OT - 5 worst coaches in Michigan over the past 15 years

Submitted by Jim Harbaugh S… on
A few days ago an online sports show was discussing the 5 worst state of Michigan coaches over the past 15 years, here's my list 1. Marty Morningwig (sp) The fact that he took the wind, rather than the ball, in sudden death overtime makes him a no brainer at for the top spot. If that alone isn't enough for you how about 5 wins in 2 seasons and being outscored by about 16 points per game? 2. Rod Marenelli 0-16 'nuff said. 3. Bobby Williams Things started off well for Bobby Williams, beating the Gators in his first game as coach, starting 3-0 in his first full season. Well we all know how it ended up for Bobby, his career low light was when he responded "I don't know" when asked if he had lost his team 4. George Irvine How this guy ever got the job coaching the pistons beats me. His best full season as a coach was a 56 loss gem as coach of the Pacers, about 14 seasons before he became the Pistons head man. After a 50 loss season he was canned in 2001, never to be seen again. http://www.nba.com/coachfile/george_irvine/index.html?nav=page 5. Mike Curry No control over the team, looked like a deer in the head lights, terrible rotation, terrible game management, completely bungled the AI situation. Well that is my list what do you guys think?
MGoBoard
NFL
Sparty
All things Michigan
Detroit Lions
pistons
NBA

Callahan

August 12th, 2009 at 10:10 PM ^

Amen. How can the guy who couldn't win a single game in today's watered down NFL not be the worst coach in Michigan? Should be: 1) Marinelli 2) Bobby Williams - inherited what was supposed to be a top 10 recruiting class from Saban as he left for LSU and crashed the ship into an iceberg. 3) Marty - Marty's Lions were awful and he wasn't a good coach, but he at least had something resembling an excuse: he inherited an over-the-hill team and had the worst GM in NFL history in his first season on the job. (Hyperbole? Probably. You want to argue against it?) His QBs were Charlie Batch and Ty Detmer, for God sakes.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 3447

dex

August 12th, 2009 at 9:27 PM ^

the thing with marinelli is that, yes, 0-16 speaks for itself BUT that team was awful. marty took over a team that damn near made the playoffs in the bizarre ross-mo season, and promptly lost like his first 11 games. that, to me, is a worse job of coaching than losing all of them with a shitty team.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 1934

Jim Harbaugh S…

August 12th, 2009 at 9:43 PM ^

Moringwig did not have to deal with having an entire roster of Millen players but still returned putrid results. Marenelli had nothing to work with but did manage to bring about a 7-9 season (high water mark of the millen era), before the 0-16 debacle. Morningwig came and visited my High School before his first season, saying that Millen and him had a plan to turn the Lions around... mission accomplished.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 577

WildcatBlue

August 12th, 2009 at 9:57 PM ^

should be exempt from this discussion. In the first place, there have to be expectations for there to be true failure, and Lions' fans have none. Secondly, every Lions' coach for the past decade has been chosen by manatees. Edit: dinged! Apologies to the manatees on the web tonight.

Joined: 08/09/2008

MGoPoints: 504

ckersh74

August 12th, 2009 at 10:01 PM ^

went right down the shitter the next spring. Did the same thing with Milwaukee in his first job. Almost got the team into the playoffs and then went steadily downhill from there. Everywhere he went, he had a decent-to-good first season, then his act appeared to get really old really quick. In defense of Garner (and the Lion coaches, for that matter), we do need to take into consideration the sheer idiocy that they had to deal with coming from the front office. Randy Smith had about as much ability to be a GM as the Queen of England. The same can be said about Matt Millen.

Joined: 06/30/2008

MGoPoints: 41634

UMxWolverines

August 12th, 2009 at 10:58 PM ^

the lions are like a plane that's on fire before it even takes off. Every coach they bring in sucks. The front office guys have absolutely no idea what they are doing. I just hope Matthew Stafford's career isn't ruined by them like Joey Harrington's was. Is there a way they can just suspend operations for a couple years, have William Ford sell the team, get completely new front office guys and all new players except Stafford and Johnson? Just a thought.

Joined: 03/01/2009

MGoPoints: 65474

wooderson

August 12th, 2009 at 11:11 PM ^

There's only been one coach in football history that's won the overtime coin flip....and elected to kick-off. Marty wins this list, and every other such list ever compiled.

Joined: 07/28/2008

MGoPoints: 343

Tater

August 13th, 2009 at 1:19 AM ^

I was most disappointed in Tommy Amaker. He was like a coach on the floor when he played, and had the Coach K pedigree. If there was ever a "can't miss" prospect at coach, it was TA. And he sucked. He extended UM's "punishment" by five years with his lack of competence. He was terrible at developing players, and it started to hurt him in recruiting. Thankfully, we now have John Beilein. I still can't wait to see what he can do with elite-level players. And it looks like he is getting a few. Also, I think his training and drills can turn three star talents into four star talents by their senior years. Beilein's level of competetence makes TA look even worse in retrospect than he did in realtime.

Joined: 08/13/2008

MGoPoints: 30584