In an earlier entry, Texans Wire took a look at nine NFL coaches who doubled up as their teams’ general managers, like Bill O’Brien has done with the Houston Texans, and had success.
Now, here are nine NFL coaches who weren’t so fortunate.
Butch Davis
Davis may have been what the Cleveland Browns needed after returning to the NFL in 1999. Chris Palmer mustered five wins over the first two seasons, and Davis was brought in from the University of Miami to get the Browns at least to where they were in 1994, their last playoff appearance. After going 16-16 the first two seasons, including the organization’s last playoff appearance to date, the Dog Pound got hit with distemper as Cleveland followed up with a 5-11 record. In 2004, Davis went 3-8 before being fired midseason and replaced by Terry Robiskie.
Ray Rhodes
When the Philadelphia Eagles fired Rich Kotite, effectively ending Buddy Ryan’s influence on the organization, the NFC East club began cutting branches off the Bill Walsh coaching tree with Rhodes, who was coming off of leading the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl win in 1994 as defensive coordinator.
Rhodes had immediate success in Philadelphia. The Dallas Cowboys weren’t sweeping them as they did the last two seasons. They won a playoff game in his first season. Even though Rhodes moved on from Randall Cunningham and to Rodney Peete in ’95, the Eagles were still a formidable team.
That all changed in 1998 when Philadelphia still hadn’t solved its quarterback problems and followed up a 6-9-1 record with a 3-13 finish, which setup Rhodes’ successor, Andy Reid, with a premium first-round pick.
Rich Kotite
Speaking of Kotite, after he achieved one playoff win in 1992 over the New Orleans Saints, who had yet to ever win a postseason contest, New York Jets owner Leon Hess hired the ex-Eagles coach because he wanted immediate results. Hess got results, all right, after giving Kotite the gig and reins as general manager.
The Jets went 3-13 in 1995, down from 6-10 in Pete Carroll’s lone season with the organization. At least it was good enough to get wideout Keyshawn Johnson in Round 1 of the 1996 NFL Draft.
After a 1-15 record, Hess saw enough results and fired Kotite, who has never coached in pro football again.
Buddy Ryan
Maybe it was Ryan’s jabs at Houston Oilers offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, but there was something that made the Arizona Cardinals decide to give the father of the 46 defense the dual role of coach and general manager in 1994.
Ryan improved the Cardinals by one game for an 8-8 record in 1994. However, Ryan’s coaching future was all used up in 1995 as Arizona fell to 4-12 with his last game a 37-13 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Christmas Day.
Chip Kelly
Howie Roseman took a different role with the Eagles’ front office as the executive vice president of football operations in 2015. That meant Kelly, who had been coach since 2013, was the de facto general manager.
The Kelly-as-GM tenure got off to an inauspicious start when he traded quarterback Nick Foles to the St. Louis Rams for oft-injured former 2010 first-round pick Sam Bradford. Then, Kelly signed former Dallas Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray to team up with former San Diego Chargers first-round running back Ryan Mathews. Throw in paying retail for cornerback Byron Maxwell’s services, and the Eagles were too inept to even win a historically awful NFC East.
The Eagles had seen enough and fired Kelly with a game left in the 2015 campaign. The former Oregon Ducks coach landed with the San Francisco 49ers the next season, but was let go at the end of the year.
Dennis Green
After Jeff Diamond helped build the Minnesota Vikings into an NFC contender throughout the 1990s, the Tennessee Titans hired him away in 1999. The results didn’t work out with Tim Connolly after one year, so coach Dennis Green, who had been on the sidelines for the Vikings since 1992, took over as general manager.
In 2000, the Vikings reclaimed the NFC Central, but got creamed 41-0 by the New York Giants in the NFC Championship Game. With a 5-7 record and four games to go in 2001, the Vikings dropped their next three games. Minnesota bought out Green’s contract with a game to go.
Ray Perkins
Perkins got the New York Giants back on track in 1981 and tried his hand at succeeding Bear Bryant at Alabama after the legendary college football coach’s retirement. In 1987, Perkins returned to the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and along with it came the duties as general manager.
In Perkins’ three seasons with the Buccaneers, he posted a 14-33 record. Maybe it would have been an extra win or loss, but the 1987 players strike cancelled a game.
One of his former assistants, Bill Parcells, brought back Perkins to the NFL ranks as offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots from 1993-96. However, Perkins never got a coaching or general manager gig again.
Dom Capers
When the Indianapolis Colts hired Bill Polian as their president and general manager, the Carolina Panthers were left without anyone in that front office role. Coach Dom Capers doubled up for the 1998 season.
The expansion Panthers stunned the NFL by winning the NFC West with a 12-4 record in 1996, their second season of play. Carolina beat the Dallas Cowboys in the divisional round to face the eventual Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game.
Carolina followed up that promising season with a 7-9 record, but with Capers as both coach and general manager, they fared worse than even their inaugural season. The Panthers went 4-12 in 1998 and it cost Capers his job.
Would founder Jerry Richardson learn his lesson and get a general manager?
George Seifert
No, Panthers owner Jerry Richardson would ask his second coach in club history to take the role of general manager.
However, it wasn’t like Richardson was asking anyone with marginal success to juggle both duties. George Seifert was taking over in Carolina. Not only had Seifert won two Super Bowls with two different quarterbacks, but he had been a part of the San Francisco 49ers going back to 1980. He had been in the building with Bill Walsh was general manager and coach and won it all in 1981. Seifert was there when John McVay was general manager from 1983-90, and the 49ers added three more Super Bowl wins. Seifert also had a quality general manager with Carmen Policy from 1991-97.
If there was any coach who deserved the chance, it was Seifert.
Carolina improved to 8-8 in 1999, but slid back one game the next year for a 7-9 finish.
After beating the NFC Central champion Minnesota Vikings 24-13 at the Metrodome to start 2001, the Panthers went on a 15-game losing streak that cost Seifert his job, and he has never been involved in pro football since.
Bum Phillips
The New Orleans Saints may have gotten a steal when Houston Oilers owner Bud Adams fired Bum Phillips after the 1980 season. Becoming the eighth coach in Saints history, Phillips sought out to accomplish what no other coach had: lead the Saints to their first winning season and possibly a playoff berth.
Phillips was the Saints’ general manager, and in his first draft he may have made a mistake. With the No. 1 overall pick, he selected running back George Rogers. It wasn’t that Rogers was bad; after all, he became a Pro Bowler. It’s that the very next pick was linebacker Lawrence Taylor, who became a three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year, a Hall-of-Famer, and did so in the New York Giants’ 3-4 scheme, the same defense Phillips ran.
The Saints went 4-12 in Phillips’ first season, a three-game improvement from 1980. 1982 might have been the season it came together for New Orleans, but a midseason strike cancelled seven games and the Saints finished 4-5. New Orleans went 8-8 and 7-9 in subsequent years.
In 1985, after a 3-2 start, the Saints went on a six-game losing streak. In Week 12, New Orleans beat the Minnesota Vikings 30-23 at the Metrodome, and Phillips retired the next day. His son, defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, took over as interim coach.
