The Ryan Index, Part 2

by Chase Stuart on June 30, 2016

Yesterday, we introduced the Ryan Index, a measure of defensive ability and aggressiveness. I looked at every coach who has spent time as a head coach or defensive coordinator, and calculated their Ryan Index for each season. For each team, I gave the same score to the head coach and the defensive coordinator. ^[1]In the interest of time, I also gave the same score to each head coach in the case of multiple head coaches. Not ideal, but good enough! By this measure, Buddy Ryan ranks 4th on the Ryan Index. Over the span of his 18 seasons, his teams were a total of 14.2 standard deviations above average, or 0.79 per season. That trails only three HOF coaches:

Rk	Coach	First Yr	Last Yr	# Sea	Score	Avg
1	Steve Owen	1931	1953	23	24.1	1.05
2	Tom Landry	1954	1988	35	19.1	0.55
3	Bill Belichick	1985	2015	30	18.9	0.63
4	Buddy Ryan	1976	1995	18	14.2	0.79
5	Bill Cowher	1989	2006	18	13.8	0.77
6	Bud Carson	1972	1997	23	13.7	0.60
7	George Allen	1966	1977	12	13.1	1.09
8	Chuck Noll	1969	1991	23	12.9	0.56
9	George Halas	1920	1967	32	12.1	0.38
10	Curly Lambeau	1921	1953	26	11.9	0.46
11	Pete Carroll	1990	2015	16	11.7	0.73
12	George Seifert	1983	2001	17	10.9	0.64
13	Andy Reid	1999	2015	17	10.4	0.61
14	Lovie Smith	2001	2015	14	10.4	0.74
15	Mike Ditka	1982	1999	14	9.8	0.70
16	Ernie Stautner	1973	1988	16	9.0	0.56
17	Brian Billick	1993	2007	9	9.0	1.00
18	Hank Stram	1960	1977	17	8.9	0.53
19	Tony Dungy	1984	2008	22	8.9	0.40
20	Vince Lombardi	1954	1969	10	8.5	0.85
21	Paul Brown	1946	1975	25	7.8	0.31
22	Monte Kiffin	1991	2013	16	7.7	0.48
23	Bud Grant	1967	1985	18	7.6	0.42
24	Dom Capers	1992	2015	22	7.4	0.34
25	Marty Schottenheimer	1977	2006	27	7.1	0.26
26	Jim Lee Howell	1954	1960	7	6.9	0.98
27	John Fox	1994	2015	21	6.9	0.33
28	Bill Parcells	1981	2006	21	6.5	0.31
29	Ron Rivera	2004	2015	11	6.4	0.59
30	Mike McCarthy	2000	2015	10	6.4	0.64
31	Jon Gruden	1995	2008	11	6.4	0.58
32	Steve Sidwell	1986	2002	17	6.4	0.37
33	John Harbaugh	2008	2015	8	6.2	0.77
34	LaVern Torgeson	1971	1977	7	5.6	0.80
35	Greasy Neale	1941	1950	10	5.5	0.55
36	Mike Tomlin	2006	2015	10	5.5	0.55
37	Tom Flores	1979	1994	12	5.5	0.45
38	Don Shula	1963	1995	33	5.4	0.16
39	Richie Petitbon	1981	1993	13	5.3	0.41
40	Bill Arnsparger	1970	1994	18	4.9	0.27
41	Jim Harbaugh	2011	2014	4	4.9	1.22
42	Joe Gibbs	1978	2007	16	4.9	0.30
43	Jerry Burns	1968	1991	6	4.8	0.79
44	Jim Johnson	1994	2008	14	4.5	0.32
45	Mike Holmgren	1989	2008	17	4.4	0.26
46	Potsy Clark	1931	1940	10	4.4	0.44
47	Walt Corey	1986	1994	9	4.4	0.49
48	Nick Saban	1991	2006	6	4.1	0.68
49	Chuck Knox	1973	1994	22	3.9	0.18
50	Ron Meeks	2002	2010	9	3.8	0.43
51	Sean McDermott	2009	2015	7	3.8	0.55
52	Rex Ryan	2005	2015	11	3.8	0.34
53	Brad Childress	2002	2012	5	3.7	0.75
54	Dan Quinn	2013	2015	3	3.6	1.19
55	Perry Fewell	2006	2014	10	3.5	0.35
56	John Madden	1969	1978	10	3.5	0.35
57	Rich Kotite	1985	1996	6	3.4	0.56
58	Ray Rhodes	1992	2005	14	3.3	0.23
59	Dean Pees	2006	2015	8	3.2	0.40
60	Dave Adolph	1985	1996	12	3.2	0.27
61	Ralph Jones	1930	1932	3	3.1	1.05
62	Buddy Parker	1949	1964	15	3.1	0.21
63	Fritz Shurmur	1979	1998	19	3.1	0.16
64	Matt Patricia	2012	2015	4	3.0	0.75
65	Ed Donatell	2000	2006	7	2.9	0.41
66	Jock Sutherland	1940	1947	4	2.8	0.70
67	Bruce Arians	2001	2015	3	2.7	0.92
68	Jeff Fisher	1989	2015	25	2.7	0.11
69	Marv Levy	1978	1997	17	2.7	0.16
70	Jackie Simpson	1978	1982	5	2.6	0.53
71	Jim Trimble	1952	1955	4	2.6	0.65
72	Jim Fassel	1992	2006	7	2.6	0.37
73	Don McCafferty	1970	1973	4	2.6	0.64
74	Doug Marrone	2006	2014	2	2.5	1.23
75	Bum Phillips	1974	1985	12	2.4	0.20

Ironically, Buddy’s son Rob checks out as the least Ryan-like of any coach in history. With all apologies to Katie Nolan, Rob has coached some horrible defenses and some defenses that were horrible at creating big plays.

Rk	Coach	First Yr	Last Yr	# Sea	Score	Avg
529	Rob Ryan	2004	2015	12	-11.3	-0.94
528	Dave McGinnis	1996	2003	9	-11.2	-1.25
527	Rick Venturi	1984	2008	12	-11.2	-0.93
526	Chuck Studley	1979	1986	9	-9.9	-1.10
525	Sam Wyche	1984	1995	12	-9.8	-0.82
524	Jerry Glanville	1979	1993	15	-9.5	-0.64
523	Larry Marmie	2000	2005	6	-8.3	-1.39
522	Jim Haslett	1996	2014	19	-8.3	-0.44
521	Bob Hollway	1971	1985	11	-8.3	-0.75
520	John Mazur	1970	1980	6	-8.0	-1.33
519	Jack Patera	1976	1982	7	-6.9	-0.98
518	Dennis Allen	2011	2015	5	-6.7	-1.34
517	Bob Slowik	1993	2008	10	-6.5	-0.65
516	Mel Tucker	2008	2014	8	-6.0	-0.75
515	Jim Hanifan	1980	1989	7	-5.9	-0.85
514	Bruce Coslet	1986	2002	9	-5.8	-0.64
513	Bert Bell	1936	1941	6	-5.5	-0.92
512	Charley Winner	1966	1975	7	-5.5	-0.78
511	Norm Van Brocklin	1961	1974	13	-5.5	-0.42
510	Tom Olivadotti	1987	1995	9	-5.4	-0.60
509	Don Coryell	1973	1986	14	-5.4	-0.38
508	Dick LeBeau	1984	2014	28	-5.2	-0.19
507	Doug Shivley	1985	1993	5	-5.2	-1.03
506	Harland Svare	1961	1973	9	-5.1	-0.57
505	Red Dawson	1946	1949	4	-5.0	-1.25
504	Mike McCormack	1973	1982	6	-5.0	-0.83
503	Ted Marchibroda	1975	1998	12	-4.9	-0.41
502	Joe Kuharich	1952	1968	11	-4.9	-0.44
501	Tom Bass	1969	1985	9	-4.9	-0.54
500	Sean Payton	2000	2015	9	-4.9	-0.54
499	Jason Tarver	2012	2014	3	-4.8	-1.61
498	Cecil Isbell	1947	1951	4	-4.8	-1.19
497	Tom Bettis	1977	1985	10	-4.8	-0.48
496	Eric Mangini	2005	2015	7	-4.6	-0.65
495	Tom Fears	1967	1972	4	-4.5	-1.13
494	Walt Kiesling	1939	1956	9	-4.5	-0.50
493	Emmitt Thomas	1995	2007	8	-4.4	-0.56
492	George Dyer	1992	1994	3	-4.3	-1.44
491	Raheem Morris	2009	2011	5	-4.2	-0.84
490	Dick Jauron	1995	2012	18	-4.2	-0.23
489	Norv Turner	1991	2015	15	-4.1	-0.27
488	Phil Handler	1943	1951	5	-4.1	-0.82
487	Nick Skorich	1961	1974	7	-4.1	-0.59
486	Jimmy Phelan	1948	1952	4	-4.0	-1.01
485	Ray Horton	2011	2015	5	-4.0	-0.79
484	Jack Christiansen	1963	1967	5	-3.9	-0.78
483	Norb Hecker	1966	1968	3	-3.8	-1.28
482	Fay Abbott	1928	1929	2	-3.8	-1.92
481	Dan Henning	1983	2010	7	-3.8	-0.55
480	Mike Zimmer	2000	2015	16	-3.8	-0.24
479	Frank Kush	1982	1984	3	-3.8	-1.25
478	Joe Bugel	1981	1997	5	-3.7	-0.74
477	Charlie Weber	1970	1981	7	-3.6	-0.52
476	David Shula	1989	1996	5	-3.6	-0.72
475	June Jones	1991	1998	4	-3.6	-0.90
474	Mike Nixon	1959	1965	3	-3.6	-1.19
473	Gene Stallings	1986	1989	4	-3.6	-0.89
472	Floyd Peters	1982	1994	13	-3.5	-0.27
471	Joe Bach	1935	1953	4	-3.4	-0.85
470	Jason Garrett	2007	2015	6	-3.4	-0.57
469	Jim Mora	1999	2009	9	-3.4	-0.38
468	Bill Peterson	1972	1973	2	-3.4	-1.68
467	Gary Kubiak	1995	2015	9	-3.3	-0.37
466	Ron Lynn	1986	1996	11	-3.3	-0.30
465	Kay Stephenson	1983	1985	3	-3.3	-1.08
464	Ken Whisenhunt	2004	2015	8	-3.2	-0.41
463	Red Hickey	1959	1963	5	-3.2	-0.65
462	Sam Rutigliano	1978	1984	7	-3.2	-0.46
461	Lisle Blackbourn	1954	1957	4	-3.2	-0.80
460	Gene Ronzani	1950	1953	4	-3.2	-0.79
459	Jim Vechiarella	1990	2001	4	-3.2	-0.79
458	Wayne Fontes	1982	1996	16	-3.2	-0.20
457	Mike Nolan	1993	2014	21	-3.1	-0.15
456	Joe Pascale	1990	2001	6	-3.1	-0.51
455	Ron Meyer	1982	1991	9	-3.1	-0.34

I’m short on time today, so please leave your thoughts and questions in the comments.

References[+]

References
↑1	In the interest of time, I also gave the same score to each head coach in the case of multiple head coaches. Not ideal, but good enough!

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