Penguins coach Mike Sullivan has only been in town since December 2015 but already has put his name in the discussion among the greatest Pittsburgh coaches. There's a case to be made that he's already in the top five and perhaps even as high as No. 2 behind Chuck Noll.
These discussions always are subjective, and there's no right answer, but let's not lose our minds here. Sullivan has done a great job, but he isn't one of the five greatest coaches in Pittsburgh history. His body of work has been impressive but still is rather small. Let's also not forget he hasn't won his second Stanley Cup yet. He probably will Sunday night because the Predators appear to be cooked, but anything can happen.
Let's assume Sullivan and the Penguins earn a second Stanley Cup under his watch. That would put him in elite company, becoming the town's third coach to win multiple titles. Noll won four Super Bowls coaching the Steelers, and Danny Murtaugh won the 1960 and 1971 World Series managing the Pirates.
If your measure is simply titles, you're not seeing the bigger picture. It's ridiculous to boil it down to just one measure when comparing coaches. There are so many different ways coaches are evaluated, and Sullivan has checked a lot of boxes. But he hasn't been at it long enough to compare him to some of the greatest coaches in Pittsburgh history.
There's a case to be made that the job Sullivan has done this year is one of the greatest _ if not the greatest _ jobs by a coach in Pittsburgh history. He has kept the team together through all kinds of injuries and is about to win a Stanley Cup without one of his two most important players. It's been a tremendous run and an amazing story, but it's only one season. That can't be overlooked.
Sullivan may be well on his way to becoming perhaps the greatest coach in this town's history. It's sacrilegious to suggest a Pittsburgh coach may be greater than Noll, but Sullivan could pull it off. He has a young group built around a core of stars that appears to still have a lot left in the tank. It wouldn't shock me if Sullivan wins two or three more titles, but again, there's no guarantee.
Longevity, consistency, winning with different players and surviving a rebuild are factors in deciding where coaches fit on the all-time list. There's no way to know what Sullivan's time here is going to become, so it's way too early to put him in the discussion of greatest of all time.
Sullivan is off to a great start and appears to have some staying power, but if he wins two Stanley Cups then misses the playoffs three years in a row and is fired, is he still in the top five? It sounds crazy, but ask Darryl Sutter if it's possible to win multiple Stanley Cups and then be fired.
Noll, Murtaugh, Fred Clarke, Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin are all on the list above Sullivan for now and will be for at least a few more seasons. Sullivan may already be the Penguins' greatest coach, but that's only because they really haven't had anyone with much longevity before. That in and of itself is an accomplishment, one he can be proud of. If he wants to climb higher on the list, though, he will need to win a lot more over a much longer period of time.
