Worst head coach/manager ever?

It's not quite as good, but Hayden Fry had on one staff Bill Snyder, Bob Stoops, Kirk Ferentz and Barry Alvarez.

 

John Blake

 

Dick Vitale, the Detroit Pistons edition, has to be in the discussion. So that's three Detroit guys -- Harkness, Marinelli and Vitale -- on the board. Do we have any Tigers nominations?

 

Buddy Bell was about as bad as a manager can be while still getting three top jobs.

 

Alan Trammel was pretty terrible.

Also, Wayne Fontes seemed to be on the verge of being fired for a good 27 years with the Lions.

 

Rick Bowness

 

A fairly reliable method of ensuring you'll get a gawdawful basketball coach is to hire a former Hall of Fame Player: Magic Johnson, Isiah Thomas, Bob Cousy, Elgin Baylor, Wes Unseld, Bill Russell (not counting his player/coach stint), Kevin McHale and Willis Reed were all dismal failures as NBA coaches. .

And in Isiah, Baylor and Unseld you also get three all time worst GMs.

And, in Magic, you also get the all time worst late night talk show host.

 

If this is the criteria, I'd go with Tommy Lasorda.

The talent he had on those Dodgers teams of the 1970s should have netted several world titles. Instead, he barely made the playoffs.

 

Word.

 

Lasorda took the Dodgers to the World Series his first two years, 1977 and 1978.

 

NBA: Quinn Buckner.

 

I think the blame for the Lions going 0-16 lies more with Matt Millen than Marinelli... Don't get me wrong, I don't think Marinelli is going to be getting a second shot anytime soon...

I should have been specific about Kotite... I think most of us are referring to his stint with the Jets...

During Kiffin's stint with the Raiders, the consensus with NFL GMs at the time was that Kiffin did nothing during that time that would hurt his future coaching prospects. I don't think he helped himself during the past year. That record with that talent is insane, but USC could very easily be a top 5 team next season...
Until someone proves otherwise, succeeding with the Raiders is now the impossible job until someone proves otherwise... The last coach to be consistently successful there was Gruden.

There are plenty of coaches who had respectable records who should never be handed another chance to be a NFL head coach: Brad Childress, Mike Tice, Mike Sherman, Norv Turner just to name a few... Not than any of them should be ranked as the worst ever...

The NBA would be the toughest to rate, because there is so much coaching turnover that few coaches get the chance to lose for more than 1-2 seasons... Jerry Reynolds was pretty horrific as the Sacramento Kings coach back from 1987-90. I think he was interim coach before Bill Russell and after Dick Motta.