The NFL's worst coaches

You certainly won't find Seattle coach Mike Holmgren on this list. Not that he will mind being left off.

This group is not for the Lombardis, Walshes and Nolls of the world.

It's for guys like Faye Abbott, Phil Handler and Marion Campbell.

They are among the contenders in the ever-popular worst NFL coaches in history debate.

You have to be worse than Rich Kotite and Mike Riley, and even David Shula.

To be among the very worst, you have to be really, really bad.

Like as bad as Abbott, for example. He coached 13 games, and had as many wins as you and I. Abbott coached the Dayton Triangles in the 1928 and 1929 seasons. His teams were shut out 11 times, and they were outscored 267-16.

Part of Abbott's problem might have been that he had too many players like himself. Abbott was a player-coach for the Triangles, and his career passing numbers were 12 for 38 for 244 yards and eight interceptions.

Abbott's number of touchdown passes? Sadly, the same total as his coaching victories.

Abbott certainly isn't alone among NFL coaches who never got a win. That club has 29 members (Abbott leads the group in games), and was all set to welcome Cam Cameron until his Miami Dolphins last year pulled off a late-season upset to finish 1-15.

The Cardinals are front-runners for the franchise with the worst coaches (their career leader in wins has 42), and their poster boy is Phil Handler.

Handler coached the Chicago Cardinals from 1943-1945, and posted a 1-29 record, gaining that initial coaching win in his 24th game.

The Cardinals must have been impressed by that victory, because when they needed a coach in 1949, they went back to Handler, who did well enough to improve his career record to 4-34.

Of course, this was the Cardinals, a team that could ruin the best of coaches. Even the great Curly Lambeau (think Packers home field) couldn't win in two seasons with them, going 7-15 near the end of an otherwise illustrious career.

Campbell can make a good case for heading the list. He had a mark of 34-80-1 over nine (all losing) seasons, making him a record 46 games under 500. Not even Bert Bell, who was 10-46-2 from 1936-41, can top that.

A case can be made that no matter how bad Campbell was, his general managers were worse. Campbell coached the Atlanta Falcons to a 6-19 mark from (1974-76), yet the Philadelphia Eagles hired him in 1983. He was 17-29-1 with the Eagles, but that was good enough for the Falcons to rehire him in 1987.

Hard to believe that hire created much buzz in Atlanta, and Campbell's 11-32 mark in the next three years didn't help.

Of course, this is a subjective debate. Win-loss totals don't always paint an accurate picture of how good, or bad, a coach is. Without talent, it's almost impossible to have a winning record.

Take the legendary John McKay, for example. For some reason that belies common sense, he left the cozy confines of USC to coach the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1976.

His team went 0-14 his first season, and 2-12 the next.

Once, when asked about his team's execution, he replied, "I am in favor of it."

By year four, McKay had turned the Bucs around, taking them to the NFC Championship game.

But this story doesn't have a happy ending.

The team returned to bad, and after a 2-14 mark in 1983 and a 6-10 record in 1984, McKay had had enough. His NFL record was 44-88-1, a .333 winning percentage.

That would seem good to three other college coaching legends: Bud Wilkinson, Lou Holtz and Frank Kush, who combined for a 23-58-1 mark.

Howard Schnellenberger, Butch Davis, Steve Spurrier, Dennis Erickson and Riley scampered back to the college ranks after a combined 17 NFL seasons that produced one winning record.

Great players often become bad coaches. Some are very bad. From Jim Thorpe (14-25-1) to Norm Van Brocklin (66-100-9) to Bart Starr (52-76-3), there is proof that greatness on the field might not mean a thing on the sidelines.

Hugh Campbell, a former Washington State star, won five Canadian Football League Grey Cups as coach of the Edmonton Eskimos but was 8-22 from 1984-85 with the Houston Oilers.

And winning isn't necessarily genetic. Don Shula, the all-time winningest coach, produced David, who was 19-52 with the Cincinnati Bengals (1992-96).

Kotite wasn't nearly as well known when he took over a very good Philadelphia Eagles team in 1991. He quickly coached the team to mediocre, then made a not-so-good Jets club terrible (1-15 in his last season). His 40-56 mark is not indicative of how bad he was.

Of course, he is just one of a long line of bad coaches. And if there is any solace to being bad, it's this: If you're bad enough, you won't be forgotten.

Scott Hanson: 206-464-2943 or shanson@seattletimes.com