NFL

Disastrous NFL Coaching Hires That Set Teams Back Decades

Darren - January 13, 2022

NFL

Disastrous NFL Coaching Hires That Set Teams Back Decades

Darren - January 13, 2022

11. Lou Holtz

Holtz is a Notre Dame icon as the former Fighting Irish head coach enjoyed a long and successful career in college football. But he also had a short and disastrous spell in charge of the New York Jets. This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise because the Jets are used to this. They appointed him in 1976 and he lasted for a single season (via SB Nation).

Many Green Gang fans consider this to be the worst team in Jets’ history, even worse than the 1-15 edition in 1996. That’s because they allowed a -15.2 points difference, an unwanted Jets’ record. They also had a crazy 53 turnovers and lost by massive blowouts. In the end, Holtz quit the team with a 2-11 record. He ran away to take over the Arkansas Razorbacks back in college football.

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10. Bill O’Brien

O’Brien’s place on this list is unique because he actually did have some success with the Texans. But he dragged the franchise down into the depths of despair. The problem was that Houston gave him too much power. They made him the GM as well as the head coach. The power seemingly went to O’Brien’s head. Finally, he ran the Texans into the ground.

O’Brien enjoyed six winning seasons out of seven-and-a-half total seasons with the team. But this doesn’t tell the true story. Firstly, the AFC South was extremely weak. Then, he sealed his fate with bizarre trade decisions. The decision to send DeAndre Hopkins to Arizona in exchange for David Johnson and a second-round pick was so strange. This alienated blue-chip QB DeShaun Watson. Finally, the Texans fired O’Brien after a 0-4 start to 2020 (via SBNation).

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9. Rich Kotite

Kotite endured mixed fortunes with the Eagles. But the New York Jets decided to take a chance on him after cutting Pete Carroll loose. The new head coach joined in 1995 and the team collapsed. He handled the draft with the logic of a monkey making lottery picks. They had the chance to bring in Warren Moon but opted for future bust Kyle Brady instead.

Meanwhile, Kotite’s decision-making was brutal. His teams were disorganized and inept. They went 3-13 in his first season but things didn’t improve. His second and final year saw the team go 1-15 (via Bleacher Report). This was the worst record in franchise history. The decision to hire Kotite was strange anyway because his time in Philadelphia ended badly. He was never a head coach in the NFL again.

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8. Rod Marinelli

Marinelli took over the Detroit Lions job in 2006. He lasted for three seasons before his inevitable demise. Nobody foresaw how bad it would be. This was a disastrous reign that stained the legacy of the franchise forever. That’s because they became the first team to lose 16 games in a season. They went winless in 2008 after failing to win a single match (via Detroit Free Press).

There are arguments that the 2008 Lions weren’t the worst team ever. But there is no way to erase that zero. Unfortunately, Marinelli led them at this time because he’s a great defensive coach. He had success with Tampa and Dallas as a defensive line coach and coordinator. Unfortunately, Detroit was a poor team and he failed to revitalize them.

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7. Mike Ditka

Ditka had a successful period with the Chicago Bears capped off with a Super Bowl in 1985. This convinced the Saints to take a chance on the Super Bowl winner. Unfortunately, he was unable to replicate his success in New Orleans. He made an insane error at the very beginning of his sole season in the Big Easy. They went all-in on Ricky Williams in the Draft as Ditka traded all of the Saints’ picks that year for the running back.

This was a disastrous decision for many reasons. First, running backs aren’t worth that much. It didn’t help that Williams didn’t play well either. New Orleans took years to recover from this appalling draft decision. Results on the field were poor as the Saints went 3-13 (via NBC Sports). In the end, the Saints cut ties with Ditka after the terrible year.

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6. Matt Patricia

Another horrible Lions’ coach, Patricia’s tenure with the Lions was disastrous. He left Detroit as one of the four worst coaches in franchise history. His time in charge was a total shambles and he was out after three seasons at Ford Field. Patricia failed to post a winning season and didn’t finish his third year. The Lions front office lost patience after his team started out 4-7 in 2020.

His overall record was 13-29-1, a winning percentage of .314 in a miserable time for the Lions. It also convinced star quarterback Matthew Stafford to quit the team. Patricia’s team blew lead after lead. They also failed to beat rivals like the Bears and the Vikings. Furthermore, they set an 11-game losing streak. This was the third-longest in franchise history (via Detroit Free Press).

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5. Dick LeBeau

LeBeau was a magnificent defensive coordinator before he retired in 2017. He had 59 seasons in the NFL with franchises like the Titans and the Steelers. But he only had a single head coach role and it was disastrous. He never stepped up to the position again because it didn’t suit his talents. LeBeau took over in Cincinnati in 2000 but lost his job following the 2002 year.

The franchise failed to progress during his tenure. He posted three losing seasons and lost his job after the Bengals finished 2-14. Unfortunately, the legendary coach helped the franchise to their worst record in history. Meanwhile, he had a miserable winning percentage of just .267 (via ESPN). Luckily, LeBeau had enough credit in the bank to bounce back and rebuild his career.

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4. Dave Campo

At least Campo was consistent as that’s the only positive thing to say about his tenure as head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. His teams went 5-11 for three consecutive seasons from 2000-02. It’s remarkable really that he managed to achieve this. As a result, he is the only Cowboys head coach in history to depart with a losing record. Even worse, he was the first Dallas coach never to have a winning season.

He began coaching in 1971 but has only ever been a head coach once. This includes his college career. Initially, he faced challenges when Troy Aikman retired. But Campo simply wasn’t up to the job (via Dallas News). That’s not a slight because many coordinators and college coaches struggle to step up. This was a miserable period for fans of ‘America’s Team’ because they went nowhere.

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3. Dave Shula

A famous father can be a curse. The legendary Don Shula is one of the greatest NFL coaches in history. However, his son, Dave, went down as one of the worst. The Bengals hired the younger Shula in 1992. This was an exciting decision because of his pedigree. But it was a disastrous decision overall because Shula didn’t know what he was doing. Somehow, he survived for five seasons with a 19-52 record.

Finally, Cincinnati fired him in 1996 after a single win in seven games to start the season. Shula became the fastest coach in history to 50 losses during his time in charge (via USA Today). This was a uniquely bad achievement. It was a terrible time for the franchise because it was difficult for fans to maintain interest in the team. In the end, they lost patience and fired the younger Shula.

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3. Adam Gase

We suppose Peyton Manning was wrong. The legendary NFL icon described his former coach as a ‘quarterback guru.’ It’s too bad that this wasn’t the case in New York, because Gase arguably ruined Sam Darnold’s career before it even began. The Jets hired him in 2019 but fired him after two seasons. They started with a mediocre 7-9 losing record in his first year.

This was tolerable but they immediately regressed. Gase departed after a disastrous 2-14 season where he showed all of his flaws. One of the main issues was his lack of flexibility. He used the same system that worked for a slow Manning in Denver (via Forbes). But this didn’t suit the mobile Darnold. Meanwhile, the Jets’ defense was nonexistent. Gang Green felt like they were in purgatory.

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2. Hue Jackson

Jackson didn’t have a successful tenure with the Cleveland Browns. Somehow he survived for over two seasons but they were disastrous. He left the franchise in 2018 with a record of 3-36-1 (via SBNation). Furthermore, they went 0-16 in 2017 as they went winless for the first time in history. The Browns were rebuilding (or so they claimed) but there were no signs of progress.

The head coach lost the support of his staff as well as the players. Sure, their roster was terrible, but his methods didn’t help. Jackson was genuinely a great offensive coordinator. Also, many people believed that the Browns made the right choice when they hired him. But his record is so bad that it’s almost impossible for another Cleveland coach to replicate it.

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1. Urban Meyer

Meyer’s reign in charge of the Jacksonville Jaguars was uniquely and utterly disastrous. Jags owner Shahid Khan hired him in 2021 because he believed that Meyer would get the best out of shiny no. 1 pick Trevor Lawrence. The young quarterback received incredible hype before the Jaguars used the first overall pick to select him. However, Meyer wasn’t able to get the best out of him and his entire run was a laughingstock from its inception.

First, Meyer tried to hire racist coach Chris Doyle and created a media storm. Then, there was the remarkable Tim Tebow experiment. Soon, rumblings emerged that professional players didn’t like his more college coaching style. The results on the field didn’t help matters because the Jags were appalling. Then, there was the media deluge after footage emerged of Meyer dancing with a young woman who wasn’t his wife after he had stayed in Ohio and not traveled with his team following another defeat. Khan finally fired Meyer after a 2-11 record before the catastrophic season ended (via NPR).

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