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Here's an offseason discussion starter. Coaches ranked, dumbest to smartest, with comments.
1. (Dumbest) John Rauch - used OJ Simpson as a decoy in his offence.
2. Hank Bullough - The Yogi Berra of football coaches, had trouble speaking English even though he was a native born American.
3. Harvey Johnson - He was strictly an interim coach on two separate occasions. Not much was expected of him, and predictably, he didn't deliver much.
4. Wade Phillips - Even if he believed it was true, it was the height of idiocy to tell the press that Chris Watson was more of a "punt catcher."
5. Kaye Stephenson - The short Stephenson era was characterized by general ineptitude.
6. Gregg Williams - "This team, right now, can win the Super Bowl." He hired inexperienced assistants who didn't threaten him, and then the first experienced assistant he hired was Kevin Gilbride.
7. Buster Ramsey - Admittedly, I know virtually nothing about him, but his short tenure indicates he probably wasn't too good.
8. Jim Ringo - As a head coach, he was a very good offensive line coach.
9. Chuck Knox - He wasn't a bad coach, but didn't have a lot of football imagination.
10. Joe Collier - Replacing a resigning Lou Saban, he nearly led the Bills to a Super Bowl in his first year. Alas, his second season started out poorly and he was quickly, maybe too quickly fired. He had a solid defensive mind.
11. Mike Mularkey - To be perfectly honest, it's not really fair to rate him yet, but to this point he hasn't made many major gaffes. He appears to have hired a highly qualified staff of assistants, and to my untrained eyes looks to have the team moving in the right direction.
12. Lou Saban - He knew how to build a winner. Unfortunately he didn't know how to stay in one place for very long. He was the "Larry Brown" of football coaches, always having to move around. He coached the Bills twice, leading the Bills to back to back AFC championships in 1964 and 1965. Then he came back to rescue the Bills from the Rauch debacle. He figured out that the way to use OJ Simpson was to give him the ball, and led the Bills to the playoffs in 1974.
13. Marv Levy - With a masters degree in English literature from Harvard University, one could hardly call the guy "dumb." His genius lay in several areas. He was a fine administrator. He had a knack for handling prima dona personalities and getting them to buy into a team concept, and he knew his limitations. He knew he wasn't a brilliant Xs and Os guy, so he brought in people who were, then let them do their job. One also has to give him credit for learning from his mistakes. He was not a great head coach when he served in that capacity for the KC Chiefs. He was able to change and put things together when he came to Buffalo.
I think that's the whole list. If I left someone out feel free to correct me or express a different oppinion about the right order.
1. (Dumbest) John Rauch - used OJ Simpson as a decoy in his offence.
2. Hank Bullough - The Yogi Berra of football coaches, had trouble speaking English even though he was a native born American.
3. Harvey Johnson - He was strictly an interim coach on two separate occasions. Not much was expected of him, and predictably, he didn't deliver much.
4. Wade Phillips - Even if he believed it was true, it was the height of idiocy to tell the press that Chris Watson was more of a "punt catcher."
5. Kaye Stephenson - The short Stephenson era was characterized by general ineptitude.
6. Gregg Williams - "This team, right now, can win the Super Bowl." He hired inexperienced assistants who didn't threaten him, and then the first experienced assistant he hired was Kevin Gilbride.
7. Buster Ramsey - Admittedly, I know virtually nothing about him, but his short tenure indicates he probably wasn't too good.
8. Jim Ringo - As a head coach, he was a very good offensive line coach.
9. Chuck Knox - He wasn't a bad coach, but didn't have a lot of football imagination.
10. Joe Collier - Replacing a resigning Lou Saban, he nearly led the Bills to a Super Bowl in his first year. Alas, his second season started out poorly and he was quickly, maybe too quickly fired. He had a solid defensive mind.
11. Mike Mularkey - To be perfectly honest, it's not really fair to rate him yet, but to this point he hasn't made many major gaffes. He appears to have hired a highly qualified staff of assistants, and to my untrained eyes looks to have the team moving in the right direction.
12. Lou Saban - He knew how to build a winner. Unfortunately he didn't know how to stay in one place for very long. He was the "Larry Brown" of football coaches, always having to move around. He coached the Bills twice, leading the Bills to back to back AFC championships in 1964 and 1965. Then he came back to rescue the Bills from the Rauch debacle. He figured out that the way to use OJ Simpson was to give him the ball, and led the Bills to the playoffs in 1974.
13. Marv Levy - With a masters degree in English literature from Harvard University, one could hardly call the guy "dumb." His genius lay in several areas. He was a fine administrator. He had a knack for handling prima dona personalities and getting them to buy into a team concept, and he knew his limitations. He knew he wasn't a brilliant Xs and Os guy, so he brought in people who were, then let them do their job. One also has to give him credit for learning from his mistakes. He was not a great head coach when he served in that capacity for the KC Chiefs. He was able to change and put things together when he came to Buffalo.
I think that's the whole list. If I left someone out feel free to correct me or express a different oppinion about the right order.
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