Cowboys Head Coaches: Phillips Tops in Winning Percentage, Climbing in Tenure
by One.Cool.Customer on Feb 8, 2010 6:00 PM CST
88 comments
According to Todd Archer, Wade Phillips' recent contract extension could put him in lofty company in Cowboys History:
If Phillips coaches for the duration of the extension, only Tom Landry will have had a longer tenure coaching the Cowboys. And Phillips hopes to break the tie he would have with Jimmy Johnson if he makes it through 2011.
His winning percentage already ranks as the best in the Cowboys coaching history. With a .667 winning percentage over his past three seasons as the Cowboys coach, Wade Phillips has topped the likes of Jimmy Johnson, Tom Landry and Barry Switzer. But until he wins a Super Bowl, he'll most likely be mentioned in one sentence with the other Dallas coaches who haven’t won a Super Bowl, like Bill Parcells, Chan Gailey and Dave Campo.
Make the jump for more on the Cowboys coaches winning percentages and coaching tenures in the NFL.
Cowboys Coaches W/L record, 2006-2009 (including playoffs)
| Tom Landry |
Jimmy Johnson |
Barry Switzer |
Chan Gailey |
Dave Campo |
Bill Parcells |
Wade Phillips |
|
| Years | 1960-1988 | '89-'93 | '94-'97 | '98 -'99 | '00-'02 | '03-'06 | '07-'09 |
| Winning %age | .603 | .580 | .634 | .529 | .313 | .515 | .667 |
| W/L record | 270-178 | 51-37 | 45-26 | 18-16 | 15-33 | 34-32 | 34-17 |
The NFL, like any other professional sports league, is a "What have you done for me lately" league. Winning and losing is always the key consideration when it comes to the job security of the head coach. When all is said and done, when losses pile up, the weakest link in the chain is usually the head coach. So it shouldn't come as a big surprise to see that the longer the tenure of a head coach in the NFL, the more likely it is that that head coach has kept the wins coming at a satisfactory level.
Current NFL Head Coaches by Tenure and W/L record with current team (including playoffs)
| NFC | AFC | |||||||
| Team | Coach |
Tenure |
Win % |
Team | Coach | Tenure |
Win % |
|
| PHI | Reid | 11 |
.608 |
TEN | Fisher | 16 |
.549 |
|
| CAR | Fox | 8 | .559 |
NE | Belichick | 10 |
.708 |
|
| NYG | Coughlin | 6 |
.573 |
JAC | Del Rio | 7 |
.504 |
|
| CHI | Smith | 6 |
.540 |
CIN | Lewis | 7 |
.491 |
|
| NO | Payton | 4 |
.609 |
HOU | Kubiak | 4 |
.484 |
|
| GB | McCarthy | 4 |
.582 |
PIT | Tomlin | 3 |
.654 |
|
| MIN | Childress | 4 |
.552 |
SD | Turner | 3 |
.648 |
|
| DAL | Phillips | 3 |
.667 |
BAL | Harbaugh | 2 |
.605 |
|
| ARI | Whisenhunt | 3 |
.574 |
MIA | Sparano | 2 |
.545 |
|
| ATL | Smith | 2 |
.606 |
OAK | Cable | 2 |
.321 |
|
| SF | Singletary | 2 |
.520 |
IND | Caldwell | 1 |
.842 |
|
| TB | Morris | 1 |
.133 |
NYJ | Ryan | 1 |
.579 |
|
| DET | Schwartz | 1 |
.125 |
DEN | McDaniels | 1 |
.500 |
|
| STL | Spagnuolo | 1 |
.063 |
CLE | Mangini | 1 |
.313 |
|
| WAS | Shanahan | - - |
- - |
KC | Haley | 1 |
.250 |
|
| SEA | Carroll | - - |
- - |
BUF | Gailey | -- | - - |
|
Things that make you go hmmmmm: Of the 21 coaches with a tenure of 2 or more years, only three have a losing record. Of those three coaches, Tom Cable is probably making the best of what looks like a bad situation from afar, Gary Kubiak in Houston just got his first winning season (narrowly) and Marvin Lewis had a tough year in 2008 with the Bengals, but had a good showing this year.
All current NFL coaches combined have a .561 record (1103-862) with their current teams. In a league that each year has the same amount of wins and losses (barring the occasional tie), something has to give sooner or later.
Two years after the fact, even Super Bowl rings do not guarantee the job security of a head coach. Witness the current turmoil in New York around Tom Coughlin.
Continuity vs. the fast fix
The Lions have had eight head coaches this decade, if I counted all the interim HC's right. The Raiders have had six (hard to imagine they were in the Super Bowl as recently as 2002), Redskins owner Daniel Snyder just hired Mike Shanahan to make it six head coaches since 2000, the Browns and Bills both had five apiece.
As you look beyond just the current year, some of the more successful franchises in league history have had long stretches of continued success with the same head coach year in, year out.
The tricky thing is that continuity requires patience, not panic. But today's breed of owners may lack the patience the old breed of owners in the NFL had. The pressure to succeed is relentless, and the punishment for failure is accordingly swift and sure.
Close, but no cigar
NFL history is littered with coaches who compiled very strong records, but ultimately failed to win the big one. Bud Grant, the Vikings coach for 18 consecutive years had a regular season record of 158-96-5 and went to the Super Bowl four times, losing them all. Sound familiar to the younger readers? Yep. Dan Reeves, winner of almost 200 games with the Broncos, Giants and Falcons also lost in the Super Bowl four times.
In 21 years as a head coach, Marty Schottenheimer garnered a 200-126-1 regular season record and led teams such as the Browns, Chiefs and Chargers to the playoffs a whopping 13 times but never won a conference championship, much less a Super Bowl. Our good friend Andy Reid, tied with Bill Belichick for the best active regular season career winning record at .617 (min. 50 career games) has also been remarkably shy around the Lombardi trophy.
If nothing else, having a coach with a long tenure is a good sign that things generally seem to be running at or above expectations.
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Comparing wade to Landry makes me puke
And I do not care how you mangle the numbers.
he didn't compare them though
With a .667 winning percentage over his past three seasons as the Cowboys coach, Wade Phillips has topped the likes of Jimmy Johnson, Tom Landry and Barry Switzer. But until he wins a Super Bowl, he’ll most likely be mentioned in one sentence with the other Dallas coaches who haven’t won a Super Bowl, like Bill Parcells, Chan Gailey and Dave Campo
???
I don’t really get what in that post makes you want to puke.
It’s not like OCC wrote that Wade is on the path of being like Landry, he’s just stating facts like Dr. Cowboy’s quote says.
Would you get mad if he said that water is wet?
by The Immortal Iron Fist AKA AFB on Feb 8, 2010 9:36 PM CST up reply actions
An Analogy on Which to Ruminate
Tom Landry is to Iconic NFL Coach as Wade Phillips is to
A) Puffy Jackets
B) Down Home Country Wisdom
C) Weight Management
D) legitimate Statistical Comparison
E) Puking
What numbers are mangled?
Facts are facts, and them’s the facts. Wade isn’t Landry (not many coaches come close), but he’s a better head coach than a lot give him credit for.
Drago says, "We must break you!"
by APerfectStar on Feb 10, 2010 1:02 PM CST up reply actions
Hank Baskett
The biggest stride of the season was made by Tony Romo who got away from the grasp of reality star skanks. Tex is praying that this “awaking” continues through the long off-season.
Unfortunately for the Colts, Hank Baskett brought that crap into a quality organization and it cost Indianapolis a Super Bowl.
Tell 'em Tex
I’ve been saying that all day. The Colts lost because Hank Baskett was on a reality show. Man, you know you stuff. It’s only a matter of days before the NFL Network calls your number… they need your expertise.
All the fools that think the pick-6 Peyton ‘Jesus’ Manning threw decided the game don’t know a thing about football. It’s all on Baskett. Better yet,
Thank god we have you to set everyone straight.
Wow.....
You have made quite a few bad statements in your history in blogging, but that might be you’re worst yet.
I’m sure the 4th/5th WR effected the team so much that it made them lose a Super Bowl.
But wait…. isn’t Reggie Bush dating a REALITY star… so…. what gives?
by The Immortal Iron Fist AKA AFB on Feb 8, 2010 9:30 PM CST up reply actions
tex is a fool
nice to know some things never change
#1
he’s like the dopey little kid who stuck nickels up his nose to get noticed; although Tex is so twisted he probably stick ’em up his ass
"What we've got here is failure to communicate"
Agree, and that number is a little misleading anyway.
Consider that the Cowboys were the NFL’s first modern-era expansion team, and it took Landry and the Cowboys 5 losing seasons until they had their first non losing season in 1965, going 7-7.
If we expunge those first 5 years from Landry’s record, he would stand at 252-132, or 0.656, and not just for a couple of years, but 24 more years after those initial five.
by One.Cool.Customer on Feb 8, 2010 6:57 PM CST up reply actions
Agree
Very impressive feat. I can’t recall the exact number, but at one point he had an incredible streak of winning seasons.
Drago says, "We must break you!"
by APerfectStar on Feb 10, 2010 1:07 PM CST up reply actions
seems like it is something close to 20
well, I got un-lazy and looked it up … 20 consecutive seasons – amazing!
Thanks, I thought it was something around 19 or 20
Even for the period before parity, that is unbelievably good.
Drago says, "We must break you!"
by APerfectStar on Feb 10, 2010 1:18 PM CST up reply actions
When I read Tex's posts
I just hope that there really isn’t somebody out there that believes what he does.
If I had a nickel for every Super Bowl the Eagles have won, I would have zero nickels.
HILLARIOUS(sp)!!!!!
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2010/02/clinton_portis_riles_up_lavar.html
"No room for toe dippers....."
Wow.
I’m blown away that Fisher’s been coaching for sixteen years… And he’s just over .500?
It seems like every time the team has a 3-6 win season, he does enough to make sure he’s back the next year, much like Shanahan in Denver, IIRC.
"he does enough to make sure he’s back the next year"
Like Wade Phillips 2009 campaign.
"Confidence doesn't come out of nowhere. It's a result of something... hours and days and weeks and years of constant work and dedication." --Roger Staubach
How's that?
Is that not true? Wasn’t the bare minimum a home playoff win? By the way, comparing Wade to Jeff Fisher is one hell of a compliment to wade.
"Confidence doesn't come out of nowhere. It's a result of something... hours and days and weeks and years of constant work and dedication." --Roger Staubach
Correction
OCC, you said Marty Schottenheimer never won a divisional championship, when in fact I think you mean conference championship. His teams won their division many times.
i could be wrong BUT
I interpreted it as a divisional round game.
by TONYINCC on Feb 8, 2010 10:41 PM CST via mobile up reply actions
That Would Be Wrong, Too
He made to the AFC Championship game three times, with the Browns in 1986 and 1987 and with the Chiefs in 1993.
Thanks for the pointer
Schottenheimer made it to the conference championships three times, but didn’t win any of the games. Duly corrected.
by One.Cool.Customer on Feb 9, 2010 12:31 AM CST up reply actions
Congratulations OCC
You are always a good read. I look forward to reading your stuff. Good luck.
Tenure Versus Winning the Super Bowl
One of the many studies I’ve wanted to do over the years is to see how many years it took a head coach to win a Super Bowl, both in terms of total years experience as head coach and years as head coach for his current team. Several coaches have done it with their second team (Shula, Belichick, Vermeil, Dungy, Gruden), but with very few exceptions, it seems Super Bowls are won by head coaches within their first five years of taking the job.
What I’d like to study is the overall probability of winning a Super Bowl with each passing year. There are many variables at play, but I would guess that probabilty of winning declines once the coach gets past year five. With enough time, I’d be able to do it.
OCC, Feel free to tackle this subject if you find it interesting.
Blah blah blah
Where are the CHEERLEADERS OCC????
JK. Great first post my man. You were a credit as a man of the people and you’ll be one as a cub reporter. Hang in there dog. Those blog groupies have to be earned…
FREE THE OGLETREE!!!
OCC....
the people’s champion?
by The Immortal Iron Fist AKA AFB on Feb 8, 2010 9:40 PM CST up reply actions
They may be leaning on him now that he's a "Company Man"
Raf: “Look OCC, you may have gotten here by enhancing stats with bimbos but if you want to be taken seriously as a football man the cheerleader thing has to go. You see, it’s sort of like calling a misdirection play when you should be running a dive right…”
Grizz: “Terry stalking Romo aside, this isn’t a soft-porn site, my man. Try doing push ups or taking cold showers or something.”
Aaron: “Have I shown you my clip art collection?? Dude, I have EVERYTHING. Look, here’s Pepe Le Pew in a McNabb jersey…”
Fish: “You know… I may be able to get you a try out…”
FREE THE OGLETREE!!!
Nice one
but rest assured, there will be the occasional cheerleaders
by One.Cool.Customer on Feb 9, 2010 10:25 AM CST up reply actions
Assured but a question...
Why the Captain America avatar?
Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but big Cap fan?
by The Immortal Iron Fist AKA AFB on Feb 9, 2010 10:57 AM CST up reply actions
Et tu, Brute?
I began an underground resistance movement the press dubs the “Secret Avengers”. Most of my core group – Hercules, Bill Foster, Luke Cage, Falcon, Cable, and you, my friend Iron Fist (cleverly posing as Daredevil) – had to take on a series of identities to avoid capture, literally becoming outlaws like myself.
Look it up :-)
by One.Cool.Customer on Feb 9, 2010 11:16 AM CST up reply actions
also Staubach’s old nickname was Captain America
by AustonianAggie on Feb 9, 2010 11:43 AM CST up reply actions
Oh I know....
trust me, the inner dork in me knows!
It was between Iron Fist and Winter Soldier for my new name!
by The Immortal Iron Fist AKA AFB on Feb 9, 2010 2:01 PM CST up reply actions
Good post, OCC
Always enjoy this type of a historical perspective when it’s fueled by statistical analysis, not anecdotal “gut feel.”
I’ve always felt that Parcells gets underrated in coaching discussions that focus on win percentage or win/loss record, because throughout his career, he has been a turnaround specialist. Parcells has taken over bad, bad, bad teams and rejuvenated them, often with an amazingly quick timeline. So he seldom gets a good record his first couple years because he’s inheriting a bad team. And then after the team is good, he takes off, and doesn’t stick around to enjoy the fruits of his labor and pile up winning seasons like someone like Bill Cowher.
Larry Allen benched 700 pounds. That is Leonard Davis times two.
Congrats on your first ever FRONT PAGE post
Always insightful
Always thought provoking
Always enjoyable
Well Done OCC
Great start. When you look at the numbers, it makes you wonder how his job could have been in jepardy just 2 months ago. The standards are set pretty high in Dallas.
Great first post
but really, where’s the cheerleaders, they are a staple of your posts
by nicholas.rodriguez on Feb 8, 2010 11:10 PM CST reply actions
Nice first one
I hate to have to point out another error in the post but you reference 3 coaches as under .500 career but 2 years or more tenure. I believe you meant Kubiak instead of Del Rio (who is a hair over .500). You might as well include him, though since he is only .504. He basically gets 8-8 every year, and I’m surprised the Jaguars owner has put up with that. Maybe has a lot to do with J-ville having very few fans show up, and getting blacked out a lot.
Thanks
Ha, ha, Dave warned me that you guys would find every single mistake I make, though I don’t know how that one happened and how it slipped by me. I corrected it and I’ll try to be even more careful from now on.
by One.Cool.Customer on Feb 9, 2010 5:48 AM CST up reply actions
I hate to argue that Switzer was a better Cowboys head coach than Phillips
that’s mighty unfair to Wade. Switzer (and Jones) drove that team into the ground, while Wade led a strong resurrection this year.
Switzer didn't drive the team into the ground...
that would be giving him way too much credit.
He didn’t do anything at all. Well unless you count spending 100 grand on alcohol at the Super Bowl.
by The Immortal Iron Fist AKA AFB on Feb 9, 2010 8:53 AM CST up reply actions
I am happy for Wade Phillips..but Coaching Tenure..I did not understand that..
Tom Landry coached them for 28 years..His winning percentage would have been unreachable if it weren’t for the fact they he had to build a brand new team in Dallas, so you have to factor that in..I would put an asterisk next to Landry prior to comparing him to subsequent head coaches..Again, I am happy for Phillips in fact I have defended him out here..but none of those guys compare to Tom Landry..and that includes my all-time favorite Giants coach, Bill Parcells..
"When I was a boy and had no sense I got my pecker stuck in an electric fence..Well it curled my hair and tickled my balls, and made me shit in my overalls"
Keep in mind that Wade was the only coach in Cowboys’ history who inherited the team when it was in an UPSWING.
Landry was screwed over even by the expansion team standards of the day (had to start ahead of schedule and didn’t get to participate in the draft his first year), Jimmy took over when they hadn’t quite hit rock bottom and had to eat that 1-15 year, Switzer was handed a dynasty in decline due to the free agency and salary cap rules that would gradually bring about the parity era, same for Gailey except even more so, Campo had a mix of over the hill veterans and untalented place fillers in salary cap hell, Parcells took over a bad team that had just gone 5-11 three straight years and turned things around, and Wade benefitted from the solid foundation of young talent and work ethic provided by Parcells.
I’m all for continuity and Phillips has proven that he’s valuable for his defensive coordinator skills if nothing else, but let’s not prematurely lionize the guy or make comparisons without context.
by krl97a on Feb 9, 2010 1:55 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
This is a good comment which is why I think Tom Landry should not be
Statistically compared to the guys that followed him..He was the foundation builder..and your right there was alot of what I call “talent rollover” that helped the coaches that tookover the team achieve success..Parcells, most recently left a bunch of young, well coached players behind when he left..but still I find it hard to compare a Landry to any of them and would ever think or consider it a fair comparison, for all the reasons you listed here and more.
"When I was a boy and had no sense I got my pecker stuck in an electric fence..Well it curled my hair and tickled my balls, and made me shit in my overalls"
Also remember the AFL started up the same
year the Cowboys did. The talent pool was much smaller for him with the AFL involved. I think he and Gil Brandt did an amazing job of finding talent and coaching it up.
Agree except on Switzer.
IMO if Jimmy had of stayed Dallas would have won at least 3 more SBs.
3 more is a lot but I do not doubt they would have won three in a row and tacked on at least one more
Lifetime Cowboys Fan from the Swamps of Jersey
Yeah one more...
but three more?
I think that might be a stretch.
by The Immortal Iron Fist AKA AFB on Feb 9, 2010 2:11 PM CST up reply actions
Well if I'm going to speculate...
why not make it over the top? :)
I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter
Lifetime Cowboys Fan from the Swamps of Jersey
I think Jimmy could have keep the
talent level much higher. Troy, Emmit, and Irvin were still young and would have been the core on the O. Jimmy showed that he could plug in players on D and make it work. Dumb and dumber ( Jerry and Switzer) were lost.
It has taken Jerry along time to realize..
That he needs to let the coaches coach as evidenced by his extending Phillips..but I will say that from what I read this past season, Wade felt like he was on the hot seat, no vote of confidence and that had to have weighed heavy on his mind..but it looks like ‘ol Jerry has finally realized that..I’m not trying to say that Wade didn’t work and prepare as hard as always, but funny things happen when you have a Monkey on your back all season long.
"When I was a boy and had no sense I got my pecker stuck in an electric fence..Well it curled my hair and tickled my balls, and made me shit in my overalls"
That is probably a bit true...
but I’d say not having a rash of injuries also helped.
by The Immortal Iron Fist AKA AFB on Feb 9, 2010 3:10 PM CST up reply actions
I hate to really say this..but that Switzer..
He seemed totally clueless..I could very well be wrong but geez..Iam sure he a great guy and had a great college record…but..geez
"When I was a boy and had no sense I got my pecker stuck in an electric fence..Well it curled my hair and tickled my balls, and made me shit in my overalls"
He's a funny guy...
but I don’t know about great…
He wasn’t even that great of a college coach, he was a GREAT recruiter because he has a very friendly personality.
by The Immortal Iron Fist AKA AFB on Feb 9, 2010 3:11 PM CST up reply actions
he was a "great" recruiter
because he cheated like nobody before or after him.
Switzer=Cheater
Ich bin ein Berliner--JFK
+1
Switzer’s pitch to recruits:
Come to OU, make money, don’t worry about class, and whatever happens in the athletic dormrooms, stays in the athletic dormrooms.
Drago says, "We must break you!"
by APerfectStar on Feb 10, 2010 1:15 PM CST up reply actions
I saw an interesting show that mentioned this
It is apparently a fallacy that Switzer was not an Xs and Os guy. In fact, he was probably more of one than Jimmy Johnson. The issue with Switzer in the Pro game was apparently that what he did to motivate players in college simply didn’t work in the pros, where Jimmy’s translated well, but probably only with a young team. A lot of speculation that Johnson’s hard knuckle approach might not have worked as well over time.
FREE THE OGLETREE!!!
No doubt he knew football.
Both had to be great football coaches to get where they got in the game. It’s not like they were stars and that opened the door for them. They both started at the bottom and made it big time. Jimmy was in his prime as a coach and Barry came out of retirement, plus Barry doesn’t come across as a real smart guy. After Landry a true football genius and Jimmy the next coming, poor old Berry never had much of a chance of looking like nothing more than a dumb hillbilly in Dallas. Also the press roasted Barry over everything he did.
Well that makes alot of sense..but I prefer seeing coaches ...
That are a little more animated on the sidelines during the games..Not that that is necessarily a good thing..just the right mix of emotion and calm reserve is all..Now Landry was different..He was the most stoic coach I ever saw, but he’d take notes and could adjust better than anyone ever…Then just calmly watch it work..I always wonder how he acted in the locker room at half-time, then put his hat back on and stay stoic on the sideline…
"When I was a boy and had no sense I got my pecker stuck in an electric fence..Well it curled my hair and tickled my balls, and made me shit in my overalls"
Landry's mind must have worked overtime.
In reality he was the HC, OC, and DC. He invented and called sets on the D called plays on O. Bob Lilly once said that Landry looked so stoic because he was always thinking one or two plays ahead. His mind was always working.
This is a great way to describe that man..I agree
+10000000
"When I was a boy and had no sense I got my pecker stuck in an electric fence..Well it curled my hair and tickled my balls, and made me shit in my overalls"
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