It is far from “breaking news” to say that New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton is the best coach in franchise history. Since arriving in 2006, he’s helped turn the Saints from a perennial laughing stock in the NFL to a consistent contender, including the franchise’s only Super Bowl in 2009.
Our good friends at Sports Betting Dime recently looked at coaching tenure and winning percentages across all four major U.S. sports leagues (NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL) since 1990.
Sean Payton ranked fourth as the best active head coach according to fans, behind Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots, Andy Reid of the Kansas City Chiefs, and Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Of note, Sean Payton is also the sixth-winningest active head coach in the NFL despite two coaches ahead of him - Matt LaFleur and Kevin Stefanski - having relatively small sample sizes of less than two seasons.
Another interesting tidbit from Sports Betting Dime is that NFL fans believe that anything below a 6-win season means the head coach should be fired. Considering all of the turmoil going around the Saints this offseason, it will be interesting to watch for the Saints to cross the 6-win threshold, and to hopefully do so quickly and put any “Sean Payton hot seat” takes to bed early.
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