale (5 points for wild card win, 10 for first round win etc.

That is a good point, but that would be more work than I care to do in order to account for that. It's much easier to just look up how many playoff appearances each coach had.

[MJS]

1 hour ago, Ethan in Portland said:

Whatever methodology you used that ranks SuperBowl winning coaches below ones that have not and leaves out two time SuperBowl Champion Jimmy Johnson is severely flawed.  

 

? You are correct, sir! I somehow missed him.

 

I had to input each coach one by one. I must have slipped him by accident. Thanks for bringing him up! My biggest worry was that I accidentally missed some prominent coaches, and indeed I did.

 

I'll update the first post. Jimmy Johnson ranks 16th, just ahead of Marv Levy. And ...that bumps Vince Lombardi off.

21 minutes ago, LABILLBACKER said:

Rex & Skeletor rank as my 2 worst coaches. 

I think that's recency bias. Rex actually had one of the best win percentages of any coach of the Bills. However, I understand the argument that he had a very talented defense that he messed up.

[OldTimeAFLGuy]

...EXACTLY the reason why I loathe Plastic Puss Jones....Landry was a classy Cowboy legend (and I will add that I always hated the 'Girls)......his Sunday hat=Bear Bryant's hat......yet Jones' first order of business when he bought the club was to kick Landry to the curb like a POS.....

Edited June 28, 2019 by OldTimeAFLGuy

[vincec]

2 hours ago, Cripple Creek said:

So a SB win would get you 30+20+10?  Or do you get 10 for each playoff game won in a post season plus the bonuses for conference and SB win?

 

I’m surprised to see Walsh that low, would have guessed higher.

 

 

Especially since Walsh basically changed the way the game is played on offense. So, beyond his record as a winner, his impact on the game really should make him top 5 IMO. But it’s a fine point.

8 minutes ago, MJS said:

? You are correct, sir! I somehow missed him.

 

I had to input each coach one by one. I must have slipped him by accident. Thanks for bringing him up! My biggest worry was that I accidentally missed some prominent coaches, and indeed I did.

 

I'll update the first post. Jimmy Johnson ranks 16th, just ahead of Marv Levy. And ...that bumps Vince Lombardi off.

Um, what?

 

i think you’d better consult some Packer fans before you have Mike McCarthy ahead of Lombardi.

Edited June 28, 2019 by vincec

[MJS]

2 minutes ago, vincec said:

Um, what?

Off the top 20. But remember that this is only considering Super Bowl era coaches. Much of what Lombardi achieved was before the Super Bowl era.

[Ethan in Cleveland]

2 hours ago, MJS said:

Off the top 20. But remember that this is only considering Super Bowl era coaches. Much of what Lombardi achieved was before the Super Bowl era.

I think the point people are making is that SuperBowl wins need to be factored in more heavily.  A SB win should be 5 or 10 times more heavily weighted than a divisional round win.  And a SuperBowl loss should have some negative impact on the rating.  

 

Of your top 20, Grant, Levy, and Dungy are least deserving.  I don;t know much about Grant but his teams just seemed to be outmathced. Same for the Bills in 3 of 4 SuperBowls.  As for Dungy, he is the one coach on here that I think his team won despite his efforts. He is Dick Jaroun without Manning. Never liked him as a coach. I love Marv and all he accomplished. I just think he is overrated and not worthy of HOF. But I still think he had a hand in the team's success by willing to let Kelly run the no-huddle.  He just needed to reassert himself in the SB and tell Jim to give the dam ball to Thurman. 

[MJS]

2 hours ago, Ethan in Portland said:

I think the point people are making is that SuperBowl wins need to be factored in more heavily.  A SB win should be 5 or 10 times more heavily weighted than a divisional round win.  And a SuperBowl loss should have some negative impact on the rating.  

 

Of your top 20, Grant, Levy, and Dungy are least deserving.  I don;t know much about Grant but his teams just seemed to be outmathced. Same for the Bills in 3 of 4 SuperBowls.  As for Dungy, he is the one coach on here that I think his team won despite his efforts. He is Dick Jaroun without Manning. Never liked him as a coach. I love Marv and all he accomplished. I just think he is overrated and not worthy of HOF. But I still think he had a hand in the team's success by willing to let Kelly run the no-huddle.  He just needed to reassert himself in the SB and tell Jim to give the dam ball to Thurman. 

It would be completely stupid to dock someone for losing the Superbowl. Maybe we can give more points for those who win the Superbowl.

 

I don't agree or disagree with the list. I assigned points as I saw fit and that's how things turned out. I'm not going to go back and insert bias because certain popular coaches didn't score as high as I would like. Then it would be like any other list, up to the whims of those who created it. I went into it blind without any objective.

 

And the strength or weaknesses of those coaches and teams they managed aren't not relevant to this. These coaches are judged only by their winning in this index.

[US Egg]

I've created an index of sorts: One who starts a thread should never exceed being 1/3 of total comments or more in said thread after 10 hrs. and 20+ posts. 

 

Especially when they're just chasing around justifying themselves, mostly without query.

 

That's just strange.

Edited June 29, 2019 by I am the egg man

[Ethan in Cleveland]

On 6/28/2019 at 6:23 PM, MJS said:

It would be completely stupid to dock someone for losing the Superbowl. Maybe we can give more points for those who win the Superbowl.

 

I don't agree or disagree with the list. I assigned points as I saw fit and that's how things turned out. I'm not going to go back and insert bias because certain popular coaches didn't score as high as I would like. Then it would be like any other list, up to the whims of those who created it. I went into it blind without any objective.

 

And the strength or weaknesses of those coaches and teams they managed aren't not relevant to this. These coaches are judged only by their winning in this index.

A+ for effort. I am being sincere just giving you honest feedback.  You created a model that tried to reflect reality.  What people are telling you is your model assumptions just aren't accurate.  It's great that Bud Grant is getting some love in 2019, but no one would ever rank him ahead of Lombardi, Walsh, or even Madden.  Your model whether right or wrong seems to favor longevity and multiple playoff appearances over actually winning championships.  To some extent it did work, weeding out Seifert, Billick, and Switzer.  

The nail in the coffin for your model has to be that Andy Reid made the list.  He has choked in nearly every big game moment.  He's won one conference championship and choked in the SuperBowl. He has lost 4 conference championships - 3 at home.  He also has some really terrible losses to the Colts and Titans having built up big leads.  Again no one would rank Reid higher than Madden, Jimmy Johnson, Pete Carroll or probably even Tomlin.  

I wonder if you forgot another coach.  Where is Bill Cowher? He is 12-9 in playoff games for a .571 win percentage, with a SB win and loss.  He has to be in the top 20.  

 

[vorpma]

On 6/28/2019 at 8:39 PM, I am the egg man said:

I've created an index of sorts: One who starts a thread should never exceed being 1/3 of total comments or more in said thread after 10 hrs. and 20+ posts. 

 

Especially when they're just chasing around justifying themselves, mostly without query.

 

That's just strange.

I am the Walrus - good post!

[Mr. WEO]

On ‎6‎/‎28‎/‎2019 at 9:39 PM, I am the egg man said:

I've created an index of sorts: One who starts a thread should never exceed being 1/3 of total comments or more in said thread after 10 hrs. and 20+ posts. 

 

Especially when they're just chasing around justifying themselves, mostly without query.

 

That's just strange.

 

 It's not strange at all.  The OP is responding directly to posters who are asking him questions or commenting directly to him about his OP.

[MJS]

1 hour ago, Mr. WEO said:

 

 It's not strange at all.  The OP is responding directly to posters who are asking him questions or commenting directly to him about his OP.

Yeah, I'm not really trying to defend myself as much as clarifying. People can take the index for what it's worth, which isn't much.