Jon Gruden should be very excited that he has a long-term deal that pays him a ton of money because otherwise, he could be on the hot seat. He wouldn’t be on the hot seat for his coaching performance last year — although that was questionable — but instead would be on the hot seat because there is a curse no one talks about, but it’s real. It’s not the Madden Curse. It’s the “Hard Knocks” coaching curse. Basically, if you’re a coach and your team goes on the HBO show — on tomorrow by the way — then you’re not long for the current job you are in. There’s undeniable proof.
2001: Baltimore Ravens, Brian Billick
Billick coached the Ravens to a Super Bowl title in 2000. He had a great team. He had ownership and front office support. There was no way Billick was ever going to have issues in Baltimore. He was their football savior.
The Ravens went 10-6 the year they did “Hard Knocks” but Billick only had three winning seasons out of the next six season with a bad five-win and three-win season in that resume. Coincidently, that three-win season got Billick relieved of his duties. He never landed a head coaching gig again. He did last longer than our next example.
2002: Dallas Cowboys, Dave Campo
Dave Campo was fired the year that he was the coach on Hard Knocks. He had three consecutive 5-11 seasons.
Campo was able to land a job as the Browns defensive coordinator after his embarrassing run as a head coach. He was out of the NFL in 2004 according to Pro Football Reference.
2007: Kansas City Chiefs, Herm Edwards
“Hard Knocks” took a few years off after the Campo debacle. It’s not like the Cowboys losing was his fault, but HBO stepped away. They came back with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2007.
They came back with a big personality. The always quotable Herm Edwards would be the next coach on the show. The Chiefs went 4-12 the year they were the team of “Hard Knocks.” Edwards coached the team to two wins in 2008. He was promptly fired. He has not coached in the NFL since but is now the coach of at Arizona State.
2008: Dallas Cowboys, Wade Phillips
Phillips is one of the best defensive minds in the NFL. He should make it into the Hall of Fame based on his abilities as a defensive coordinator alone. He’s highly regarded. He’s one of the best follows on Twitter. I don’t want to have to say anything bad about Phillips because he is an NFL treasure.
But, he did coach the Cowboy to a 9-7 record the year they were on the show. He then coached Dallas to an 11-5 record in 2009. That should help him reverse the curse, right? He was fired in 2010 after nine weeks. He didn’t even make it three seasons after the show aired.
2009: Cincinnati Bengals, Marvin Lewis
I don’t know if Marvin Lewis counts for this at all. Honestly, he’s the only coach who survived two ‘Hard Knocks’ and lived to tell about it. He isn’t coaching now, but he might be the best coach in modern-Bengals history.
Of course, Mike Brown could have moved on from Lewis earlier, but he never wanted to. That’s Mike Brown.
2010: New York Jets, Rex Ryan
The Jets went 11-5 the year they were on “Hard Knocks.” That’s good! They even made a playoff run to the AFC Championship. The problem is that it was all downhill from there.
New York finished 8-8, 6-10, 8-8, and finally, 4-12 in the Ryan years after the team took the momentum from the show to make a run. Ryan had a short stint in Buffalo but did not last long and is now on television.
2012: Miami Dolphins, Joe Philbin
Joe Philbin had to be one of the most boring coaches in “Hard Knocks” history. We went from charismatic Ryan to grandpa Joe — or at least that’s what it felt like.
Philbin never finished with better than a .500 record in his four years in Miami. He was fired in 2015 four weeks into the season.
2013: Cincinnati Bengals, Marvin Lewis
Marvin is back! See everything above.
2014: Atlanta Falcons, Mike Smith
Mike Smith coached the Falcons to 13, 10, and 13 wins before the Falcons stumbled to only four wins in 2013. The obvious idea would be to go on a television show after winning four games. That should fix things.
Narrator Voice: It did not fix things.
The Falcons won six games in 2014 and Smith was fired immediately after the 2014 season.
2015: Houston Texans, Bill O’Brien
We finally have a coach who has won some division titles and stuck around after appearing on Hard Knocks!
There’s really not much to say about O’Brien when it comes to the curse because he’s still coaching the same team. He’s made the playoffs. He has a star at quarterback. O’Brien wins.
2016: Los Angeles Rams, Jeff Fisher
Jeff Fisher was fired after Week 13 the same season that his team appeared on “Hard Knocks.” He was eventually replaced by a wunderkind head coach who is one of the most creative play-callers in the game. Fisher has not coached in the NFL since.
2017: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Dirk Koetter
Dirk Koetter lasted exactly two seasons — 2017 and 2018 — until he was fired as the head coach of the Bucs. He did not have any winning seasons as a coach after appearing on Hard Knocks.
2018: Cleveland Browns, Hue Jackson
I don’t even think we need to get into Hue Jackson, but he was fired mid-year last year. He finished his career with the Browns at 3-36-1. It wasn’t the show that got Jackson fired, but he still is part of the trend.
Exactly one Hard Knocks coach still has a head coaching job today. That’s crazy. If we say that O’Brien, Lewis, and we will even say Billick was successful after “Hard Knocks” that’s only three out of 12 coaches. That’s not a great hit rate. Jon Gruden doesn’t have to worry, but he should be really happy he has that long term deal. The “Hard Knocks” curse has more victims than the Madden Curse.
