Settling the score once and for all: The Best Coach of Any Sport of Any Time

Everybody knows who the greatest coach of all times is, and everybody knows that everyone who disagrees is wrong.

But let me give you my list.

Let me give you a list that does not include Vince Lombardi. Let me give you a list that does not include Mike Krzyzewski. Let me give you a list that does not include Paul Bear Bryant.

Let me give you the 5 best head coaches that are forgotten when talking about the all-time greats.

These guys are all legends. If I ask you if they were great, you’d say hell yes. But you would not think of them off the top of your head.You can walk into a Tony Romas in Miami and ask who the greatest sports coach of all time is and get a response. You can go to a family style Italian restaurant on Long Island and ask the same question. You can fly to San Francisco, go to Fatburger, and you can ask it too.

No matter where you live, what you do, what sports you follow, you have a favorite coach, a coach you think ranks above the rest. Whether you just got home from your high school homecoming game or traveled 2000 miles for game 6 of the World Series, you answer this question with pride, because you know who the best is and was.

But let me go at a different angle. Let me mention 5 coaches/managers who are the historical equals of those you would mention. These are the somewhat forgotten people, but those who have proven their worth. There will be no Vince Lombardi, no Mike Krzyzewski, and no Paul Bear Bryant.

These are people whose records speak for themselves. These are people who took teams and made them champs, and took champs and made them a dynasty. These are the best. These are my top 5.

5. Bobby Cox

Say what you will, but the numbers speak for themselves.

He has won 10 consecutive divisional titles (1994 counts as a loss because I am A: A Marlins fan and B: not going to award them for finishing behind the Expos and c: I deplore the Braves more than I do the Knights who say “Nee”), including the last 4 with teams that were in no way the best in the division. This year, they ran away with the title despite being possibly the 4th best team in a mediocre division. Last year they were arguably the 3rd best team in a top-heavy division.

And don’t argue their playoff letdowns. The only time they actually had a letdown was 1996 when they were the best team and lost to the resurgent Yankees. Every other year they were not the best team in baseball and it showed in the playoffs. But Bobby Cox got them their and he is a true legend.

And remember, I hate the Braves and everything to do with them, but Bobby Cox has proved his worth the last four years.

4. Dan Gable

In the most competitive sport of all, Dan Gable led his Iowa Hawkeyes to the status that not winning the title was not even thinkable. They not only were expected to win it every year, they knew they would and so did everyone else.

Other than a few exceptions, any wrestler can beat any other wrestler at any given moment. One mistake can change everything.

But Gable’s team did not make mistakes. They were historical every day. Yes, he had the best athletes, but so did a handful of other schools. With equal talent he beat these teams and it wasn’t even close. He took All-Big Ten caliber kids and made the NCAA Champion Men, and nobody was surprised.

There is winning, and then there is dismantling, and then there is Dan Gable’s Iowa teams. Don’t tell me he should not be on the list.

3. Lou Holtz

Look at his record.

Look at it again.

He has brought William & Mary, North Carolina State, Arkansas, Minnesota, Notre Dame, and South Carolina to bowl games. Hell, Minnesota did not get back to a bowl game for nearly a decade and a half. William & Mary will never duplicate the feat.

He won a national title in 1988 with Notre Dame. He won conference titles with William & Mary, North Carolina State, and Arkansas. He turned Notre Dame from a losing record to champions in two years. He turned South Carolina from a hapless program coming off a 0-11 year that followed a 1-10 year into Outback Bowl champions two years in a row without a year in between. He helped North Carolina State and Arkansas turn the corner into ACC and SWC powerhouses from year one.

What has he not done? What does he still have to prove? Anything?

11 bowl wins. Is that enough? How about with 4 different teams? National coach of the year? SEC coach of the year?

I think he has proven his worth.

2. Tom Landry

Ask anybody if they think Landry is one of the all-time great coaches, and everyone will say yes.

Ask anybody to name the greatest all-time coaches of any sport, and Landry is always forgotten.

From 1966-1985, a period of 20 years, Landry’s worst mark was 9-7. He made 18 playoff appearances and led the Cowboys to 5 Super Bowls, of which they won 2. He won 250 regular season games and 20 more playoff games. He led his teams to 13 division titles.

And he did all this from a team that was a winless expansion team in his first season, the pits of the NFL. He went through three generations of quarterbacks and still managed to have a competitive, playoff-caliber team every year, without an exception.

Most of all, he spent 29 years with the Cowboys, one of the longest tenures in NFL history.

Yet again I ask you, what more did he have to do? I don’t know what.

1. Jim Valvano

Few people have the respect that the late Jim Valvano has. Even fewer could coach as well as the late Jim Valvano. And even fewer could motivate a group of college boys every day and aspire them to greatness as well as the late Jim Valvano.

But when you combine all three categories, you are left only Jim Valvano.

He may have only won 346 games and he may have only guided 8 of his 19 teams to the tournament, but each of those 346 wins were special. He had countless upsets. He had countless miracles. He had countless fans.

His shining moment was when North Carolina State defeated Houston for the National Title after a tough year and a miraculous tournament.

That upset solidified his career, his genius. He was catapulted to the center of the sports horizon and he deserved it.

Whenever I’m down, I remember him. I can hear him saying, “Don’t ever give up! Don’t ever surrender!” I never met the man, yet he can influence me. He is the greatest. He is #1.