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THE MAG.COM PRESENTS: ALL WORLD POWER RANKINGS

Who is the greatest NFL head coach to ever get fired?

by Chris Sprow

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Did we mention he's a WWII hero?


BEST COACH TO EVER GET FIRED? WE'RE TAKING THE MAN IN THE HAT, THE GREAT TOM LANDRY


We're going to be honest: in the latest round of "Black Monday", Eric Mangini getting canned by the Jets surprised us some. Did they fire the coach who underachieved down the stretch with a formerly 8-3 team, or did they dump the coach who pushed a still young team with a weird QB situation to an overrachieving 8-3 record? The answer is both, obviously. We still buy into what Gladwell told us: coaches need a minimum of a few years unless the lack of coaching skill is blatant. To build personnel around a coach, you need a little time. We think, like his mentor, Mangini could still be a good head man. But even if he's brilliant, he probably wouldn't crack this list. We miss a good one? Tell us why we should be fired.

TOP 5
RANK (YESTERDAY) WHAT WHY
1 (4) TOM LANDRY Let's see. Two Super Bowl wins, 270 wins overall, invented the 4-3 defense, was intensely humble and also ran 30 bombing missions in WWII, once surviving a crash. And Homer bought his hat. Jerry Jones, cold or not, is a brassy fella for dismissing Landry.
2 (6) BILL BELICHICK The Browns' pain is New England's gain. We're assuming he learned something, yes? He's proven it too, with 3 titles that could be 4, and regularly seeing his assistants nabbed up. Just remember, he also was the Jets coach for, well, a day, before he scribbled "I resign as HC of the NYJ." on a sheet of paper, and then gave a press conference. Really.
3 (7) TONY DUNGY We mentioned this before: is there a better coach right now than Dungy? It's amazing. He wins 12 games a year, and the dude had one bad season. One! And with the Bucs. He handed Jon Gruden a Super Bowl after Tampa pushed him out. Lucky for the Colts. Also good riot fodder to switch him and Belichick around.
4 (9) MARTY SCHOTTENHEIMER Dude amazes us. He got fired after going 14-2 and his team fumbled away a chance at the Super Bowl. 14-2! Marty-ball drove some people nuts, but all he is capable of is winning. He has 200 wins against 126 losses. Coaches he helped launch: Cowher, Dungy, Edwards, Cameron, Lovie, Lewis, Marinelli, Tomlin… Quit griping about Super Bowl's. Guy's been screwed by fumbles more than Giants coaches when Tiki was there.
5 (11) MIKE SHANAHAN Let's just say Mike has some mild contempt for Al Davis. A Hall of Fame lock with two Super Bowl titles. Did we mention he thinks Al Davis is a…oh, we did.

HONORABLE MENTION
RANK (YESTERDAY) WHAT WHY
6 (14) CHUCK KNOX The guy has 186 wins, could grind it (nickname is Ground Chuck) or throw it, and won games in Seattle and with the Rams, on teams that are short on Hall of Fame talent. Would also be a great name for a fighter. Look into it.
9 (11) TOM COUGHLIN Just remember: he once took Jacksonville to the AFC title game…in their second season! Be five minutes early and shut up and your team will win under this guy.

RISING AND FALLING
MOVEMENT WHAT
DAN REEVES (Commercial? Killer. Comments? Wow.)
NICK SABAN (At least his players are thinkin' NFL.)
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