Not too early to speculate. I’d give it to Mike McCarthy as he is in my opinion hands down the best coach in the NFL. It will be stated though that with that much talent it may be hard to screw up this team.
So, is the coach of the year typically the coach who does the most with the least or manages to turn around a poor team?
John Fox? Jim Schwartz? Kubiak?
Possibly Jim Harbaugh.
Forgot him. Yes.
Even as a Houston fan, I’d say Harbaugh’s got the best argument. Though Wade Phillips has turned in hands-down the best Defensive Coordinator job this season.
Kubiak and Fox have to be in the running. Fox gets knocked down for that 1-4 start.
Apparently, some pundits have McCarthy and Belichick in the running, too. I can see the arguments there, though I will respectfully disagree they deserve it over Harbaugh.
Mike McCarthy is probably the front runner, since they often seem to give it to the best team, but like was said upthread, he has the talent, he has a relatively weak schedule. No doubt he’s doing a good job, but not the best. Putting Belichick in there is just ridiculous and though he’s doing well, he hasn’t done anything at least half a dozen other teams haven’t done.
In my view, if anyone other than Harbaugh would be a shame. Harbaugh has quickly turned around a team that hasn’t been good in years without a whole lot of new pieces. I would be okay if Kubiak won, because of all of the key injuries that they’ve had and still being successful, but they’ve also been underachieving for a few years and they’ve also benefitted a lot from the complete disappearance of the Colts.
I was furious that the AP gave coach of the year to Bellicheck last year when all McCarthy did was win 6 must-win games at the end of the year last year including the Super Bowl, despite having a huge amount of injuries and losing 87 starter games.
I’ll go out on a limb and predict he gets it this year as a makeup (not that he doesn’t deserve it on his own merits)
Jim Harbaugh, and there is zero competition.
Obviously partisan but to me that to me was one of the greatest accomplishments in the NFL of the last twenty-some years,
There is competition. If the Packers go 16-0 McCarthy will win it, book it.
I can’t even imagine them giving it Jim Schwartz. Last night, after one of his guys pushed the ref, you saw him mumble something to him, and then give his helmet a pat, like “Good job, kid!” He should have benched him for the rest of the game, in addition to the Lion that gave a head push to a Saint. And then Suh? Gahhhhhh…
I think someone in the league should sit him down and have a quick conversation with him about the thuggery that he encourages. You really have to be bad to out-thug the Saints.
If the Packers go 16-0 and the Niners go 12-4 or better, Harbaugh will win it, book it.
Aaron Rodgers is going to get all the credit for the undefeated season. Besides, how much did he “coach up” considering they won the title last year?
Bet?
Sure, I will bet you 10 SDMB points.
a thousand stanley nickels it’s going to be harbaugh
16-0 Packers? It goes to McCarthy. Otherwise, Jim Harbaugh. No SDMB credits on the line from me, though.
I’m down for Jim Harbaugh for 10 SDMB Points.
Although, Mike McCarthy is having a great year so far, as he should with returning team that won the Super Bowl and has number of returning players. Jim Harbaugh comes in the league with a team who has not been close to the playoffs in ten years and a previous head coach who believed in intimidating players as a way to motivate. Coach Harbaugh has turned a losing team into a winning team. My hat off is to Jim Harbaugh as “Coach of the Year”.
I will throw another name in the mix.
Mike Tomlin. Most thought the Steelers were too old and the team, like many who lose the Super Bowl, would have an off year. The Steelers are 10-3, and ready for another run in the playoffs. With a weak offensive line, (Big Ben currently leads the league in sacks), a questionable secondary and an injury plagued linebacker corps, he’s juggled things pretty well.
Tomlin never gets much credit, but I think he’s a hell of a coach. He’s already been to two Super Bowls, and has one ring.
But it will be a race between SF’s Harbaugh and GB’s McCarthy.
Even as a Packer fan, I have to go with Jim Harbaugh. When the lockout ended, pundits were saying that new coaches like him were likely to suffer a lost season in 2011, as they hadn’t had the off-season to work with their new players. He proved them very wrong, with essentially the same team that Singletary couldn’t get to win.
I don’t see how it can be anyone but Harbaugh. McCarthy has done a fantastic job of building that team over the last few years, but rightly or wrongly, the award is pretty much always been given on a considering-this-season-only basis.
McCarthy should have won last year, but what’s done is done.