Greatest coaches in history
 

Who do you consider to be the greatest coaches throughout history? Modern or the past.

Any sport. Any country. Any professional level.

And why? What makes them great?

Parcells. Watched his teams for decades. Only found myself wincing about a bad coaching decision once or twice . Great evaluator of talent and the best sound bite giver of the press conference era.

And Phil Jackson

obviously Pep Guardiola (because he wins everything)

and Ernst Happel (because he won mostly everything 30 years ago)

much as I hate old bacon face as a person (he speaks extremely highly of me though), sir alex ferguson

pretty sure phil jackson is the ultimate by any standard, think he has 11 championships?

jimmy johnson was successful everywhere and on every level too

Damn, my exact picks.


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United fan here, hoping he comes back!

Also...Rinus Michels, inventor of total football

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...chels_1982.jpg

Valery Lobanovsky...Soviet Union / Dynamo Kiev / Ukraine

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2mD5BCsgQv...38e2917_XL.jpg

Gregg Popovich is great. I like his interviews:

I don't think any coach who had the best talent at the time should be considered among the greatest, unless they showed very good results with some teams that had less than the best talent. That takes out Phil Jackson, Red Auerbach, John Wooden, Scotty Bowman for me. I don't know enough about Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers to know whether he had the best talent. Coaching a team of great talent isn't as easy as just filling out a lineup card, and most of the coaches who coached dynasty teams got themselves those jobs by being very good in lower leagues/colleges so it's a bit unfair that I exclude them.

Parcells and Belichick were/are great coaches, could make ordinary players good and good players great as part of their team concept. College football is so much about recruiting and breaking rules as far as eligibility of players goes, makes for a very uneven playing field.

There is no sport that comes close to being a 'coach's game' as American football is.

In the case of Jimmy Johnson, his ability to recognize college talent and draft it as well as trade for proven talent makes him a great coach. Winning a college championship along with a few Super Bowls shows coaching skills on every level.

In Jacksons case part of his uniqueness was the ability to motivate, placate, and keep diverse competitive personalities focused. Getting Dennis Rodman to show up on time sober not wearing a dress makes my case, lol.

To surround yourself with and motivate great talents year after year is as good as being a great "coach". After all most pro's are past being taught how to do their jobs. Instead they are being coached how to play/win as a team.


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Focusing on the last few points of your post, I have a name to throw into the hat. Granted, it's actually early into his career, but based on what he's done so far, he fits the bill as a coach who modifies his game plan to fit the players he has on his team. I will also admit I'm biased as hell, but I'd like to throw Chip Kelly's name out there.

Look at what he's done in his short career:

As an Eagles, fan, I admit I'm biased. But I think Kelly is going to be one of the great coaches in history.

http://i.imgur.com/49TIbn3.jpg

To my earlier post...I nominated Michels and Lobanovsky because they were great innovators.

I tend to associate greatness with innovation and genius, and not just an ability to win things. Bob Paisley (Liverpool coach in 70s/80s) won lots of trophies, but I wouldn't call him a great coach, since the ingredients for success were already there.

My High School football coach.

for me...it's coach sonny jaworski from the Philippines...a playing coach at that :)

I really believe you cannot compare coaches or players from different eras, the games change so much, as well as the athletes.

Steelers, Cowboys and Raiders, with Noll, Landry, and Madden were dominant forces in the 70s (American Football for our non US friends that are unfamiliar) those exact player in their prime moved in time today might not even make the rosters, players are faster, stronger, training longer, and more specialized.

Walsh, Parcells, Bellicheck all dominated in their era's of the game

http://i.imgur.com/NNw3gHc.jpg

Best Coaches EVER !

nick saban.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BDeljko_Obradovi%C4%87

8x Euroleague Champion (Basketball)

and many more trophies.