Dola -

After work today, I have the next 18 days off. I can't wait to dive into the main game in a few days.

Just went and looked through the top 25 that were already shown...

I agree with those 4, and the only other name that seems glaringly missing is Joe Gibbs... Do I think he's top 5? Meh, dunno... but at the same time it seems that he should be in the top 25...

Gibbs is #6.

I'll go with Paul Brown.

Oops, I'm blind....

Paul Brown might be it...

Very good guess. I'd bet that's the five.

Gibbs ahead of Walsh and Lombardi is absurd IMO. Yes, he was a very good coach and deserves to be in the top 10.

People forget Lombardi won 5 championships before there was a superbowl meaning he won 7 "world" championships.

Walsh (with an obvious push from Brown) revolutionized the game so much that today at every level from the NFL down to high school you can still see his influence in almost every game that is played.

as far as the last 5 - I think Paul Brown has to be in there.

along with Halas, Shula, Landry, and Noll.

My top 7 would have been:

1. Lombardi
2. Hallas
3. Shula
4. Brown
5. Walsh
6. Noll
7. Landry

What, no Jerry Glanville?

I am absolutely pissed that Ray Handley is apparently not in the top 25.

Dave Wannstedt is top 3 material.

Shula is one of the most overrated coaches in NFL history. Sure he won the most games, but not the most important ones most of the time. With the Colts, he loses two championship games, 27-0 against Cleveland as an 18-point favorite, and 16-7 in SB III against the Jets as 19-point favorites. He very nearly blew his perfect season against the Skins. He inherits the most prolific passer in NFL history and can't even win one championship? And the one SB he makes with Marino he loses 38-16. How could he never get Marino a running game? If good coaching is a function of wins, championships and talent, he did less with more talent in big games than practically any other coach. Take away his perfect season, and I think he coaches far fewer games, especially for the Dolphins. But as a Viking fan, I think Bud Grant has to rank up there as well.

Well, look at what that bastard Jimmy Johnson did to Miami. He ditched all the decent receivers Marino had and sent the team in a spiral of suckitude that lasted a long time.

Ahhhhh Yes BUT..................................


"HOW ABOUT THEM COWBOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" :D

That brings up an interesting point. How many of these old-time coaches are great not because they were particularly good coaches, but because in the pre-FA era they were able to stockpile awesome teams? Look how many have tanked or done at best mediocre since the FA system was brought into place.

I think that's what makes the things coaches like Belichik, Cowher, and Dungy have done all the more remarkable: build teams that are consistently successful year in and year out despite having significant turnover every season.

I think the biggest selling point for Shula besides the wins, is that he was extremely good at adapting.

When he had Unitas - he had a nice balanced attack, with the 70's Dolphins he won with Csonka and Morris and the inside/outside running game and then we he got Marino he adapted again and went with a passing attack. In all 3 scenarios he was able to win. SuperBowls, no, but NFL games yes.

too often football coaches try to make their players adapt to their system, rather then adapt the system to the player.

That may be one of the funniest lines of thought I have ever seen. :)

So, is this out yet? I'm lazy and don't feel like reading anything in this thread.

4 or 5 more days until it is out.

6/20

cause they know that jim is releasing a new FOF/TCY combo in Sept and dorks like us will drop everything for that.

;) :p

We drink from the same chalice. Marv Levy owned Shula.

That's a good way to get mono.

My intended thought was that Grant was terrible coaching big games, too, and thus overrated.:)

He chose poorly.

I could have sworn i saw 6/22, but that may have just been that demo.

Geez, if Cowher hadn't won the super bowl he wouldn't be in there. Jeff Fisher deseves it as much as Cowher without the SB win.

Jeff fisher would still be playing in the NFL if Cowher hadn't ended his career.

Yeah but, even if you say all other things are equal, Cowher still won the Super Bowl.

That's a bit more clear. At first I thought you were accusing Shula of being overrated, but then arguing that Bud Grant was one of the top 10 coaches of all time. :)

But the argument that Shula is incomprehensible to me. There are plenty of people who argue that if you haven't won a title you aren't a great coach. I think that's arbitrary, but it's a valid line of thought. But critics of Shula take that line even further -- that Shula is overrated because he didn't win ENOUGH titles. I think that demonstrates a lack of understanding of how difficult it is to win even once title.

I'm pretty indifferent to Shula in that I'm neither a fan nor a detractor, but I think the only coaches you could argue were better than him would be a coach with more than one title -- and he was certainly better than some of those even.

The criticism that he never won a title with Marino has never made a whole lot of sense with me. This is a man who won a Super Bowl with Bob freakin' Griese an took "Woodstrock" to a Super Bowl too. But Shula wasn't the GM -- he wasn't the one buying the groceries. He had Marino and some occassionally above average wide receivers -- I think Marino made Mark "Super" Duper rather than the other way around -- but other than he had average talent on the offensive line and below average talent at running back. His defensive talent was probably average at best too, but Shula was always great at getting more out of his defense.

But would I rate him ahead of Bill Walsh and Vince Lombardi? No, that's just kooky.

Judging by the fact that no EA Sports games are BC, I would doubt that this one will be. Until I start seeing some of these titles show up (I have Madden 2006 and Tiger Woods 2006), I doubt this game will EVER be BC.

On PC version is there anything going to be cut out compare to the console version.

In madden pc version they always have some things cut out compare to console version.

The newest issue of sporting news has an ad for the game, with a 6/22 RD.

I saw a banner ad on a site the other day (sorry I don't recall which one) that also said a 6/22 in store date.

Fry's had it listed as in by 4pm on 6/22 and for $29.99.

directly from the horses mouth (ea website) - Of course shipping means you almost certainly will not get it that day - but digital download should hopefully mean we will have the game in hand on Tuesday.

Re:
 

Best buy says they'll have it Tuesday.

Only concern left is how realistic the sim stats will look like and how they compare with games we coach out.

For whatever reason, you are missing the D3D Extension DLL that the game was compiled against.

You can download it here. Once downloaded, place it in the program's folder next to the executable.

Hope it helps...

Yes, Shula had the best QB and didn't win a Superbowl.. Levy had a top 5 QB, RB, WR along with the 2nd best D-End, and a slew of others on Defense. Your telling me Shula doesn't win with that talent, the Dolphins had half of what Levy had to work with..

They actually had a two-page ad for this in the front of Sporting News this week. I was pretty surprised to see that.

Btw, the release date there is listed as 6/22.

I'm surprised that I just saw a TV ad for the game during the NBA Finals. Nice to see them doing some advertising.

Nice.....I wish I could have seen it if I had even the slightest interest in hoops. :)

I pre-ordered Head Coach at Gamestop today and they told me I could pick up Tuesday afternoon.

I got the XBox version because on the XBox website, they specifically say on there that their plan is to eventually have *all* XB games be BC on the 360.

Oh and the XB has better graphics than the PS2 usually.

Hopefully, the folks at EA will link my store account and my EA account so I can predownload this.

I called my Gamestop earlier today and they said my PC copy should be in on Tuesday as well.

Be careful. If you download it before they want you will have stolen the game. No matter that you paid for it. So don't steal the game you have bought by downloading it.

Mine should be in at that time as well.

ah yes, a wonderful moment in FOFC history :)

I am curious if they add any thing to your pc besides the game for the download copy. I mean I am assuming it is like steam and you have to be connected to the internet to play it.

You pirate :)

Sorry if this has been answered already... but how much of the coaches job can be deligated to assistants/handled by the CPU. I am interested in drafting, signing free agents, designing plays, and calling the plays in the game. Can I let the CPU handle all the other stuff (practices, motivational speeches, etc)?