Joe Jackson Gibbs turned 85 this week.
Gibbs was born on November 25, 1940, 85 years ago.
That can’t be possible! When I was a senior in high school, I recall Gibbs as the offensive coordinator for the San Diego Chargers, being announced as the head coach for the Washington Redskins. I have, humorously, now confessed for 45 years that when Gibbs was hired, I actually objected because he had never been the head coach at any level of football.
What did I know? Well, not very much. For it was actually Gibbs’ leadership that turned out to be his strength, evidenced by not only his coaching the Redskins to a very high level of winning, but also his very successful NASCAR career leading Joe Gibbs Racing.
There is no question that Coach Joe is the greatest head coach in the DMV area’s history. Lefty Driesell was Maryland’s men’s basketball coach from 1969-1986, and Lefty won enough that he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018.
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Gary Williams and John Thompson both won a national championship 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 Frese won a national championship for the University of Maryland women’s basketball program in 2006, and Davey Martinez managed the Washington Nationals to a 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. Even more, he didn’t win his Super Bowls the way most NFL coaches have. Vince Lombardi had Bart Starr both years, and Tom Landry had Roger Staubach for both of his. 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, both with John Elway. Tom Flores and Jim Plunkett led the Raiders together for two titles. Don Shula and Bob Griese together obtained 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 had Joe Montana first and Steve Young for the second championship in San Francisco, and Bill Parcells had Phil Simms and then Jeff Hostetler with the NY Giants.
This leads us to Joe Gibbs. Gibbs accomplished in Super Bowl history what no other coach ever achieved, winning three Super Bowl championships with three different quarterbacks. And get this: go back up through the list above, noticing how many Hall of Fame quarterbacks there are. Coach Joe never had a Hall of Fame quarterback. Joe Theismann (SB XVII) was an All-Pro only once, and Doug Williams (SB XVII) and Mark Rypien (XXVI) were never All-Pro.
How good of a leader/coach has Joe Gibbs been in professional sports? In 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!
