Factoid
Kansas City has settled on Andy Reid as its new coach. He becomes the third Kansas City coach with strong ties to the Philadelphia organization, following Dick Vermeil and Herman Edwards.
But history shows that the success rate hasn’t been good when trying to transplant legendary coaches.
Below is the list of hires of coaches who became legends in one city (putting in 10-plus years) and then were brought in to take over with another team. And I threw Joe Gibbs in there as well; he stayed with the same team but had been away for 11 seasons.
Only one of these coaches (Dan Reeves) ever made it to a championship game. He lost one Super Bowl with the Falcons. And only one other coach (Gibbs) ever won a playoff game.
We’re not trying to lay the kiss of death on Reid. Jeff Fisher had a nice season with the Rams this year, and four playoff teams are coached by guys who’ve previously coached other NFL teams – Bill Belichick, John Fox, Mike Shanahan, Pete Carroll.
But the trends indicate that when you try to hire a long-time legend, he’s usually already done his best work.
The chart shows only guys who put in at least 10 years with a previous team, so there are some notable names that just miss the cut – Bill Parcells, Vince Lombardi, Mike Holmgren and others.
TRANSPLANTING LEGEND COACHES
W L T Year
6 10 0 2004 Dennis Green, Cardinals
7 9 0 1997 Dan Reeves, Falcons
4 12 0 1996 Ted Marchibroda, Ravens
5 7 0 1950 Curly Lambeau, Cardinals (Chicago)
3 11 0 1968 Paul Brown, Bengals
1 8 0 1973 Sid Gillman, Oilers
3 13 0 1998 Jim Mora, Colts
4 10 0 1976 Hank Stram, Saints
6 10 0 1997 Mike Ditka, Saints
11 5 0 1993 Dan Reeves, Giants
7 8 1 2012 Jeff Fisher, St. Louis
8 8 0 2001 Marty Schottenheimer, Washington
4 8 0 1952 Curly Lambeau, Washington
6 10 0 2010 Mike Shanahan, Washington
6 10 0 2004 Joe Gibbs, Washington
—Ian Allan
- Comments [3]
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Posted by PETER DEBIASE | Jan. 04 at 01:52 PM
I think you mean Sid Gillman. You probably had Jim "Junior" Gilliam or "Jefferson Street Joe" Gilliam on your mind when you typed that.
Posted by IAN ALLAN | Jan. 04 at 02:53 PM
Thanks, Peter. We need a "like" button on the website. I was a Jefferson Street Joe fan back in the day. 1974 was really my first year as a "serious" football fan. I had watched some of TV previously, but I was too young. In 1974, I was a full-fledged 10-year-old and had a subscription to Sports Illustrated that started in July of 1974. As luck would have it, they had a three-part series on the Steelers that summer (excerpts, I think, from the book 'Three Bricks Shy of a Load').
Posted by PETER DEBIASE | Jan. 04 at 08:21 PM
Sounds like I brought back some good memories for you Ian. I was a big fan of all things Steelers in the 70's as well. Best teams I've ever seen. And I failed to mention the great Armen "The Hammer" Gilliam. The amazing thing is that all three of those gentlemen named Gilliam left us too soon.