The Perfect Pro Football Coach

This SECOND EDITION has been revised and updated for the upcoming NFL season. Based on actual on-the-field performance, we have ranked all of the 285 NFL head coaches over the past 55 years. To do so we use an innovative, yet simple, scheme, called the “CASH” system, to quantize coaching results. Our “perfect pro football coach” most closely resembles the top all-time coaches on our list. We also have created a way to forecast the success of new head coach hires with a high degree of accuracy. The head coach in the NFL occupies the most important position in his entire organization, but it is surprising how many head-strong owners fail to do their homework when it comes time to make a change.

This SECOND EDITION has been revised and updated for the upcoming NFL season. Based on actual on-the-field performance, we have ranked all of the 285 NFL head coaches over the past 55 years. Unquestionably, the head coach occupies the most important position in the entire organization, and yet when he is hired his success is all but impossible to predict for many reasons, not the least of which is that many head strong owners fail to do their homework. Setting personalities aside, we use our Coaching Assessment Scoring Hierarchy (“CASH”) evaluation system to break down hard data for the on-the-field performance of every coach and measure him against his peers to reveal the good, the bad, and the ugly. They are all there, and you can find your favorite guy on our list, although he might not be where you expect. We also go one step further using our Success Predictability Grid, making it possible to forecast the success of new head coaches with a high degree of accuracy. By having identified the real life attributes of both the best of the best - and also the worst of the worst, we enable owners, general managers, and fans to gauge the chances of any new man who may be considered for their favorite teams. Along the way we address lots of coach quality questions such as "Is it important that he was ever a head coach anywhere before? “ "Do you want a college hot shots or ex-players make good head coaches?", and much more. What are you gonna get as your next head coach?

Robert DeLuca is an original owner (10 shares!) of the Boston Patriots, when the AFL was founded in 1960 and has personally observed virtually every one of the almost 300 head coaches in action through the years. A New Englander by birth and a Marine by choice, he left Boston before the Pats became a force. After spending several years in Pittsburgh during the Franco-Terry-Mean Joe heyday, he landed in Houston, where he has been lamenting the Oilers and trying to necessitate the Texans ever since.