Tag: Tom Flores

How 12 football head coaches fared as the replacements for legends like Bill Belichick and Nick Saban

Who replaced Bear Bryant, Don Shula and John Madden and how did they do?

During one of the craziest weeks of football in recent memory, we saw the end of an era for legends like Bill Belichick and Nick Saban.

Belichick, 71, and Saban, 72, are easily two of the greatest coaches that the sport has ever seen. Next season, college football will look very different without Saban coaching Alabama. Meanwhile, the NFL will also look very different without Belichick coaching the Patriots.

Both teams will have huge decisions about how to fill these massive shoes. While there are some interesting candidates for the gig in New England and the job in Tuscaloosa, can either live up to the reputation that Belichick and Saban built?

We looked back at some of the most legendary coaches in football history, both in the NFL and in college football, to learn how these replacements have typically fared.

The results are a fairly mixed bag but if there is one thing we learned, it is that it is not easy to replace someone as accomplished as either of these two Hall of Fame-caliber coaches.

Washington Super Bowl Coach stands alone

As Sean McVay and Zac Taylor look to win their first Super Bowl Sunday, we shall never forget Joe Gibbs won three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks.

How is it that one coach stands out in contrast to all Super Bowl champion coaches?

Vince Lombardi won the first two Super Bowls with Bart Starr as the Green Bay Packers starting quarterback. Don Shula and Miami won two with Bob Griese. Tom Landry steered Dallas to two Super Bowl trophies with Roger Staubach at the helm. Chuck Noll and the Pittsburgh Steelers won four Super Bowls in the 1970s with Terry Bradshaw behind center.

Tom Flores and the Raiders won two with Jim Plunkett as the leader of the offense. Bill Walsh was the head coach with Joe Montana the field general for three Super Bowl crowns for the 49ers. The 49ers won two more with head coach George Seifert coaching and Montana and Steve Young as signal-callers.

Jimmy Johnson and Barry Switzer both coached the Cowboys to Super Bowl rings with Troy Aikman taking the snaps from center. Denver’s Mike Shanahan as head coach and John Elway in the pocket for the Broncos won it all twice.

Tom Coughlin’s NY Giants took the crown twice with Eli Manning the on-field general. Last but certainly not least, New England’s Bill Belichick won six rings with Tom Brady as the quarterback.

Seifert is the only one above to win a second Super Bowl with a second quarterback (Montana and Young).

There is also Marv Levy and the Bills who went to multiple Super Bowls with Jim Kelly under center — and lost. Likewise, Dan Reeves led Elway and the Broncos to three Super Bowl appearances — they also lost all three.

Yet, there is one other coach to win more than multiple Super Bowls with more than one quarterback, Joe Gibbs of the Washington Redskins. Gibbs not only won more than one Super Bowl with more than one quarterback, he accomplished the feat three times!

Gibbs led Washington to Super Bowl trophies with Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien winning Super Bowls XVII, XXII and XXVI.

Starr, Griese, Staubach, Bradshaw, Montana, Young, Aikman and Elway are already in the Hall of Fame. Without question Brady will be in the HOF and Eli Manning a 2-time SB MVP is likely to be elected to the HOF. Only Jim Plunkett is likely to not make the HOF.

By contrast, Theismann was only an All-Pro once (1983), and Williams and Rypien were never All-Pro. Rypien had a great year only in 1991. Williams though never even a pro-bowler, was a veteran leader and had huge moments like the playoff win at Chicago (1987) and a nearly perfect 2nd quarter in Super Bowl XXII, earning the MVP.

Joe Gibbs is distinctive among Super Bowl coaches with multiple wins, doing so with three non-Hall of Fame quarterbacks.  Hats off to Coach Joe, who is remarkably now age 81. The Washington franchise and fans were certainly blessed to have enjoyed Joe Jackson Gibbs as head coach.

Voice of ‘Autumn Wind’ John Facenda wins Hall of Fame Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award

Voice of ‘Autumn Wind’ John Facenda wins Hall of Fame Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award

“The Autumn Wind is a Pirate
Blustering in from sea
With a rollicking song
He sweeps along
Swaggering boisterously…”

If you’re a Raider fan, you hear those words in one iconic voice. That voice is that of the late John Facenda. It was a poem written by the late Steve Sabol and produced in 1974. The poem accompanied what became the Raiders theme song.

Now, in the same year that Steve Sabol enters the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Facenda will join him as the recipient of the Hall of Fame’s Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award.

Facenda voiced many of the NFL Films’ work. He became known as the voice of the NFL over 20 years from 1965 until his death in 1984 at the age of 71. But no single piece of NFL Films footage is more iconic than his reading of The Autumn Wind.

He lived to see all three Raiders Super Bowl wins, so it’s also fitting that Tom Flores — who coached the Raiders to two of those Super Bowl wins — gets inducted this year via the Senior Committee.

Raiders great Charles Woodson gets in this year on his first ballot. Others to be inducted this year are Alan Faneca, Calvin Johnson, John Lynch, Peyton Manning, Bill Nunn, and Drew Pearson. They will be enshrined at 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 8 at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton Ohio.

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NFL Honors 2021: Pro Football Hall of Fame predictions

Today is Selection Saturday for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Peyton Manning and others are waiting to hear the call. Who gets in?

The Pro Football Hall of Fame will announce their next class of honorees prior to Super Bowl LV. The 48-member Pro Football hall of Fame Selection Committee will meet on Saturday to decide among the 18 finalists, which include 15 modern-era players and three additional finalists: Drew Pearson (senior finalist), Bill Nunn (contributor finalist) and Tom Flores (Coach finalist).

The by-laws of the Selection Committee provide that “between four an eight new members will be selected.” Here are Touchdown Wire’s 2021 Pro Football Hall of  Fame predictions.

Will the Seattle Seahawks have a Hall of Famer in 2021?

Now that Steve Hutchinson and Edgerrin James are both in, who will be the next Seattle Seahawks player or coach to make the Hall of Fame?

On Saturday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame announced the five modern-era enshrinees in the Class of 2020, and two former Seattle Seahawks — guard Steve Hutchinson and running back Edgerrin James — were among those selected.

Hutchinson becomes the fifth Seahawks draft pick to join the Hall, and he and James are the 11th and 12th players who suited up for the Seahawks to get inducted.

James and Hutchinson were the only two former Seahawks to appear on the 15-man final ballot for the modern-era committee, which makes it harder to predict who will be the team’s next representative in the Hall.

Seattle had six other representatives among the 122 nominees for the Class of 2020: quarterback Dave Krieg; center Ray Donaldson; punter Jeff Feagles; and running backs Shaun Alexander, Ricky Watters and Chris Warren.

However, only Watters advanced to the round of 25 semifinalists, and he was not among the 15 finalists.

Without any former Seahawks expected to join the ballot as newcomers next year, it looks like Watters is the team’s best chance at having a new modern-era Hall of Famer in 2021.

Of course, with Peyton Manning and Charles Woodson locks to get in on their first ballot and Calvin Johnson also up for consideration, it will be an extremely difficult year for Watters or any of the other former Seahawks to get enshrined.

That doesn’t mean they’ll be without a representative, however — both Mike Holmgren and Tom Flores, two former Seattle coaches, will be up for consideration again. It seems far more likely the Seahawks will have a former coach inducted in 2021 rather than a former player.

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2 former Seahawks among 15 Pro Football Hall of Fame finalists

Former Seahawks OL Steve Hutchinson and RB Edgerrin James are among the two modern-era finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced the 15 finalists for the modern-era ballot and two former Seattle Seahawks, running back Edgerrin James and guard Steve Hutchinson, remain eligible for enshrinement.

The list originally featured 122 names, including six other Seahawks: quarterback Dave Krieg; running backs Shaun Alexander, Ricky Watters and Chris Warren; center Ray Donovan; and punter Jeff Feagles.

Watters was among the 25 semifinalists, but was cut when the list was whittled down to 15, leaving just Hutchinson and James among former Seahawks.

Hutchinson seems like the likeliest of the pair to gain Hall of Fame status this winter, having finished as a finalist in each of the past two years. The guard was a seven-time Pro Bowler and five-time All-Pro in his 12-year career.

James only appeared in seven games for the Seahawks in the 2009 season, rushing 46 times for just 125 yards. He is 13th all-time in rushing yards, however, and has a decent chance of hearing his name called this year.

The final ballot will include five inductees, and will be announced the Saturday before the Super Bowl.

As part of the Hall’s special 20-member class of 2020, they will be joined by 10 ‘senior’ players (who have been retired for more than 25 seasons), three ‘contributors’ (neither a player nor coach) and two coaches.

Two former Seattle coaches, Mike Holmgren and Tom Flores, are among the coaches who could be enshrined as well, giving the Seahawks four potential inductees this year.

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2 former Seahawks coaches finalists for Pro Football Hall of Fame

Former Seattle Seahawks head coaches Tom Flores and Mike Holmgren are among the eight coaching finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced the Class of 2020 Centennial Slate Finalists on Thursday, and two former Seattle Seahawks coaches made the cut.

Mike Holmgren and Tom Flores were among the eight coaches named finalists. Only two of those eight will be elected into the Hall of Fame however, and the Blue Ribbon Panel will determine the inductees sometime in January.

Holmgren was an NFL head coach for 17 seasons, seven with the Packers and the final 10 with the Seahawks from 1999 to 2008.

He posted a 161-111 record and coached in 24 playoff games, going 13-11 and appearing in three Super Bowls, winning one with the Packers in 1996 and leading Seattle to their first ever appearance in 2006.

Flores coached in the NFL for 12 seasons, his final three in Seattle. He didn’t have a lot of success in the Emerald City, going just 14-34 from 1992-1994, but he won two Super Bowls while coaching the Raiders in the 1980’s.

14-year head coach Don Coryell is on the ballot as well. While he never worked with the Seahawks, he is a native of Seattle and attended school at the University of Washington.

Flores and Holmgren join three former Seahawks’ players as Hall of Fame eligible this year – Edgerrin James, Steve Hutchinson and Ricky Watters – who are all on the modern era committee list.

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