Current Head Coaches Who Get Way Too Much Credit
Being a head coach in sports is no easy task.
Forced to deal with a bunch of personalities and answer the tough questions from the media when things aren't going right, head coaches have to deal with a lot of pressure that, when done incorrectly, costs them their jobs.
And while the head coaches I've listed here have had good-to-great careers, due to some down years since the glory they once achieved, I couldn't help but mention them as coaches who still get too much credit, no matter what the circumstance of their drop-off is.
Les Miles (LSU Tigers)
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Since coming to the LSU Tigers from Oklahoma State before the 2005 season, head coach Les Miles has a winning percentage of .780 and has made two national title games.
So, why is he on this list?
In the past three seasons, Miles has lost a little bit of his allure, going 1-2 in bowl games and failing to make a BCS game since the 2011 national title loss to his predecessor in Baton Rouge, Nick Saban.
Les is a mad hatter, rolls the dice in tight situations and is quite the character, but he gets way too much credit for winning his lone national championship in 2007—guys, that was eight years ago.
Lindy Ruff (Dallas Stars)
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In every year since 1997, current Dallas Stars head coach Lindy Ruff has manned an NHL team.
With a winning percentage of .558 during that time, Ruff has proven to be a solid choice and earned the respect of his peers.
Still, that's not to say he isn't a bit overrated.
With just one trip to the Stanley Cup Final in that time, Ruff simply hasn't done enough for me to get the praise as a great coach, with his failure to hoist Lord Stanley's Cup as the biggest detriment.
His early playoff exits in the last three postseason trips also make him a coach who is very good, but not great.
Jeff Fisher (St. Louis Rams)
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He seems like a great guy and has had success as a head coach, but I've never understood the love affair that the NFL has with the St. Louis Rams' Jeff Fisher.
I have a feeling that it has something to do with his 17-year tenure with the Tennessee Titans, where Fisher led the team to their lone Super Bowl appearance back in 1999.
While impressive, lest we forget, that was over 15 years ago, with Fisher failing to come as close again ever since.
After losing his job in Nashville in 2010, he had one year off before the Rams came in and hired him, with his teams compiling a 20-27-1 record in three seasons and earning him a spot on this list.
Look, Fisher's teams have had bad luck with injuries since he took over, but for a guy making $7 million a year, he should know how to find depth to replace those players and compete a little bit more.
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Doc Rivers (Los Angeles Clippers)
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One hell of a coach when given three future Hall of Famers while with the Boston Celtics, you would assume that current Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers would have similar success in La La Land.
While it's still early on in his tenure with the Clips, Doc hasn't shown the same type of leadership he had with his Big Three in Beantown, even though he has two superstars in Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, a young stud in DeAndre Jordan and a group of complementary pieces around them to compete for a title.
Rivers' two NBA Finals trips in 2008 and '10 are impressive, but, like others on this list, he hasn't shown me enough lately to warrant the high praise as he often gets—even if the Clippers win 50-plus games each year, as it's championships they traded a first-round pick for Doc to earn.
Bob Stoops (Oklahoma Sooners)
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There was a time when Oklahoma Sooners head football coach Bob Stoops had the nickname "Big Game Bob" because of his success on the grandest stage.
And while he helped earn some of that praise back following a Sugar Bowl victory over the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2014, Stoops hasn't produced the type of seasons that fans in Norman were accustomed to early on in his career.
With the third-highest salary among NCAA D-I coaches, Stoops is getting paid a hell of a lot of cash to bring titles to Oklahoma, not just earn high preseason rankings.
A recruiting class that was ranked 14th in the nation via Scout.com this year doesn't bring much hope to the program, either, with Stoops needing to get the Sooners back to the level of winning the big games they used to be at under Stoops.
Ken Hitchcock (St. Louis Blues)
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I'll be the first one to congratulate current St. Louis Blues coach Ken Hitchcock on becoming just the fourth head coach to earn 700 career victories.
In every season but one over the past 19 years, Hitchcock has manned the bench of a team, often leading them to a postseason berth for a chance to win a Stanley Cup title.
The problem is, Hitchcock's day in the sun may have already passed by.
That's because his lone title came during the 1998-'99 season as the coach of the Dallas Stars, where he was blessed with Mike Modano, Brett Hull, Joe Nieuwendyk and Eddie Belfour. Let's be honest, the Stars were about as stacked as any team in the past 20 years.
He's a future Hall of Famer who has his Blues in position to make a run again this season, but Hitchcock needs to win another title to prove he is one of the best the game has ever seen.
Billy Donovan (Florida Gators)
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With the fifth-highest salary among NCAA men's college basketball coaches, the Florida Gators' Billy Donovan is paid like the CEO of a company.
After earning back-to-back national titles in 2006 and 2007, Donovan made himself the hottest name in the game, even leaving the college ranks for the pros for a hot second, only to return to Gainesville after a change of heart without any questions asked.
Those two title rings on his finger sure have carried his reputation a long way, as his Gators teams haven't been nearly as dominant—save for his 2013-'14 team, which earned a Final Four trip.
With his squad missing out on the Big Dance this year after being ranked as high as No. 7 in the nation, Donovan is forced to try to find the magic that worked for him when he went to four straight Elite Eights from 2011 to last year's Final Four trip.
In a conference that boasts the mighty Kentucky Wildcats, Donovan should be under a bit of pressure to earn top recruits and turn his program into a perennial power—especially now that his streak of 18 straight postseason appearances just ended with a 16-17 overall record this season.
Joe Girardi (New York Yankees)
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It's a really strange predicament, being Joe Girardi.
In one sense, he's perceived to be overcompensated and given too much credit when his New York Yankees do well because, well, they always have talent due to outrageous spending.
In the other sense, one can argue that Girardi often doesn't get his due diligence because of that very reason when his teams succeed, with Yankee haters using a, "Well, I could manage a team of All-Stars," against him.
Still, with Girardi earning $4 million and his Yanks winning just one World Series title during his tenure in the Bronx, it's hard not to say the skipper gets a bit too much credit for what he has done.
After earning respect for his one season with the then-Florida Marlins in 2006—when he won NL Manager of the Year—Girardi's last five seasons, which have ended without a trip to the World Series, hurt his reputation, looking more like a guy who just caught lightning in a bottle by winning the Fall Classic in 2008.
Rex Ryan (Buffalo Bills)
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Following two straight AFC Championship Games as head coach of the New York Jets in his first two seasons with Gang Green, Rex Ryan was the toast of the town and adored for his outrageous behavior and bold predictions.
While his tune changed a little bit after going 26-38 in the four seasons since those deep playoff runs in 2009 and '10, Ryan is still as brash as any coach in any sport, predicting a Super Bowl win at some point in his career because he thinks he's that good.
Even getting canned by the Jets following the 2014 season hasn't brought much humility to Rex, with him landing the Buffalo Bills job soon thereafter, giving him more reasons to believe he's the best coach since sliced bread—even though he has been below average since two playoff berths that happened over five years ago.
No matter why his teams struggled or who fingers should be pointed at, maybe Ryan just isn't as great of a head coach as he wants us all to think?
Steve Spurrier (South Carolina Gamecocks)
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There might not be a more deserving head coach on this list than South Carolina Gamecocks head football coach Steve Spurrier.
Known as an offensive genius thanks to his aerial attack during the '90s with the Florida Gators, it seems that everyone has caught up to the Ol' Ball Coach, actually surpassing him in terms of offensive production.
A former Heisman Trophy winner while a player for the Gators in 1966, Spurrier brought cockiness, hilarious soundbites and the visor to the college game after a 122-27-1 record with the Gators that included a national title during the 1995 season.
But his inability to win anything of relevance while with the Gamecocks has hurt his reputation, as he has yet to even lead them to a BCS bowl in his decade in Columbia.
Roy Williams (North Carolina Tar Heels)
11 of 12Accomplishing so much in his career, North Carolina Tar Heels men's hoops coach Roy Williams is on this list due to his own success.
With seven Final Four appearances and two national titles in 27 years of coaching, Ol' Roy has helped groom some of the best players while with UNC and the Kansas Jayhawks.
Want to know the last time the Heels were in the top five in recruiting, though? That would be 2010, when they finished fourth in the nation that year after earning a commitment from then-top-ranked recruit Harrison Barnes.
For a team that boasts Michael Jordan and other greats as former players, Williams' dive in both recruiting and on-court performance is unacceptable.
Carolina Blue used to be the hippest place to play. Now it's fallen behind programs like Virginia, North Carolina State and Notre Dame within its own conference.
While recruiting rankings don't mean much in college football, in college hoops, they are pretty telling, with the success of top players often ending in deep runs come March—which Roy hasn't been able to do, with three straight double-digit loss seasons and back-to-back Sweet Sixteen exits in the past two NCAA tourneys.
Tom Coughlin (New York Giants)
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Look, I'm a Cleveland Browns fan, so when I see a head coach lead his team to the playoffs in five of his 11 seasons at the helm, I'm certainly envious.
Still, what Tom Coughlin has done with his New York Giants in the past three seasons has been nothing short of dreadful, with the guy hanging onto his job thanks to the success he has had since taking the job before the 2004 season.
Yes, Coughlin has two Super Bowl rings and three NFC East titles in that time, but with a combined record of just 22-26 since the team's last Super Bowl win in the 2011 season and no postseason appearances, should he really still have a job?
Coughlin has never really been considered a genius—like Bill Belichick—but with success comes praise, which is why he still has a spot on the sidelines.
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