This can’t be possible! When I was a senior in high school, I remember Gibbs, the offensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers, being announced as the head coach of the Washington Redskins. I have been humorously admitting for 45 years that when Gibbs was hired, I actually objected because he had never been a head coach at any level of football.
I did know? Well, not very much. Because it was actually Gibbs’ leadership that became his strength, evidenced not only by his coaching the Redskins to high levels of victory, but also by leading Joe Gibbs Racing throughout his highly successful NASCAR career.
There is no doubt that Coach Joe is the greatest head coach in the history of the DMV area. Lefty Driskell was Maryland’s men’s basketball coach from 1969-1986, and Lefty racked up so many wins that he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.
Gary Williams and John Thompson both won national championships in men’s basketball at Maryland and Georgetown, respectively. George Allen never had a losing season as a head coach during his years with the Los Angeles Rams (1966–70) and Washington Redskins (1971–77). Brenda Freese won a national championship for the University of Maryland women’s basketball program in 2006, and Davey Martinez led the Washington Nationals to the MLB World Series championship in 2019. Dick Motta led the Washington Bullets to an NBA championship in 1978, and Barry Trotz led the Washington Capitals to the Stanley Cup in 2018.
But Joe Jackson Gibbs? He coached Washington to four Super Bowls, winning three of them. What’s more, he didn’t win his Super Bowls the way most NFL coaches have. Vince Lombardi had Bart Starr for both of his years, and Tom Landry had Roger Staubach for both of his years. Jimmy Johnson and Troy Aikman won two Super Bowls with Dallas. Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning won two Super Bowls together with the Giants. Mike Shanahan won two Super Bowls with John Elway. Tom Flores and Jim Plunkett combined to lead the Raiders to two titles. Don Shula and Bob Griese combined to receive two Super Bowl trophies.
Bill Walsh had Joe Montana for all three of his 49ers championships; Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes have won three Super Bowls with the Kansas City Chiefs. Hey, Chuck Noll had Terry Bradshaw for all four Steelers titles. Bill Belichick and Tom Brady won six Super Bowls together in New England.
Who won more than one Super Bowl with more than one quarterback? The list is very short. George Seifert first had Joe Montana and Steve Young for a second championship in San Francisco, and Bill Parcells with the NY Giants had Phil Simms and then Jeff Hostetler.
This leads us to Joe Gibbs. Gibbs accomplished what no other coach in Super Bowl history has ever accomplished, winning three Super Bowl championships with three different quarterbacks. And get this: Go back through the list above, looking at how many Hall of Fame quarterbacks there have been. Coach Joe never had a Hall of Fame quarterback. Joe Theismann (SB XVII) was All-Pro only once, and Doug Williams (SB XVII) and Mark Rypien (XXVI) were never All-Pro.
How good a leader/coach has Joe Gibbs been in professional sports? Under his NASCAR leadership, he has also won five NASCAR Cup Series and four NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Hope it was a good 85th birthday for you, Coach Joe!
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