Mora Jr--Part II

HawkfaninOklahoma made an interesting comment in the previous post about Jim Mora Jr. He suggests that Brian Billick should be given another shot to coach. No matter what you think of Billick, this is valid point. In fact, the similarities to Billick and Mora jr are undeniable. Lets take a look.

Billick was a first time head coach in Baltimore, so we are comparing him to Mora Jr's Atlanta days. Both coaches had unprecedented success in their first few years. Billick won a Superbowl in year 2, while Mora got to the NFC championship game in year 1. What does that SB win buy you? About 7 meddling seasons instead of 2. Mora was out after three years, but more so because of his follies with the media, not his overall record. Anyway, if Hawk fans think that Mora is going to be a good coach, then we have to believe Billick should get another shot. Why? Because most of the time coaches in their second job do a substantially better job.


Mike Sando wrote this for ESPN the other day about the coaching landscape. Part of this article is about the success that coaches have had in their second stint. It is truly impossible to ignore.

Seven current head coaches were fired as head coaches by other NFL teams: Mike Shanahan, Bill Belichick, Tony Dungy, Coughlin, Jauron, Wade Phillips and Norv Turner. They have guided their current teams to eight Super Bowls, winning seven, in 35 combined seasons with their current teams.

Lets look at the overall record of these coaches...

	1st stint	win %	2ndstint	win %	improvement
Shanahan	8-12	0.4	130-78	0.625	0.225
Belichick	36-44	0.45	91-37	0.711	0.261
Dungy	54-42	0.563	73-23	0.76	0.197
Coughlin	68-60	0.531	35-29	0.547	0.016
Jauron	35-45	0.438	14-18	0.438	0
Phillips	29-19	0.604	13-3	0.813	0.209
Turner	49-59	0.454	9-23	0.281	-0.173

Median improvement = .197
Average improvement = .105

This only includes the fired coaches, and doesn't include Norv Turners success last year in his third job. Consider this.... These coaches, last year alone, counted as 2 of 2 in Superbowl appearances, 3 of 4 in championship game appearances, and 5 of 8 in divisional round appearances

Mora's record in Atlanta was 26-22 (.542). If you figure in the average improvement it goes up to .647, which is better than Shannahan has done with Broncos. In you figure in the median improvement, it goes up to .739. This is far more accurate in this case because Norv's awful record with the Raiders is pulling the average down. He seems to be doing better in his third job. A winning % of.739 is better than Belichick and just under Dungy. Pretty impressive company. It is also far better than Holmgren's Seahawk winning %.

Obviously, each situation is different. Am I saying Mora Jr is better than these coaches? Absolutely not! I am just showing that numbers support Mora having quite a big success in his second job. Some get worse. Look up Mooch's record with the Lions. However, consider he was just passed up for the Skins Job, a job that Mora could have had if he wanted.

As for hawkfaninOK-- Figure in the improvements to Billick's record and his winning % would move to .659 and .753. So who ever gets him in his second job will probably have quite a bit of success as well. Kinda makes you appreciate exactly how crazy Daniel Snyder is, hiring Jim Zorn above proven coaches like Mariuchi, Billick, or Fassel. Is it about winning, or appeasing the fans?