Top 50 Greatest High School Football Coaches of All-Time

[zulu1128]

Swap Gary Joseph and Gerry Faust, and it's a pretty good list. 

[Coletrain06]

Would like to see Kerry Coombs on this list, but don't know if his accolades as a HSFB coach are enough among these greats

If you include his college and now NFL coaching experience, I would think he would probably make the list. 

[PrepGridiron]

Paul Brown at 11. I know he wasn't a HS coach for long, but I think I'd put him up a bit higher 

[PrepGridiron]

BTW, that's a damn good list. 

[PrepGridiron]

notable snub: Rush Propst?

[PrepGridiron]

2 minutes ago, PrepGridiron said:

notable snub: Rush Propst?

Bill McGregor?

[ThunderRam]

Was one thread not enough for this topic? Or are we trying to create a top 50 greatest threads about the top 50 coaches?

This thread ranks #2.

[PrepGridiron]

5 minutes ago, ThunderRam said:

Was one thread not enough for this topic? Or are we trying to create a top 50 greatest threads about the top 50 coaches?

This thread ranks #2.

Merged.

[LiberalDonaldTrump]

27 minutes ago, PrepGridiron said:

notable snub: Rush Propst?

Black eye?

 

 

ive been telling you  but y’all aint listening 

 

 

if this this was a list of top 50 coaches that know how to manipulate the National rankings yea sure definitely top 5... like good ol PG once said, to be the best you gotta play the best 

[ThunderRam]

31 minutes ago, PrepGridiron said:

notable snub: Rush Propst?

 

I'm guessing Rush slept with the writers wife? I got nothing else.

[zulu1128]

57 minutes ago, ThunderRam said:

 

I'm guessing Rush slept with the writers wife? I got nothing else.

To be fair, it's not an unreasonable assumption. 

[HawgGoneIt]

1 hour ago, PrepGridiron said:

notable snub: Rush Propst?

His record is comparable to several on the list. 

I think maybe his past mistakes play a role in not including him on a list like this. Not sure if that's entirely fair or whatever, but, it's the only reasonable assumption one can make as you go through the list. 

Maybe he's 51 or 52 on the top 100. Idk. He's gotta be close in there with some of those guys that have less wins and similar loss amounts though. 

[ThunderRam]

2 hours ago, HawgGoneIt said:

I think maybe his past mistakes play a role in not including him on a list like this. Not sure if that's entirely fair or whatever, but, it's the only reasonable assumption one can make as you go through the list.

 

If so, I think that's wrong. His personal life has zero to do with his professional accomplishments.

This is a touchy subject for me and something my wife and I debate from time to time. My wife, for example, won't watch Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt movies because she doesn't like them anymore due to some personal happenings that occurred during their careers.

I, on the other hand, have the ability to separate their personal life from their art or profession. I don't have to like the person they are to like or appreciate their art. I strongly feel that if I start doing that, I won't watch sports, movies or other entertainment anymore. Because a vast majority of people have skeletons in the past or aren't necessarily as moral as they are often portrayed. See Bill Cosby as exhibit A. Nobody saw that coming.

Now, using Cosby and OJ Simpson as extreme examples, I can certainly see why people would jump ship on them. There's a huge difference between murder and rape then most other moral-less behavior. For instance, I still believe Pete Rose should be in the HOF because I don't think his post playing career gambling issues has  anything to do with what he accomplished on the field as a player. And gambling on baseball as a manager is a bad thing --- but not comparable to murder and rape IMO. So it's something I can choose to overlook when considering Pete's career.

With regards to Rush Probst, I get that his publicized personal life doesn't jive morally with many folks. But none of it changes what he has accomplished as a HS coach. If we're talking about admitting him to the "moral HOF" then ok -- I get it. But including him on a greatest HS coach of all time list should be a no brainer. The choices in his personal life shouldn't affect that at all. After all, each of us have made life choices that others would not have made.

I guess it just comes down to what your individual threshold is. For me, you got do far worse than gamble or cheat on your wife.

[Omaha Vol]

18 hours ago, BigDrop said:

Mike Pettine Central Bucks West

Bill McGregor DeMatha

Definitely Pettine at CB West. Gary Rankin should be higher. Riverdale was a juggernaut in the 90s and early 00s. 

[ohio]

19 hours ago, Sammyswordsman said:

I find fault with this list.  How could the second winningest coach in Calif history, plus a guy with his own Wiki page, not be on the list.

Dude beat Mater Dei 17 years in a row, and won 3 large school state championships

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marijon_Ancich

He's Croatian like me.

I like him already.  

[AztecPadre]

3 hours ago, HawgGoneIt said:

His record is comparable to several on the list. 

I think maybe his past mistakes play a role in not including him on a list like this. Not sure if that's entirely fair or whatever, but, it's the only reasonable assumption one can make as you go through the list. 

Maybe he's 51 or 52 on the top 100. Idk. He's gotta be close in there with some of those guys that have less wins and similar loss amounts though. 

I hear ya, but a great hsfb coach needs the wins and titles, but also the character, since we are talking about coaching kids here.

[AztecPadre]

57 minutes ago, ThunderRam said:

 

If so, I think that's wrong. His personal life has zero to do with his professional accomplishments.

This is a touchy subject for me and something my wife and I debate from time to time. My wife, for example, won't watch Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt movies because she doesn't like them anymore due to some personal happenings that occurred during their careers.

I, on the other hand, have the ability to separate their personal life from their art or profession. I don't have to like the person they are to like or appreciate their art. I strongly feel that if I start doing that, I won't watch sports, movies or other entertainment anymore. Because a vast majority of people have skeletons in the past or aren't necessarily as moral as they are often portrayed. See Bill Cosby as exhibit A. Nobody saw that coming.

Now, using Cosby and OJ Simpson as extreme examples, I can certainly see why people would jump ship on them. There's a huge difference between murder and rape then most other moral-less behavior. For instance, I still believe Pete Rose should be in the HOF because I don't think his post playing career gambling issues has  anything to do with what he accomplished on the field as a player. And gambling on baseball as a manager is a bad thing --- but not comparable to murder and rape IMO. So it's something I can choose to overlook when considering Pete's career.

With regards to Rush Probst, I get that his publicized personal life doesn't jive morally with many folks. But none of it changes what he has accomplished as a HS coach. If we're talking about admitting him to the "moral HOF" then ok -- I get it. But including him on a greatest HS coach of all time list should be a no brainer. The choices in his personal life shouldn't affect that at all. After all, each of us have made life choices that others would not have made.

I guess it just comes down to what your individual threshold is. For me, you got do far worse than gamble or cheat on your wife.

High school coach is molding kids, so I strongly believe all around character is very important. Getting caught for cheating professionally and privately, should carry alot of weight in these types of rankings.

[Belly Bob]

6 minutes ago, AztecPadre said:

High school coach is molding kids, so I strongly believe all around character is very important. Getting caught for cheating professionally and privately, should carry alot of weight in these types of rankings.

In addition to having been caught cheating professionally and privately, I've heard people talk about how he mismanaged the final moments of a certain state championship game.

I wouldn't bring that up myself, because I think it's cheap.

But I have heard other people mention that in the past. 

[HawgGoneIt]

14 minutes ago, AztecPadre said:

High school coach is molding kids, so I strongly believe all around character is very important. Getting caught for cheating professionally and privately, should carry alot of weight in these types of rankings.

Well, all I can say, is, in my time around him and his family, I haven't seen anything that would hint to any of those types of activities. 

Anyway, carry on. We all know that you love to troll Colquitt. 

[zulu1128]

5 hours ago, HawgGoneIt said:

His record is comparable to several on the list. 

I think maybe his past mistakes play a role in not including him on a list like this. Not sure if that's entirely fair or whatever, but, it's the only reasonable assumption one can make as you go through the list. 

Maybe he's 51 or 52 on the top 100. Idk. He's gotta be close in there with some of those guys that have less wins and similar loss amounts though. 

His win % is higher than 1-2 people on the list. Somewhere in the 51-60 range is probably accurate. 

[CardinalTruth]

8 hours ago, Coletrain06 said:

Would like to see Kerry Coombs on this list, but don't know if his accolades as a HSFB coach are enough among these greats

If you include his college and now NFL coaching experience, I would think he would probably make the list. 

Screw coombs😂 nah legit coach on the football field but a disaster to have as an assistant principal/administrator. He once asked me a question on a drug paraphernalia issue... which I legit had no part of and was just around when it went down.. he didn’t like the answer and threw a chair at me. Thank lord for mrs heintz and colerain PD saying ok that’s enough. Dude had a motor in him and still does at this age with the Tennessee Titans. Great coach, horrible administrator... unless you were a star player😂

[Coletrain06]

42 minutes ago, CardinalTruth said:

Screw coombs😂 nah legit coach on the football field but a disaster to have as an assistant principal/administrator. He once asked me a question on a drug paraphernalia issue... which I legit had no part of and was just around when it went down.. he didn’t like the answer and threw a chair at me. Thank lord for mrs heintz and colerain PD saying ok that’s enough. Dude had a motor in him and still does at this age with the Tennessee Titans. Great coach, horrible administrator... unless you were a star player😂

Maybe you were just a shitty kid😂...

Haha 

He was my administrator....last week of senior year I got called down for sleeping all year in Music Appreciation....Coombs saw my 98% in the class and was cool but made me come back next week and take the final exam......I was pissed that I had to come back and take final exam and since I took the test a few hours before everyone else, I knew it was a scantron test....so I took a pencil and carved the answers on the side of a pencil that I passed off to some underclassmen after I finished........

Forgot all about it, until years later one of my friends, who was an underclassmen who was in that class with me, starting dating my friend and told me that the teacher was super pissed when everyone scored really high because everyone passed my pencil around 🤣

 

[CardinalTruth]

9 minutes ago, Coletrain06 said:

Maybe you were just a shitty kid😂...

 

 

I won’t contest that. 😂😂

[BigDrop]

On 9/13/2018 at 11:25 PM, BigDrop said:

Mike Pettine Central Bucks West

Bill McGregor DeMatha

http://www.theintell.com/4a984b16-fac4-11e6-b176-f7711e45891d.html is Mike Pettine, SR’s obituary which includes this:  326-42-4 (approximately .885), in 33 years with winning streaks of 45 and 53 games along with four official state championships (PA didn’t start playoffs until ‘91) in the largest class 4A.  George Curry’s Berwick (3A and included) never played CB West.

https://coachad.com/news/legendary-dematha-md-football-coach-mcgregor-resigns-after-39-years/ is an article noting Bill McGregor stepping down at DeMatha.  Named by the NFL as the National hs football coach of the year he was 270-33-3 (.870) with 17 titles in 29 years.  Only DLS had more top 25 rankings than DeMatha during McGregor’s reign.

[ThunderRam]

10 hours ago, AztecPadre said:

High school coach is molding kids, so I strongly believe all around character is very important.

And judging by the longstanding results, he does just that.

10 hours ago, AztecPadre said:

Getting caught for cheating professionally and privately, should carry alot of weight in these types of rankings.

His private life has nothing to do with his professional life. The kids don't go home with him. What he chooses to do with his own time so long as it doesn't break the law is up to him.

IMO, this is just you and those that feel like you playing moral police. And I find that most that choose to do this are throwing stones from glass houses. Not saying you are --- just that most do.