I'm sorry. I really am. I hate to name a person such a thing. But Bill Belicheck is the worst head coach in NFL history.
Okay, first of all. I have forgiven him. I really have.
But is he successful?
What is sports for? What is important in sports?
It's entertainment. It's meant to be fun.
And as an entertainer, Bill Belicheck is a failure.
I am not a Seahawks fan, but I have really enjoyed following the Seahawks in their recent success. Same for the Kansas City Chiefs, even though they beat my 49ers.
Following Bill Belicheck's Patriots is not fun.
For well over a decade a good degree of the fun I might have had following sports (and I have still enjoyed following sports during that time) has been ruined by Bill Belicheck's anger. In particular, when he declared, right in the middle of the War on Terror era, after he was caught cheating, that fans that root for other teams are the enemy.
Why do we care who is the most successful coach in football?
Because people like Tom Landry and Bill Walsh, who were gentlemen, made us feel good about football.
Because people like Tom Landry and Bill Walsh, who were gentlemen, made us feel like football is a noble persuit.
Bill Belicheck may know how to win, but sports is entertainment. And Bill Belicheck takes the fun out of the game. Bill Belicheck is the worst entertainer in the history of the league.
And he sure doesn't make us feel like football is a noble persuit for gentlemen!
So let's celebrate the REAL great head coaches in sports: those whose teams provide entertainment and bring joy to millions of people.
Coaches who are gentlemen, like Tom Landry and Bill Walsh and Seahawks coach Pete Carroll.
sincerely,
David S. Annderson
P.S. The greatest head coach in NFL history? A two-way tie, and no contest. George Halas and Curly Lambeau wrote the play book that everyone else uses. Along with a couple of legendary early college coaches, they all but invented the game.
Since George Halas's day? As a dyed-in-the-wool 49er fan, I'd love to say Bill Walsh. Certainly he's up there. Chuck Noll, Tom Landry, Don Shula... Dan Campbell, the current Lions coach... all turned around losing franchises and made them powerhouses.
Bill Belicheck is a great coach (attitude aside), but he never had success witout Brady, and he inherited a team that had one losing season since making the Super Bowl a few years before. He inherited a team built by a legend.
Bill Parcells.
The man is practically a god.
He goes from one sad little losing franchise after another, and turns them within a couple of years into powerhouses.
One after another.
Giants. Patriots. Jets.
Even the Cowboys, with that idiot owner meddling. I may be a 49er fan, but I have a soft spot for the 'ol Cowboys. I've seen so many ugly rivalries. The Cowboys were gentlemen when they played my 49ers.
Bill Parcells built them, left them a success.
One after another, bing, bing, bing. The f'n Midas Touch.
No one since the founding fathers of football (Geotge Halas, etc.) comes close.
Not even my beloved Bill Walsh.
One last thought... yes, there is no doubt in my mind that Dan Campbell belongs up with the gods like Bill Walsh, Tom Landry,, and Chuck Noll. Not the least for what he has done for Detroit and the whole Rust Belt. The Rust Belt is recovering. They may never be utopia again, and the powerhouse of the world that rebuilt the world. But they're recovering.
That's a whole nother history, and a huge one!