NFL Power Rankings: 30 Best Coaches of All-Time
By Will Osgood
22. Don Coryell (1973-1986)
Don Coryell made San Diego State a thing in football for a little while, before leaving what would become his adopted hometown school for the relative riches of the NFL and the St. Louis Cardinals. At San Diego State he began to develop his offense, based on many of the principles which Sid Gillman passed onto him.
Coryell, though, took the offense and ran with it. There is a reason after all, that the offense is named “Air Coryell” and not “Air Gillman” or “Air Brown” (Paul Brown, who will also appear later on this list, were passing game innovators as well). It’s because Coryell was the mastermind who put all of these new original concepts into one comprehensive scheme.
It is also a coach’s ability to teach which Coryell great. That he could run a complicated scheme (for the time) at the college level only proves he was worth his weight as a coach.
He coached the Cardinals for four years from 1973 to 1977, remarkably leading a then-moribund franchise to three consecutive double-digit win seasons, including two division titles. But Coryell eventually scratched the itch to return home, being hired after the Chargers started the 1978 season 1-4. He led them to a 9-7 record, which was their first winning season in almost a decade.
Coryell led the first team in NFL history to capture a division crown despite attempting more passes than rushes in 1979. 35 years later, it is obvious that Coryell, like his mentor Gillman, was way ahead of his time.
In all, he coached 14 seasons in the league, finishing with a sparkling .572 winning percentage, but only a .333 winning percentage in the playoffs.
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