Chuck Noll: No. 5 all time on ESPN list

[SteelCrazy]

Chuck Noll, who went from the lowest to the greatest heights in coaching, checks in at No. 5 on ESPN's countdown of the greatest coaches in NFL history.

Noll went 1-13 in his first season with the Pittsburgh Steelers but soon took the franchise to the highest level ever achieved by an NFL team. Taking over a team that had never won a title of any kind, Noll guided the Steelers to four Super Bowl victories in a six-year period. Noll is the only coach to win four Super Bowls.

"I don't see current coaches dealing with players the way he did," former Steelers defensive back Mel Blount said. "It's a different game now, and I see a lot of coaches getting caught up in the media with the way they deal with players. You see it on the sidelines. Chuck Noll was always consistent. You wouldn't see him give a high five if you made a great play or get in your face if you made a bad play. I guess that would make Chuck Noll a dinosaur now."

Noll's teams won nine AFC Central Division championships and they had winning records in 15 of his last 20 seasons with the Steelers. Hall of Famers Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Mel Blount, Terry Bradshaw, Lambert, Swann and Stallworth played their entire careers under Noll.

Click on the video above to see "Mean" Joe Greene, Terry Bradshaw, Mike Tomlin and Jack Lambert discuss why Noll is one of the greatest coaches in NFL history.

TOP 20 COACHES OF ALL TIME

No. 20 -- Tony Dungy: Quiet inspiration
No. 19 -- Mike Shanahan: Make it a double
No. 18 -- Sid Gillman: Airing it out
No. 17 -- Marv Levy: Manager of egos
No. 16 -- Hank Stram: Winner, innovator
No. 15 -- Bud Grant: Model of consistency
No. 14 -- Tom Coughlin: Two Super rallies
No. 13 -- Jimmy Johnson: Filling big shoes
No. 12 -- John Madden: More than a game
No. 11 -- Bill Parcells: Turnaround artist
No. 10 -- Curly Lambeau: Packers founder
No. 9 -- Joe Gibbs: Dominance in D.C.
No. 8 -- Tom Landry: Stoic, inventive
No. 7 -- Bill Belichick: Attention to detail
No. 6 -- Paul Brown: New ways to win
No. 5-- Chuck Noll: A Key to a franchise

[url]http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/71139/chuck-noll-no-5-all-time-on-espn-list[/url]

[SteelCrazy]

I'm assuming Don Shula, Vince Lombardi, Paul Brown and Bill Walsh are the top 4. If Walsh beats Noll then this list was a waste of time. Shula and Walsh (if even in the top 5) should be 4 and 5 with Noll 3rd.

[LordVile]

I thought they would put BELICHEAT #1 pffft.. good riddance.. Glad he is not higher than NOLL.. NOLL needs to be higher on the list.. Def top 3 if not #1 in my mind..

[Captain Lemming]

I'm assuming Don Shula, Vince Lombardi, Paul Brown and Bill Walsh are the top 4. If Walsh beats Noll then this list was a waste of time. Shula and Walsh (if even in the top 5) should be 4 and 5 with Noll 3rd.

Oh, please.
Stop with the black and gold glasses.
Walsh EASY over Noll.

Noll changed a team, Walsh changed THE LEAGUE.
Offenses and defenses have been influenced by Walsh like no coach in modern history.
Our defense was created to counter Walsh's offense.

And please dont pull the Noll has 4 rings to Walsh's 3

Walsh LEFT a SB champion. Had he stayed he'd have more rings, certainly the one Seifort got.

We had ridiculous talent. But little on the way of innovative strategy.
Noll won 4 Sbs true. Not a one without every single one of the nine HOFers on the team (should be 10 with LC).

In the middle of our dynasty:
Franco out....crushed by the Raiders
LC out....Beaten by a sorry Bronco team

74 draft started the SB run and we never won a SB when missing even ONE of our HOFers.
Joe Greene retires a SB champ....Next season we are third place in the division. One guy gone.
Never to whiff a SB again under Noll

Walsh's first and last SB team only had a couple of common players.

His scheme led to continued success after he left.

And Shula? What did he have in the way of talent.....and he went undefeated.......Beating a Steelers team with FIVE HOFers on the way to the SB win.
Noll needed NINE to be better than Shula.

Give Shula our talent and the dude would have had 6 rings

[Shoe]

I wouldn't say easy over Noll, but I certainly agree that people lose their objectivity when it comes to their team. Walsh, Noll, Shula, Joe Gibbs... I mean, you could go any which way from probably Parcells on down (and yes... I'll even include Belichick*) and have no argument.

[7 UP]

George Halas
Chuck Noll
Vince Lombardi
Don Shula
Bill Walsh
Tom Landry
Joe Gibbs
Curly Lambeau
Bill Belechik
Paul Brown
George Siefert
John Madden
Bill Parcells
Jimmy Johnson
Mike Shannahan
Tom Coughlin
Bill Cowher
Tony Dungy
Marv Levy
Dan Reeves

[7 UP]

Off my list
Sid Gillman (Not a top 20 coach)
Bud Grant (Would make my top 25)
Hank Stram(See above)

On my list
Bill Cowher (Not a Homer pick, actually belongs)
Dan Reeves (Of the guys who never won the big one, I would put him above Grant)
George Siefert ( 2 Super Bowl wins with one of the greatest all time teams and didnt make ESPNs list??)

BTW, I think the top 5 is obvious. 2 through 4 could go in any order, and you could make a case for any of those three guys to be ahead of one of the others. I think Walsh is clear number 5. I just dont see how you make a case for him to be higher.

[Shoe]

BTW, I think the top 5 is obvious. 2 through 4 could go in any order, and you could make a case for any of those three guys to be ahead of one of the others. I think Walsh is clear number 5. I just dont see how you make a case for him to be higher.

You can't make a case for Walsh? He was the West Coast Offense to prominence (i.e. changed the game). He earned 3 rings over the course of one decade. As Lemming (above) also pointed out: His predecessor (Seifert) immediately one a ring for himself off that team (i.e. It is conceivable that Walsh earned that ring, giving him four.) I'm not saying he is, but I'm also not unrealistic in saying that he doesn't belong (in the conversation).

[7 UP]

Woulda, shoulda, coulda means very little. Actual numbers and stats is what Im looking at. Noll actually has 4 rings. 4 Rings in 6 years is unheard of and may very well never be done by one coach again. Shula has 347 wins and a winning percentage of .665. Noll has 209 wins and 4 Super Bowl wins(the only coach with 4). Lombardi has 105 wins but has a ridiculous .740 winning percentage. Walsh has 104 wins and a winning percentage of only .617. I give Walsh his due, and while he may be in the conversation, show me one hardcore fact that puts him ahead of the other three.

[squidkid]

these rankings are almost all a joke.
look at the list and see who won without a franchise qb.
dungy.......a little over 500 with the bucs. lets manning run the team while stands there doing nothing and racks up the wins(still chokes in playoffs tho)
shanahan..........wins with elway, blows without
levy...won with kelly, sucked without
coughlin.......nice job with an expansion team, had eli in NY. still just ba mid 500 guy that cashed in a 2 superbowls
johnson........built a nice with in dallas for a couple years, jumped to miami and was decent there withj no superstar qb.
parcells.......did a nice job with a variety of teams but needed the franchise qb to win it all
gibbs...................theisman
belichek...............cheating and brady.

the common denominator for most of the 'great' coaches is having a hall of fame qb to carry them.
give me a coach with a decent/good qb that wins over a coach with a hall of famer calling all the shots.
too much credit is given to these coaches. just about any coach can be successful with a franchise, HOF qb running the show.

[Captain Lemming]

Woulda, shoulda, coulda means very little. Actual numbers and stats is what Im looking at. Noll actually has 4 rings. 4 Rings in 6 years is unheard of and may very well never be done by one coach again..........I give Walsh his due, and while he may be in the conversation, show me one hardcore fact that puts him ahead of the other three.

4 rings in 6 years impressive true. But it won't happen again because nobody will have 9 hofers together for a decade.

But really we are talking 4 rings in 22 years aren't we? Walsh's 3 in 10 looks good now doesn't it?

The fact that those rings are so close show that talent of one set of players were key to Noll success. That is player over coaching.

He had 5 hofers in the early 70s and that wasn't enough talent. He had 8 after Greene retired and could not do it.

He had 17 years of coaching when he didn't have all of 9 of his hof players. Not one ring without all 9.

Noll was still Steeler coach during Walsh ENTIRE CAREER, who had success?

If Noll was better maybe he would have one of the rings Walsh had? Instead Nolls inability to win without ridiculous talent during the 80s got him fired.

Walsh did what he did while using many different players. When your success depends on a certain group of players you gotta say it's more about the talent.

Walsh's system was so great that it CONTINUED to have success after he retired.

[Discipline of Steel]

4 rings in 6 years impressive true. But it won't happen again because nobody will have 9 hofers together for a decade.

But really we are talking 4 rings in 22 years aren't we? Walsh's 3 in 10 looks good now doesn't it?

The fact that those rings are so close show that talent of one set of players were key to Noll success. That is player over coaching.

He had 5 hofers in the early 70s and that wasn't enough talent. He had 8 after Greene retired and could not do it.

He had 17 years of coaching when he didn't have all of 9 of his hof players. Not one ring without all 9.

Noll was still Steeler coach during Walsh ENTIRE CAREER, who had success?

If Noll was better maybe he would have one of the rings Walsh had? Instead Nolls inability to win without ridiculous talent during the 80s got him fired.

Walsh did what he did while using many different players. When your success depends on a certain group of players you gotta say it's more about the talent.

Walsh's system was so great that it CONTINUED to have success after he retired.

I guess one could say Noll accumulated, trained, and orchestrated all that talent into the greatest, most dominating team of all-time.

[Captain Lemming]

I guess one could say Noll accumulated, trained, and orchestrated all that talent into the greatest, most dominating team of all-time.

That would be fair. This is why Noll belongs.

Walsh did similar with less dominating talent with more than one set of players who required a brand new system accomplish what they did.

Noll "followed" the fundamental principles of the Lombardi, Brown, and Shula.
He did it well as long as he had ridiculous talent.
He got fired because he couldn't do it with less.

Walsh created a system that was so revolutionary it was imitated by half the league.
Walsh retired a champion with 3 but his system led to even more championships for the niners and elsewhere.

Noll changed a franchise using tried and true methods pioneered by others.
Walsh changed THE LEAGUE by creating a new way of winning and has a lasting impact on the NFL to this day.

[hawaiiansteel]

5. Chuck Noll: Key to a franchise

Only coach with four Super Bowl victories put Steelers among NFL's elite
Originally Published: June 7, 2013
ESPN.com

No. 5 - Chuck Noll

In 1969, Chuck Noll took over a Pittsburgh Steelers team that had never won a title of any kind. By the time he left 23 seasons later, the Steelers had become one of the NFL's greatest dynasties, with four Super Bowl wins.

Noll's Steelers won nine AFC Central titles in all, and their four championships came in a six-year period, spanning the 1974 through 1979 seasons. The only coach to win four Super Bowls, Noll was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993.

Starting during his playing days, Noll was groomed by some of the greatest coaches in NFL history. The Cleveland Browns selected him out of Dayton in the 1953 draft, giving him a chance to win two NFL championships while playing offensive line and linebacker for seven seasons under Paul Brown.

Noll got his start in coaching in 1960, the year after he finished his playing career, as a defensive assistant under Sid Gillman with the AFL's Los Angeles Chargers. He followed the franchise to San Diego and worked with Gillman fox six seasons, then moved to Don Shula's staff with the Baltimore Colts in 1966 before landing his first -- and only -- head-coaching job three years later.

Noll had almost become Patriots' head coach days before the Steelers hired him in 1969. Boston owner Billy Sullivan's two finalists were Noll and New York Jets assistant Clive Rush. Since the Jets had just defeated the Colts in Super Bowl III, Sullivan opted for Rush. The Patriots went 5-16 under Rush, who was gone after a 1-6 start in 1970.

Noll believed in building through the draft and emphasizing defense. Pittsburgh's 1974 draft, which featured four future Hall of Famers -- Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth and Mike Webster -- among the team's first five picks, is widely acknowledged as the best in NFL history. The Steelers' "Steel Curtain" was one of the most feared defenses of the 1970s.

Hall of Famers Joe Greene, Jack Ham, Mel Blount, Terry Bradshaw, Lambert, Swann and Stallworth played their entire careers under Noll. Coaches who worked under Noll include Tony Dungy, John Fox and Bud Carson.

-- Shawna Seed

NOLL THROUGH THE EYES OF A PLAYER: MEL BLOUNT

The big thing with Chuck Noll was how consistent he was dealing with players. As a player, you always knew what to do and when to do it. He was always consistent with how he dealt with people. It didn't matter if you came from Penn State or Florida A&M or whether you were from USC or Southern University.

I don't see current coaches dealing with players the way he did. It's a different game now, and I see a lot of coaches getting caught up in the media with the way they deal with players. You see it on the sidelines. Chuck Noll was always consistent. You wouldn't see him give a high five if you made a great play or get in your face if you made a bad play. I guess that would make Chuck Noll a dinosaur now.

His pregame speeches were usually him talking about the game plan and how we had to use our fundamentals. But I was talking to Joe Greene about this the other day. The one pregame we never forgot was before our playoff game against the Oakland Raiders in 1974.

The week before, the Raiders beat the Miami Dolphins. Somebody saw that John Madden said the two best teams in football played that week and that was the Super Bowl. Chuck came in and said we were going out there and were going to win this game. He said we have the best team. We all looked around and said, "Wow." We had never seen that from Chuck. We went out there, won the game and went on to win our first Super Bowl.

-- Former Steelers defensive back and Hall of Famer Mel Blount, as told to John Clayton

ESPN "Greatest Coaches in NFL History" voting panel: Chris Berman, Jeffri Chadiha, John Clayton, Colin Cowherd, Mike Ditka, Gregg Easterbrook, Herm Edwards, David Fleming, Ashley Fox, Greg Garber, Mike Golic, Suzy Kolber, Eric Mangini, Chris Mortensen, Sal Paolantonio, Bill Polian, Rick Reilly, Mike Sando, Adam Schefter, Ed Werder, Seth Wickersham, Trey Wingo.

[URL]http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/page/greatestcoach5/greatest-coaches-nfl-history-chuck-noll[/URL]

[SteelCrazy]

He also drafted the 9 HOF'ers which solidifies my point. You make it sound as if it were unfair. Those players came about because of Noll. Walsh came up with dink and dunk timing patterns to open up the occasional long pass. OK.......