List of Detroit Lions head coaches

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Bobby Ross was the head coach of the Lions from 1997 to 2000.
Bobby Ross was the head coach of the Lions from 1997 to 2000.[1]

This is a complete list of Detroit Lions head coaches. There have been 24 head coaches for the Detroit Lions, a football team for the National Football League (NFL), including coaches for the Portsmouth Spartans (1930–1933). The Lions franchise was originally founded in Portsmouth, Ohio, as the Spartans. In 1934, the franchise moved to Detroit and changed their name to the Lions.

George "Potsy" Clark is the only coach to have more than one tenure. Three different coaches have won NFL championships with the team: Potsy Clark in 1935, Buddy Parker in 1952 and 1953, and George Wilson in 1957.[2] Wayne Fontes is the all-time leader in games coached and wins, and Potsy Clark leads all coaches in winning percentage with .679 (with at least one full season coached).[3] John Karcis is statistically the worst coach the Lions have had never winning a game,[4] followed by Marty Mornhinweg with a winning percentage of .156.

Of the 24 Lions coaches, two have been elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame: Dutch Clark and Joe Schmidt.[5] Several former players have been head coach for the Lions, including Dutch Edwards, Buddy Parker, Harry Gilmer, Joe Schmidt, and Dick Jauron. The current coach is Rod Marinelli, who was hired on January 18, 2006.[6]

Statistics correct as of December 30, 2007, after the end of the 2007 NFL season.

Contents

[edit] Coaches

      Elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame
      Spent entire professional head coaching career with Lions

GC Games Coached
W Wins
L Loses
T Ties
W–L % Win–Loss percentage
† Spent entire professional head coaching career with Lions
* Elected to the Hall of Fame


# Name Term Regular season Playoffs Awards
GC W L T W–L % GC W L
Portsmouth Spartans
1 Hal Griffin† 1930 14 5 6 3 .455 – – –
Detroit Lions
2 George "Potsy" Clark[7] 1931–1936 74 48 20 6 .703 1 1 0
3 Earl "Dutch" Clark* 1937–1938 22 14 8 0 .636 – – –
4 Gus Henderson† 1939 11 6 5 0 .545 – – –
— George "Potsy" Clark*[7] 1940 11 5 5 1 .500 – – –
5 Bill Edwards† 1941–1942 14 4 9 1 .308 – – –
6 John Karcis† 1942 8 0 8 0 .000 – – –
7 Gus Dorais† 1943–1947 53 20 31 2 .392 – – –
8 Bo McMillin 1948–1950 36 12 24 0 .333 – – –
9 Buddy Parker 1951–1956 72 47 23 2 .671 4 3 1 UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1956)[8]
10 George Wilson 1957–1964 104 53 45 6 .541 2 2 0 AP Coach of the Year (1957)[9]
11 Harry Gilmer† 1965–1966 28 10 16 2 .385 – – –
12 Joe Schmidt* 1967–1972 84 43 34 7 .558 1 0 1
13 Don McCafferty 1973 14 6 7 1 .462 – – –
14 Rick Forzano† 1974–1976 32 15 17 0 .469 – – –
15 Tommy Hudspeth† 1976–1977 24 11 13 0 .458 – – –
16 Monte Clark 1978–1984 105 43 61 1 .413 2 0 2
17 Darryl Rogers† 1985–1988 58 18 40 0 .310 – – –
18 Wayne Fontes† 1988–1996 133 66 67 0 .496 5 1 4 AP Coach of the Year (1991)[10]
Pro Football Weekly Coach of the Year (1991)[11]
UPI NFC Coach of the Year (1991)[12]
19 Bobby Ross 1997–2000 57 27 30 0 .474 2 0 2
20 Gary Moeller† 2000 7 4 3 0 .571 – – –
21 Marty Mornhinweg† 2001–2002 32 5 27 0 .156 – – –
22 Steve Mariucci 2003–2005 43 15 28 0 .349 – – –
23 Dick Jauron 2005 5 1 4 0 .200 – – –
24 Rod Marinelli† 2006–present 32 10 22 0 .313 – – –

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Bobby Ross' Coaching Record. Pro Football Reference. Retrieved on 2008-03-19.
  2. ^ Detroit Lions Championship History. NFLTeamHistory.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-19.
  3. ^ Potsy Clark's Coaching Record. Pro Football Reference. Retrieved on 2008-03-20.
  4. ^ Marty Mornhinweg's Coaching Record. Pro Football Reference. Retrieved on 2008-03-20.
  5. ^ Hall of Famers by Franchise. Pro Football Hall of Fame Official website. Retrieved on March 19, 2008.
  6. ^ Marinelli brings 'show-me' football attitude to Lions. ESPN. Retrieved on 2008-03-19.
  7. ^ a b Potsy Clark's full coaching record with the Lions is 85 regular season games coached with a record of 53–25–7 and a W–L percentage of .679. He is also 1–0 in 1 Playoff game.
  8. ^ Buddy Parker. Databasefootball.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-12.
  9. ^ George William Wilson. Databasefootball.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-12.
  10. ^ Wayne Howard Joseph Fontes. pro-football-reference.com. Retrieved on 2008-04-12.
  11. ^ Pro Football Hall of Fame Field at Fawcett Stadium. Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved on 2008-04-12.
  12. ^ Vainisi, Jerry. Barry Sanders retire? No Payton record? Not a chance. Retrieved on 2008-04-12.

[edit] External links

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Detroit Lions
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League Championships (4)
1935 • 1952 • 1953 • 1957
Current League Affiliations
v • d • e
Portsmouth Spartans/Detroit Lions Head Coaches
v • d • e
List of NFL head coaches by team