2024 Coach/Contributors semis

[Brian wolf]

Youre right John, it will be brought up but shouldnt be an obstacle. Like you said, it worked out great for Detroit who havent won since. With a veteran ball club, they might have liked Wilson's calmer season approach after a tough training camp from Parker but I dont know?

Anytime I had read about Wilson's approach to coaching, he was more player friendly. Maybe thats why Shula succeeded him in Miami; he was the one person who knew Wilson's methods enough that he could be frank with Dolphins owner Joe Robbie and say he would be tougher on the players and demand more out of them. Similar to succeeding Weeb Ewbank in Baltimore. Shula had already been very impressed with the poise and abilities of Bob Griese, Csonka and Kiick when he faced these Dolphins in a 1968 preseason game.

Looking back at Parker's time in Pittsburgh, Steelers fans have to wonder what might have happened in 1964 if the team had kept flanker Buddy Dial? They traded him to Dallas for the rights to Scott Appleton who signed with the AFL ... obviously Art Rooney couldnt meet his asking price. They had already traded Jimmy Orr but no one could forcast how well he would tandem with John Unitas in Baltimore. Parker of course lost Big Daddy Lipscomb to murder and had problems with John Sample, dealing him to Washington. Imagine Parker having Lipscomb, Sample and Dial on the 64 team? Maybe Ed Brown has a much better season ...

[GameBeforeTheMoney]

Just speculative, but my guess is if a current coach got his team to the Super Bowl three years in a row and won two of them (back-to-back even), he'd likely make the HOF. Especially if those wins came against someone who's considered the best coach of his era, if not all-time.

[rewing84]

Just speculative, but my guess is if a current coach got his team to the Super Bowl three years in a row and won two of them (back-to-back even), he'd likely make the HOF. Especially if those wins came against someone who's considered the best coach of his era, if not all-time.

I'd have to agree there 100%

[Brian wolf]

Thanks Jackson ... thats why I compared the 50s Lions to the 2010s Patriots ... The Lions win 3/4 championships with Buddy's team, while Beilichick wins 3/5 SB games. No way these voters wouldnt have put Belichick in the Hall --regardless of previous success-- so why should Parker be different? Belichick was a loser with Cleveland and quit on the Jets but his success in either decade would have been a no-brainer.

[Bryan]

Looking back at Parker's time in Pittsburgh, Steelers fans have to wonder what might have happened in 1964 if the team had kept flanker Buddy Dial? They traded him to Dallas for the rights to Scott Appleton who signed with the AFL ... obviously Art Rooney couldnt meet his asking price. They had already traded Jimmy Orr but no one could forcast how well he would tandem with John Unitas in Baltimore. Parker of course lost Big Daddy Lipscomb to murder and had problems with John Sample, dealing him to Washington. Imagine Parker having Lipscomb, Sample and Dial on the 64 team? Maybe Ed Brown has a much better season ...

I think the deciding factor on whether or not you consider Parker to be a HOF coach is how you define his tenure with the Steelers. Was it successful? I don't think it was. Parker made a ton of bad trades with the Steelers, mortgaging the future for the team's present. I don't think its surprising that the Steelers fell apart when Parker left....the cupboard was bare at that point as most of the draft picks had been traded away for mediocre players. If you look at the Steelers' records from 1946-1965, you can't really tell when Parker took over because there was not an uptick in wins under Parker. They were consistently average, and Parker didn't really change that, IMO.

And I would disagree about the Jimmy Orr thing; he was a great WR for the Steelers and an established star. It was just another bad exchange that didn't work out in Parker's favor.

[Brian wolf]

If you could have chose the coach or contributor Bryan, who would it be ?
Who would be your three seniors? Do you think*Mongo will get a sentimental boost?

*Edited

[Bryan]

If you could have chose the coach or contributor Bryan, who would it be ?
Who would be your three seniors? Do you thing Mongo will get a sentimental boost?

If I could choose the coach/contributor, I would choose Pat Summerall. He wasn't on this year's list, and I honestly wouldn't elect anyone from this year's coach/contributor list. None of them really move the needle for me.

For the three seniors, I would choose Randy Gradishar, Al Wistert and Sterling Sharpe (while secretly wanting Mike Kenn).

[Brian wolf]

Thanks Bryan ...

[GameBeforeTheMoney]

I guess I should clarify that for me personally, he's borderline. Under today's criteria, he's probably a lock - under earlier times, he wasn't. I was pointing out that difference. He's likely the best coach from that era not in the HOF - and maybe the most successful coach to be kept out of it for such a long time. He was over .500 in his career with the Steelers and actually won more games with the Steelers than the Lions. I know - that surprised me as well. Overall, I lean toward yes but if you asked me who clearly should be in the HOF that isn't, he wasn't one of the first people I would think of, although most of those people are players. However, some are in the coach/contributor category.

[Brian wolf]

I can understand Jackson ... for that time period, any coach with over 90 career wins and a championship would and should get serious consideration. With Parker and Buck Shaw falling into these categories, hopefully the voters can agree with Parker come february.

Parker's two-team stint was very similar to Jimmy Johnson's. Both could have been content to stay with their champion teams and continue to win but both chose other coaching challenges that wasnt nearly succesful.
Both were trying to rebuild teams around QBs past their primes. Both also got rid of great receivers that could have helped their teams win more. Bryan is right that Buddy couldnt give the team more consistent winning and made some costly decisions but we are still talking about the pre-Chuck Noll Steelers here. Not exactly a successful franchise ...

Jim Lee Howell and Blanton Collier were successful as well, with Collier winning the only Browns championship since 1955. His winning pct was nearly .700, but gets forgotten for the embarrassing championship game defeats in 68 and 69.

Then there is the question of Bill Belichick ... we know he will be in the HOF but how hot is his coaching seat?
Will owner Robert Kraft allow him to break Don Shula's regular season record for wins or possibly fire him while he is awaiting enshrinement himself? Another losing season could set up an interesting 2024.