Coaches of a team inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame

When you look at the employment histories of head coaches who have made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, you see that, for the most part, they have coached several different teams. It’s rare for a first-time head coach to have enough immediate success to ensure that he’ll hold down a job for as long as he’s head coach. It is also rare for a head coach to leave the coaching ranks (either by retiring or being fired) and not return later to take another head coaching position with another team.

Even some of the coaches that we associate with a team because they were there a long time or had a lot of success with that team sometimes have head coaching experience with other teams. Hank Stram has long been known as the coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, but he also managed two forgettable seasons in New Orleans. Don Shula, one of the most successful coaches of all time, is better known for his years with the Dolphins than his youth as the Colts coach. Marv Levy is remembered as the mastermind behind the Jim Kelly-led Buffalo Bills team, but he coached the Chiefs for a couple of years in the 1970s. Even the great Vince Lombardi, who is named after the Super Bowl Trophy for his Incredibly successful in Green Bay, he also coached the Giants and Redskins.

But, let’s take a look at the only head coaches (until 2007) who made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and only coached for one team in their entire career:

joe gibbs

Joe Gibbs coached the Washington Redskins from 1981 to 1992, winning three Super Bowls in the process. One thing that contributed to his reputation as a great coach is that he was able to win those three Super Bowls with three different quarterbacks (Joe Theismann, Doug Williams and Mark Rypien). Gibbs came out of retirement to return to coaching in 2004, twelve years after leaving American football, and the team he planned to return to was the same Washington Redskins.

sprout grant

Bud Grant had a long and successful career as the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings from 1967 to 1983. He coached players like Chuck Foreman, Fran Tarkenton, Jim Marshall, and Carl Eller. The Purple People Eater defense rose to prominence under the watchful eye of Bud Grant, and while he never won a Super Bowl with the Vikings, his teams made numerous playoff appearances and were a force to be reckoned with. Grant retired after the 1983 season, but returned and coached the Vikings for one more year in 1985 after a year’s absence.

Jorge Hallas

One way to make sure you keep your head coaching job for a long time is to also own the team. George Halas’s only coaching experience was for his beloved Chicago Bears organization. Halas managed them for many years and at many different times from the 1920s to the 1960s. During his long career, he would often resign his coaching position or turn it over to someone else, usually returning to it afterwards. away from one to three years of the team. George Halas wasn’t someone who only coached because he owned the team; he too had a great deal of success and is remembered as a great footballing mind.

Tom Landry

In 1960, the Dallas Cowboys were born as a football team and hired Tom Landry as their head coach. Landry coached the team for 29 straight years before leaving in 1988. The number of great players who came through the Dallas Cowboys during his tenure is staggering; Roger Staubach, Bob Lilly, Drew Pearson, Tony Dorsett, Randy White, Ed “Too Tall” Jones and more. It’s safe to say that the Dallas Cowboys would never have become “America’s Team” if they had never taken a chance on a young assistant coach with the New York Giants named Tom Landry.

John Madden

Known best today for his football advert and an incredibly successful football video game named after him, many young people don’t know or easily forget that John Madden entered the Hall of Fame as a coach, and he did. at a fairly young age too. Al Davis, the former owner of the Oakland Raiders, hired a little-known young John Madden to be head coach in 1969. Ten years later, Madden retired after the 1978 season as one of the most successful coaches of history. With almost always a winning record and making numerous appearances in playoff and Super Bowl games (and winning a few too), Madden could have coached almost any team he wanted and instead went into broadcasting.

Count “Greasy” Neal

During the 1940s, one of the most dominant teams in the NFL was the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles played in numerous championships and were always one of the best teams in the league during that era. His accomplishments were widely known to be attributed primarily to the coaching ability of his head coach Earl “Greasy” Neal. Neal coached the team at a difficult time for the NFL and the United States in general. Many American football players in their prime, as well as graduating college players, were drafted or volunteered to serve their country during World War II. Using players who were left out of the war for various reasons and with a constantly changing roster, Neal was still able to continuously field one of the most competitive teams in the league.

Chuck Noll

Chuck Noll was soft spoken when it came to his public persona, but he sure knew how to get the most out of his teams. The Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s won four Super Bowls in six years and were one of the most dominant teams even in years when they didn’t win it all. With players coming from Pittsburgh like Jack Lambert, Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann, Jack Ham, Donnie Shell, Franco Harris, Rocky Bleier, Mike Webster, Mean Joe Greene and more, it would be almost more amazing if the team weren’t as successful as Them. were. When great NFL coaches are mentioned, Noll is often overlooked and not mentioned, but the list is incomplete without him.

Bill Walsh

It’s safe to say that when Bill Walsh retired from the San Francisco 49ers at the end of the 1988 season, he could have signed his ticket and continued to coach any team he wanted. Aside from a brief stint as a coach at Stanford University, Walsh was content to be an adviser to the 49ers and occasionally dabble in broadcasting. Walsh is credited with, if not inventing, then at least popularizing and dominating what is known as the West Coast Offense. With the help of all-time greats like Joe Montana, Roger Craig, Ronnie Lott, Jerry Rice, John Taylor, Dwight Clark, Jack Reynolds and more; Bill Walsh turned a perennial bottom-of-the-league San Francisco 49ers team into the team of the 1980s. In the process, he revolutionized football and, as measured by the number of assistant coaches of his who became coaches in chief, he made his mark on the league for years to come.

It’s rare for someone to be successful enough as a head football coach to be voted into the Hall of Fame and still limit their career to just one team, especially in the hire-and-fire world of professional football. For this to happen, many things must be in place; talented players, great coachability, patient ownership and, like everything in life, a certain amount of luck.