Statistically ranking the top 10 NFL coaches heading into 2015
By Daniel
Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
There are ample opinions out there as to which NFL coaches truly are the best around the league right now. Many people believe their coach is one of the best, but that often isn’t the case. I wanted to take an objective look at this debate; so I created a formula that ranks each head coach appropriately. This formula lets the numbers do the talking, instead of biased opinions.
Fortunately, there are many great coaches in the NFL and this debate is deservedly lively. Although perhaps this piece will give a little clarity to the situation as a whole. If nothing else, it’s fun to see which coaches are statistically better or worse than previously thought.
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The simple formula that I came up with values one thing: winning. Nothing else that a coach does matters; in this league it’s all about the end result. Thus, some coaches that people associate with greatness come in lower than people would have imagined. The formula is outlined below.
Point Breakdown:
Super Bowl Championship: 20 Points
Conference Championship: 15 Points
Division Championship: 10 Points
Playoff Win: 5 Points
Regular Season Win: 1/2 Point
I then divided each coach’s total score by how many years they’ve been a head coach in the NFL to make it a level playing field. I also included a five-year minimum as an NFL head coach as a qualifier for this list. I believe that half a decade qualifies an NFL coach, and his accomplishments, to be considered one of the top coaches in the league. Any amount of coaching less than that just isn’t enough to be valid information, in my opinion.
The research and this formula has yielded a lot of surprises and some coaches that many people consider great came in with pretty low overall scores. It was interesting to see that sometimes a coach’s reputation can, and often does, exceed the results of his team out on the field.
Did your favorite team’s head coach make the top-10 list of coaches in the NFL?
Next: The Top-10 Coaches in the NFL Heading Into 2015