Best COACHES Who Have Never Won Championships

The Game Room
1

Inspired by the thread asking for the best NFL quarterback never to wi na Super Bowl.
Who are the best coaches in the major sports never to win a championship?

I’ll include the NFL, college football, the NBA, college basketball, the NHL, and any other sport you care to include. (I’m omitting major league baseball managers because I don’t think they’re as important as head coaches in those other sports… but if you disagree and want to cast a vote for Gene Mauch, go ahead!).
Best NFL coaches never to win a title:

Marty Schottenheimer, Dan Reeves, Don Coryell and Bud Grant, for sure. Who else- Chuck Knox? Marv Levy?
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Best College Football Coaches Never to win a title:**

Bo Schembechler, Hayden Fry, and Barry Alvarez (Big Ten guys all) come to mind. So do Fisher DeBerry and Grant Teaff (making Baylor respectable for so long long was no small feat),

Best NBA Coach Never to win a Title:

I’d say Jerry Sloan is at the top of the list- just ahead of Don Nelson and George Karl.

Best NCAA basketball Coach Never to win a Title:

John Calipari? Lefty Driesell? Mark Few? Eddie Sutton?

2

I’d agree with that list. The knock on Schottenheimer, of course, was that his teams did great in the regular season, then folded in the playoffs.

Also, both Grant and Levy won Grey Cups in the CFL – Grant won four with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and Levy won two with the Montreal Alouettes.

3

Add Guy Lewis to the college hoops list.

4

Lou Henson probably belongs on the NCAA Hoops list. I’d probably put Marv Levy at the top of the NFL list and Andy Reid probably deserves some consideration, and once he’s gone I suspect that his case will improve. He’s a hell of a lot better than Marty. I was gonna mention Lenny Wilkens for the NBA list but I see that he won way back in '79, so whoops.

5

Yeah, I wasn’t even thinking of currently-active NFL coaches. Reid probably belongs on the list.

6

Levy didn’t even call plays with the Bills.

7

Few coaches in the olden days did. As recently as Elway, Kelly and Marino QBs called most of the plays in the huddle. It’s only recently that any head coaches called plays, and it’s still not the norm as it’s usually a coordinator. Coaches in the past were usually Coach/GMs as opposed to Coach/Coordinators.

8

If I am not mistaken, the winningest Major League Baseball manager to not win a World Series was Gene Mauch. However, Mauch lost more games than he won so you can question whether he was great or not.

Dusty Baker, I believe, is second.

9

I can definitively say that he’s not within spitting distance of even decent.

10

For what it’s worth (not much), Alvarez did win a national title as defensive coordinator for the '88 Notre Dame team. Never as head coach, though. Maybe he’ll get another as AD in the next few years…

11

George Allen (LA Rams & Wash) was another great pro football coach who never won a championship.

12

Jim Mora Sr. never won anything in the NFL, but had a couple of USFL titles

The NBA’s Don Nelson has the most regular season wins in history but has no titles as a coach, though he has several from his days as a Celtics’ player.

13

Raheem Morris. Won’t be long, though. :wink:

14

Andy Reid is an interesting case. He forces you to define what you value in “best coaches.” Most skilled? I’m not sure he’d fit. He’s notoriously bad with clock management and in game adjustments. Then again, he’s also fairly well known to be outstanding after a bye week and in the first week of the playoffs (these last two years included, sadly).

He definitely belongs in the discussion, but I’d consider him more of a great personnel guy and a great preparation guy, and not so great as an in game coach. I do honestly think he can win one though, and probably will.

15

I’m going to put Chris Ault’s name in as a great college coach without a title. He hasn’t done it with a big program (Nevada), but his record there is outstanding (219-97-1) and he’s widely credited with developing the pistol offense. A lot of those wins were in Division I, but I think 219 wins is a high mark at any level.

16

Mauch was a manager who inevitably took on jobs when teams were lousy and built them into contenders (Phillies in early 1960s, the expansion Montreal Expos, the Twins in the free agency period when owned by cash-strapped Calvin Griffith). But some of his management decision when in tight pennant races or playoffs (Bunning and Bennett on two days rest in 1964, going on three days rest in 1982 ALCS.

Dusty Baker has taken three different teams into the playoffs but also suffers from poor decision making. I think his strength is creating an atmosphere where players can perform well.

I suppose in hockey Roger Neislon made it to the Hall of Fame but didn’t win a Stanley Cup. He was famous for introducing studying video tape but was technologically ignorant himself: once mistook a microwave oven for a tv set.

One NFL coach who looked good but burned out early without winning a championship was Walt Michaels with the Jets in late 70s/early 1980s. Except for a USFL, never had another head coach job despite getting fired taking the Jets to AFC championship game that Miami won because they “forgot” to put a tarp on the field. Lots of rumours why he was fired.