When Antonio Pierce was named the interim head coach of the Las Vegas
Raiders, he became the latest in a small fraternity of NFL coaches who
have also coached at the high school level.
Pierce, a nine-year NFL linebacker with the Washington Redskins and New York Giants during the 2000s, coached
Long Beach Poly (Long Beach, Calif.)
from 2014-17 and produced an overall record of 31-15. He replaced
longtime coach Raul Lara, who stepped down following the 2013 season.
Pierce
becomes one of the few coaches to be a head coach at both the pro and
high school level. Surprisingly, only 15 coaches out of the 102 with 50
or more NFL coaching wins, were head coaches in high school before
eventually moving on to the professional level.
Here are the top 10 coaches from that list with the most high school wins to their credit.
Antonio Pierce at a signing day ceremony at Long Beach Poly in early 2015. (Photo: David Hood)
NFL coaching jobs: Cleveland Browns, 1950-62; Cincinnati Bengals, 1968-75
Overall NFL record: 213-104-9
High school coaching jobs: Severn (Ohio), 1930-31;
Washington (Massillon, Ohio), 1932-40
Overall high school record: 92-10-3
Notes:
Certainly the most successful football coach when you consider all of
the levels. Won five state championships at Washington
and four of his teams are recognized as national champions. He won a
national championship at Ohio State in 1942. While coaching the Great
Lakes Navy armed services team, his 1943 team defeated Notre Dame, which
was ranked No. 1 in the nation. As head coach of the Cleveland Browns,
he won seven titles in the AAFC and NFL combined.
2. O.A. "Bum" Phillips
NFL coaching jobs: Houston Oilers, 1975-80; New Orleans Saints, 1981-85
Overall NFL record: 82-77
High school coaching jobs: Nederland (Texas), 1951-56;
Jacksonville (Texas), 1958;
Amarillo (Texas), 1959-61;
Port Neches-Groves (Port Neches, Texas), 1964-65
Overall high school record: 86-40-7
Notes:
Phillips won four straight district championships and had a record of
46-4-3 in his final four seasons at Nederland, which included a berth in
the Class 3A state championship game.
3. Weeb Ewbank
NFL coaching jobs: Baltimore Colts, 1954-62; New York Jets, 1963-73
Overall NFL record: 130-129-7
High school coaching jobs: Van Wert (Ohio), 1928-29; McGuffey (Ohio), 1930-43
Overall high school record: 74-34-2
Notes:
Like Brown, Ewbank played at the University of Miami-Ohio. He assisted
Brown on the Great Lakes Navy team in 1943-45 and eventually assisted
Brown at Cleveland before getting the job with the Colts in 1954.
4. Blanton Collier
NFL coaching jobs: Cleveland Browns, 1963-70
Overall NFL record: 76-34-2
High school coaching jobs: Paris (Ky.), 1928-43
Overall high school record: 73-50-10
Notes:
While serving in World War II, Collier met up with Paul Brown and went
on to assist him with the newly-formed Cleveland Browns rather than head
back to Kentucky. Later won an NFL championship in 1964 with the
Browns.
5. Doug Pederson
NFL coaching jobs: Philadelphia Eagles, 2016-20; Jacksonville Jaguars, 2022-present
Overall NFL record: 52-47-1
High school coaching jobs: Calvary Baptist Academy (Shreveport, La.), 2005-08
Overall high school record: 41-10
Notes:
Like Antonio Pierce, Pederson played in the NFL before venturing into
high school football and then making his way back to the NFL.
6. Vince Lombardi
NFL coaching jobs: Green Bay Packers, 1959-67; Washington Redskins, 1969
Overall NFL record: 96-34-6
High school coaching jobs: St. Cecilia (Edgewood, N.J.), 1942-46
Overall high school record: 39-6-6
Notes: The legendary Packers coach had a 25-game win streak and had back-to-back seasons of 11-0 in 1943 and 10-0-1 in 1944.
7. Dick Vermeil
NFL coaching jobs: Philadelphia Eagles, 1976-82; St. Louis Rams, 1997-99; Kansas City Chiefs, 2001-05
Overall NFL record: 120-109
High school coaching jobs: Hillsdale (San Mateo, Calif.), 1960-62
Overall high school record: 15-8-2
Notes: Vermeil went 8-1 his second year at Hillsdale. He made eight more coaching stops before getting the Eagles job in 1976.
8. Bill Walsh
NFL coaching jobs: San Francisco 49ers, 1979-88
Overall NFL record: 92-59-1
High school coaching jobs: Washington (Fremont, Calif.), 1957-59
Overall high school record: 12-10-2
Notes:
After an 8-1 season in his second year, Walsh went 1-7 his final year
at Washington. The next year he joined Marv Levy, who had started his
coaching career at St. Louis Country Day School, at the University of
California-Berkeley.
9. Chuck Knox
NFL coaching jobs: Los Angeles Rams, 1973-77, 1992-94; Buffalo Bills, 1978-82; Seattle Seahawks, 1983-91
Overall NFL record: 186-147-1
High school coaching jobs: Ellwood City (Pa.), 1956-58
Overall high school record: 10-16-2
Notes:
Knox was an assistant at the college and pro to other prep-to-pros
coaches, including Collier at Kentucky and Ewbank with the Jets.
10. Jerry Burns
NFL coaching jobs: Minnesota Vikings, 1986-91
Overall NFL record: 52-43
High school coaching jobs: Redford (Detroit, Mich.), 1953
Overall high school record: 6-1
Notes: Prior to the Detroit job, Burns had been an assistant at the University of Hawaii and Whittier College (Calif.).
* * *
A couple of high school coaches recently went over 300 career wins:
Fred Simon of
Bluefield (W.Va.)
picked up win No. 300 with a 47-13 victory over Giles last week. He's
now 300-142 in his 38-year career. He's won 10 or more games in a season
13 times with four undefeated seasons (1997, 2004, 2007, 2014).
Reed May of
Brownstown Central (Ind.)
picked up his 300th career win with a 56-27 win over Scecina Memorial
on Oct. 20. The Braves lost to Triton Central last week in the playoffs
to end their season at 9-2. In is 31 seasons at Brownstown Central, May
has never had a losing season, he's won 10 or more games 18 times with
22 Mid-Southern Conference championships. He has a record of 300-64
record.
Jack Martinelli of
Foxborough (Mass.)
picked up win No. 300 on Oct. 20 with a 35-0 win over Canton.
Martinelli has coached 42 seasons at the school with a record of 300-139
that includes state Super Bowl championships in 1987, 1988, 1991 and
2006.
