Monday, August 3, 2009

Was Ray Handley the worst NFL head coach ever?

This past week The Sporting News listed its 10 greatest head coaches of all-time...since then, I have read a few lists of the 10 worst coaches of all-time...Stiles Points lists its worst NFL and college head football coaches of all-time in no particular order...some of these coaches are excellent coordinators or assistants, but they lacked key traits to be a quality head coach:

Larry Coker, Miami (Fla) - sure he coached The U to a BCS title in 2001 and follow-ed it up with another shot at the title before losing to Ohio State...Coker won that title with all of Butch Davis players...Davis bolted for the Cleveland Browns and left the cupboard full for Coker...the Hurricanes were loaded in his second year and were outplayed by Ohio State even though the Canes had an NFL caliber team...since then The U has been on a downw
ard slide because of Coker's lack of recruiting and inability to win the big games...

Ray Handley, N.Y. Giants (photo) - Bill Parcells retired after leading the Giants to a 13-3 record and a Super Bowl win over Buffalo in 1990...Handley took over and in two seasons as the head man, the Giants were 14-18 and were in disarray...Handley was canned after the 1992 season...in 1993 Dan reeves took over and immediately led the Giants to an 11-5 mark and playoff berth...Handley has never been seen since...

Les Steckel, Minnesota - after 17 years as head coach, Bud Grant retired after the 1983 season...Steckel, a former Marine, took over and ran the organization like a military facility...Steckel was abusive and mean...the Vikings went 3-13...Steckel was fired after one season and Grant was asked to come out of retirement to try and clean up the mess...

Cam Cameron, Miami - Cameron went to south Florida after serving as the offensive coordinator for the Chargers high scoring offense...Cameron's time in Miami was doomed on draft day when he selected Ohio State's Ted Ginn at wr instead of Notre Dame's Brady Quinn at qb...the Dolphins needed a quarterback desperately...the fans went nuts...it was all downhill after that...Cameron went 1-15 in his one year stay in Miami...

Wade Phillips, Denver, Buffalo, Dallas - how could someone with a 67-45 overall mark makes this list...I'm sorry, but it seems like Phillips teams always underachieve at the key moments during the season...he is a helluva defensive coordinator but he lacks something as the head man...

John Blake, Oklahoma - in three seasons Blake led the Sooners to a 12-22 record...two years after he got canned, Bob Stoops led Oklahoma to the BCS championship...

Dave Campo, Dallas - Under Campo's leadership, the Cowboys posted three straight 5-11 records...Parcells replaced Campo, and with basically the same team the Cowboys finished 10-6 and made the playoffs...

Gerry DiNardo, Indiana, LSU, Vanderbilt - I will give DiNardo a pass on Indiana and Vandy, but there is no reason he should not have won at LSU...the Tigers were stuck in mediocrity, at best, under DiNardo...DiNardo could not even recruit the state of Louisiana despite being the only major football power on the Bayou...after he was canned, Nick Saban and Les Miles have proven the LSU is a force...

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