NFL Power Rankings: Head Coaches We Want to See Back on the NFL Sidelines

The are a close knit group. All cut from the same cloth, all belonging to the same fraternity.

NFL coaches tend to stay joined at the hip, learning from one another, soaking in as much information as they can to pass their knowledge on to other head coaches or would-be head coaches.

But when their time comes to leave the game, they leave their indelible mark on the sport and in mist cases, the team they coached.

We miss them walking the sidelines, chewing on gum, getting mad at referees. We miss their fire and their desire to succeed and lead men to combat each week.

We miss their personalities and most of all, we miss what they have to say before and after the game.

Bill Cowher

We miss the chin patrolling the sidelines.

As the successful coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, he carried on the rich team tradition started by Chuck Noll.

Cowher has not coached since he left the Steelers, but that could change this season as he has been linked to the Miami Dolphins and the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Mike Ditka

Da Bears have never been the same since he left the team.

Ditka brought the Bears their only Super Bowl win in 1985 and was also the coach of the New Orleans Saints.

He is still one of the great characters in the sport.

Tony Dungy

Maybe the classiest coach to ever patrol a sideline.

Dungy is a mild-mannered man who has other callings in life that are just as important to him as football.

His grace and his demeanor are things coaches of today can learn from.

Jerry Glanville

I loved Jerry Glanville because you never knew what was going to come out of his mouth.

He was feisty and an original.

I wonder if Elvis ever picked his tickets up at Will-Call?

Bud Grant

There is one name associated with coaching the Minnesota Vikings and that is Bud Grant.

He was the architect of the teams of the 1970s and 1980s that challenged for supremacy in the NFL Central.

He is a true icon in Minnesota.

Dennis Green

He coached in Minnesota and in Arizona and for some reason, I thought for sure he would be coaching somewhere else.

Green was a great leader of men who was never afraid to speak his mind.

John Gruden

"Chucky" will be back on the sidelines, at some point.

I think the rumors of him in Miami will come to pass.

Gruden is relentless in research and game planning.

A throwback to the coaches of the ages.

George Halas

I think I would have loved to see his Bears teams in action.

Halas is the beloved icon of the city of Chicago that coached Gayle Sayers and other Bears greats.

He might be the second most popular coach in Bears history to Mike Ditka.

Or it might be the other way around.

Mike Holmgren

As president of the Cleveland Browns, he helps make decisions of who to hire and who to fire.

So, if current head coach Pat Shurmur does not help the Browns to the playoffs, I guess you could say Holmgren could hire himself as head coach.

Jimmy Johnson

His coaching plan did not work in Miami, but it sure did in Dallas.

Johnson has been a winner wherever he has landed, college or professionally.

And he is truly one of the great personalities of the game.

Tom Landry

He always looked like the stern grandfather on the sideline.

The hat was his trademark.

Dallas fans loved him. The opposition hated him. What more could you ask for in a head coach?

Bill Walsh

The innovator of the West Coast Offense.

He guided the 49ers to Super Bowl glory.

He also helped to develop players like Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Jerry Rice and Roger Craig into dominant football greats.

Dick Vermeil

He could cry just looking at the street.

Vermeil loved the players he coached in Philadelphia and in St. Louis. While he did not get a Super Bowl title in Pennsylvania, he did strap his hopes to a kid named Kurt Warner and won a title in St. Louis.

Hank Stram

One of the great coaching personalities of the 1960s and 1970s.

He was known for constantly talking on the sideline.

He coached the Kansas City Chiefs and the Washington Redskins.

Don Shula

How could you have this list without the winningest coach of all time?

Shula was one for the ages. And he got the most out of late-round talents like Mark Clayton and little known running backs like Tony Nathan and Aundra Franklin.

Marty Schottenheimer

There is a tape somewhere of Schottenheimer as the coach of the Chiefs when he was consoling the late Derrick Thomas after a blown play.

Thomas was mad and upset and all Schottenheimer did was tell his All-Pro to dust it off and go back out and play his best.

He was a father-figure on the sidelines.

Buddy Ryan

The architect of the Bears defense and was head coach of the New York Jets.

Ironic that his son Rex is now the head coach.

Ryan was a unique one all to himself and there may not have been a more feisty coach on the sidelines.

Bum Phillips

There may not have been a better coach to patrol the sidelines in both New Orleans and Houston than Bum Phillips.

A man with a cowboy hat and a swagger to him all his own.

They did not make coaches like him in any generation. He was his own creation.

Bill Parcells

Was there a coach who was smarter than Tuna?

I am not sure. He came into the league, changed it for the better and continued to lend his expertise to ball clubs.

The New York area views him as a hero.

His persona of his way or else was not as well liked by some.

Chuck Noll

At one point in his tenure with the Steelers, the Rooney family almost let the guy go.

What a mistake that would have been.

Noll coached arguably the best teams for a six-years span in the 1970s and earned four Super Bowls.

Not too bad.

Jim Mora

Playoffs?

OK, I won't do it.

Mora was a hit in the USFL before bringing his act to New Orleans and then Indianapolis.

He was the most successful coach in New Orleans before a guy named Payton came along.

John Madden

BOOM!

If the telestrator was popular in the 1970s, do you think Madden would have stick around longer?

He left at the top of his game on his terms and then became the most popular color commentator ever.

Not a bad gig to have.

Vince Lombardi

Don't worry. I was not going to leave him off this list.

Arguably the greatest ever.

He raised the bar for everyone after him, including today.

Marv Levy

You get to four straight Super Bowls, you are doing something right.

Levy was the best of his generation.

He developed talent like Jim Kelly, Bruce Smith, Thurman Thomas and Andre Reed.

Levy was loved by his players and the fans in Buffalo.

And still is today.