Shanahan looks to move up wins list

If the Washington Redskins have a better than expected season in 2011, Mike Shanahan will move into the top 12 in all-time coaching wins.

Shanahan goes into the 2011 season 15^th on the list with 152 career wins. He needs just three more to pass legendary Redskins coach Joe Gibbs, who is 14^th with 154 wins in his two stints as the Redskins coach.

If the Redskins get to seven wins, Shanahan will pass Vikings coach Bud Grant and move into 13^th place. A 10-win season would give Shanahan 162 for his career and will move Shanahan past former Packers and Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren into 12^th.

Bill Belichick currently ranks 11^th on the list with 162 and it is safe to assume that he will win enough games this year to stay ahead of Shanahan. In fact, an 11-win season would move Belichick past former mentor Bill Parcells and into the top 10 of all time.

The top 10 certainly is a reachable goal for Shanahan if he coaches the remaining four years on his contract. He will either have to catch Belichick or, more likely, Chuck Knox, who currently is ninth with 186 wins. Shanahan would have to average about nine wins a year for the next four years to pass Knox.

If Shanahan maintains his winning percentage of .585 (about nine wins a year) he would have the third worst winning percentage of the coaches in the top 10. Only Dan Reeves (.535), Shanahan’s former boss when both were with the Broncos, and Chuck Noll (.566) would have lower percentages.

Six of the current top 10 coaches are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and it seems that it is only a matter of time before Parcells gets in. That would leave Reeves, Knox, and Marty Schottenheimer as those on the outside of the Hall looking in.

None of those three coaches has won a Super Bowl while Shanahan has two to his credit. A place in the top 10 in wins and two championships would give Shanahan a very good chance at eventual enshrinement in Canton.

 

Comments

[Jeff Clark]

It is great to finally see the Redskins with a plan and moving foward with it. My hats off to a job well done by Snyder, GM Allen and Coach Shanahan. Win or lose the team working as a team is very clear to us fans. We finally have depth!