Rich Eisen knows more about football than I will ever know, but he may have forgotten Bud Wilkinson, who took over the Cardinals when Don Coryell split for San Diego. Wilkinson was so disappointing that he was dumped in the middle of season two of a guaranteed four-year contract. They were happy to pay him NOT to coach.
The Bleacher Report considered this matter and only considered Wilkinson the 9th-worst. Their choice: Marty Mornhinweg
Former Oklahoma Player Darren Royal who played under Bud Wilkinson became the best coach in the history of the one star state which forced Bud out at Oklahoma after among the greatest college coaching careers of all time. Texas names their football stadium in honor of a former Oklahoma Player Darren Royal. Barry Switzer becomes Oklahoma’s new coach after Bud. Barry steals the what becomes known as the Wishbone from Royal who stole it from someone else and Oklahoma gets back to beating Texas as usual. Barry Switzer made up for Bud Wilkinson’s poor performance in the pros will two super bowl trophies… (with Jimmie Johnson’s loaded Cowboy roster). Oklahoma football is responsible for both of the two most successful periods of football for their rival Texas.
Eisen called him “the biggest flop” in NFL coaching history, which to my mind is different than being the worst coach. “Flop” implies significant expectations. Meyer (and to a much lesser degree Wilkinson, though he had been out of coaching for 15 years when the Cards hired him) had expectations based on previous accomplishments. Marty Mornhinweg did not.
Having said that, any coach who continually throws his players under the bus while he stays behind after a loss so that a sweet young can grind on his lap is in serious discussion for being the worst coach on an absolute basis.
Chris Palmer really wasn’t all that bad. The Browns got screwed when they came back. The League gave them and Houston crappier entry conditions after the early success of the Jaguars and Panthers had embarrassed some of the longtime sad sack ownerships like Arizona. Of course, if the bozos of Baltimore hadn’t royally fucked up their expansion bid in 1990, there would have been no need for a Browns expansion franchise in the first place.
But any list of this sort should have both Hue Jackson and Freddy Kitchens. Kitchens couldn’t even act like a grownup (see the “Pittsburgh started it” t-shirt) let alone an NFL coach.
Last I checked Bobby Petrino wasn’t a drug fueled hallucination by us (at the time) Atlanta fans.
David Shula & Hue Jackson would be way up near the top of that list. Shula was so bad then he was fired, he went to work in a restaurant.
“Rich Eisen.” “Urban Meyer.” You just make these names up, don’t you?