Todd Bowles era: Ranking best, worst NFL defensive head coach hires

TAMPA — Anyone leaning on history to determine the trajectory of Todd Bowles’ head coaching tenure in Tampa will be uplifted or uptight by what they discover.

Defensive coordinators/assistants who have earned NFL head coaching gigs can be found across the win-loss spectrum. Collectively, this group owns world titles and winless seasons. Seems every Shula is offset by a Schiano.

Bowles’ first head coaching job — with the Jets from 2015-2018 — was a microcosm of this fluctuation: a 10-6 debut season, followed by 14 total wins over the next three years.

Which keeps him — for now — off the following lists. Here are what we deem the five best and worst defensive head coaching hires in NFL history.

The Best

Bill Belichick (27 seasons, 290-143)

Belichick had served as Bill Parcells’ defensive coordinator for six years (including two Super Bowl runs) when the Browns hired him as coach in 1991. That half-decade tenure (36-44) didn’t go so well, but the next one did: six Super Bowl titles (and counting) with New England. While the world can deliberate ad nauseam over who warrants most credit for the Patriots dynasty (Belichick or Tom Brady), the fact remains New England has boasted a top-10 defense in four of the last seven years.

Tony Dungy (13 seasons, 139-69)

Dungy had spent 16 seasons as an NFL defensive assistant when the Bucs afforded him a long-overdue head coach opportunity in 1996. The prospective employers who bypassed him all those years still might be kicking themselves. The “Tampa 2” scheme installed by Dungy and longtime coordinator Monte Kiffin revolutionized how defense is played in the league. Dungy transformed the fortunes of the Bucs franchise (four playoff berths in six seasons) and later won a Super Bowl with Peyton Manning in Indianapolis.

Chuck Noll (23 seasons, 193-148-1)

A two-way player for the Browns in the 1950s, Noll had logged nearly a decade as a pro defensive assistant (AFL and NFL) when the foundering Steelers hired him in 1969, after Joe Paterno turned them down. A stickler for fundamentals with a demeanor that might make Belichick seem effervescent, Noll built the Steelers through years of brilliant drafting. In 1974 alone, the team drafted four eventual Hall of Famers with their first five picks. The result: four Super Bowls and the iconic “Steel Curtain” defense.

Bill Parcells (19 seasons, 172-130-1)

Hard to believe in retrospect, but the “Big Tuna” was nearly canned before his head coaching career got off the ground. A journeyman college/pro defensive assistant before the Giants promoted him from defensive coordinator, he went 3-12-1 his first season with New York before resuscitating the franchise. In Year Two, the Giants were in the playoffs, and by 1986, they had won the first of Parcells’ two Super Bowls. The 3-4 defense he crafted (with a coordinator named Belichick) became iconic.

Don Shula (33 seasons, 328-156-6)

Shula had spent five years as a defensive assistant at the college and pro levels before the Colts hired him as head coach at 33 in 1963. He posted winning seasons in each of his seven years in Baltimore (including a berth in Super Bowl 3) but earned his greatest glory in Miami (five Super Bowl appearances, two titles, a 17-0 season). Shula remains the NFL’s winningest coach, proving he could succeed with run-based or Dan Marino-based offenses. That “No-Name Defense” of the 1970s wasn’t shabby either.

The Worst

Marion Campbell (parts of nine seasons, 34-80-1)

Exhibit A for the case that some guys simply are born to be coordinators instead of head coaches. A two-way star on the Eagles’ 1960 NFL championship team, Campbell served as Dick Vermeil’s defensive coordinator in Philadelphia, crafting a 3-4 scheme that helped the unit allow the fewest points in the NFL in 1980 and 1981. But he never sniffed a winning season as a head coach; his win-loss percentage is by far the worst of anyone who has coached at least 100 games in the league.

Rod Marinelli (three seasons, 10-38)

The greatest defensive line coach in Bucs history, Marinelli helped craft the front end of the “Tampa 2” system that featured Warren Sapp, Booger McFarland and Simeon Rice, among others. In 2006, he was hired by the Lions, who went 3-13 his first season. Two years later, Detroit became the first NFL team since the inception of the 16-game regular season to go winless, and Marinelli was fired. He never stayed unemployed, though, remaining an NFL defensive assistant or coordinator until his retirement earlier this year.

Richie Petitbon (one season, 4-12)

An All-Pro NFL safety who once had three interceptions in a game, Petitbon served as Joe Gibbs’ defensive coordinator for all three of Washington’s Super Bowl title teams, and was elevated to head coach following Gibbs’ retirement in 1993. The aging team he inherited became ravaged by injuries, and Petitbon was criticized for a perceived lack of attention to detail. Washington lost six of its first seven and finished 26th of 28 teams in both offense and defense, resulting in Petitbon’s dismissal after one year.

Rod Rust (one season, 1-15)

Rust had served five separate stints as a pro defensive coordinator (including with New England during its 1985 Super Bowl run) before landing a head-coaching gig with the Patriots at age 61 in 1990. After a narrow win against the Colts in Week Two, the Patriots lost 14 in a row and finished with a minus-265 point differential, worst of any team in the 1990s. He got one more head coaching crack, with Montreal of the Canadian Football League in 2001, but was fired after a six-game losing streak.

Greg Schiano (two seasons, 11-21)

Before requiring Tampa Bay to put its toes on the line, Schiano had put together a solid resume as a defensive coach. He mostly flourished as coach at Rutgers from 2001-2011, with four of his last six teams boasting defenses ranked in the top 20 nationally. He also served as defensive coordinator for Miami’s 2000 team that went 11-1 and finished No. 2 in the country. But his drill sergeant approach, combined with one catastrophe after another (see, MRSA), resulted in a brief, disastrous tenure with the Bucs.

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