Comparing Harbaugh and Belichick

[JimZipCode]

Their first nine seasons as head coach:

Coach       Record     Win%   DivTitles  Playoffs  PlayRecord   Play%   CCappear   SBwins
Belichick    75-69    0.521      2          4          7-1      0.875      2         2
Harbaugh     85-59    0.590      2          6         10-5      0.667      3         1

Thru their first 9 seasons, both coaches have/had coached 144 reg season games.

• Harbaugh won 10 more games, for a higher reg season winning pctg.
• Belichick had 4 losing seasons, Harbaugh 1
• Both captured 2 division titles.
• Belichick made the postseason 4 times, Harbaugh 6 times.
• Belichick won 7 postseason games, Harbaugh 10.
• Belichick advanced to 2 conf championship games, Harbaugh 3.
• Belichick won 2 Super Bowls, Harbaugh 1.

Is it my imagination, or are these extremely comparable records?


Obviously that second SB win, that second undefeated march thru the playoffs, tilts things in Belichick's favor. As have the 13 seasons since .
But the comparison is not lopsided. Harbaugh "wins" in a couple important categories.

Interesting.

[Goode05]

Don't compare the two.


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[HotInHere]

Don't compare the two.


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Yeah, that totally messes up the narrative for some people. You're allowed to compare them, but only if it's, "Why the hell isn't Harbs smart like BB? We need to can his Opie ass."

Seriously though, very interesting comparison. I am surprised by how well those numbers line up. To be fair, there are a couple big differences. Most importantly, Belichick had early failure, but by year nine and begun a roll of success that is still ongoing. Harbs in contrast had immediate success, but has been going through more failure recently. And of course, Hoodie has established himself as one of the greatest coaches of all time. Even if Harbs rides out the current storm, he would have a long way to go to be in the same class as Belicheck. (But hey, I'd settle for a couple more rings, and he can be in the next tier with Chuck Noll.)

One other big difference is that all of Hoodie's success has come with the GOAT at QB. The debate continues about what percentage Brady and Belicheck (and cheating) contribute to the Pats success. That is not a question that can be answered, unless Brady retires and BB reverts to his early-career winning percentage.

[trailhiker85]

Interesting stats, but I'm not sure how much they really tell. The only way to make a reasonable comparison would be to wait until both guys finish their coaching careers. Even then, there are bound to be some "yeah, but" factors.

All we can really say now is that Harbaugh has been a successful NFL HC and that Belichek has been a super-successful NFL HC who will probably go down as one of the best ever.

[Goode05]

Big Difference is Harbaugh walked into a stacked team. Hoodie was in Cleveland. Let's compare hoodies time in New England vs John. Hell didnt Hoodie get Cleveland to the playoffs?


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[Goode05]

Try 102 wins 42 losses in the regular season
17-4 in post season 3 Super Bowl wins. It's not even comparable


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[The Excellector]

Hell, I thought that comparing Harbaugh to Belichick was a waste of time around these parts since there's such a defeatist fucking attitude about the subject and how Harbaugh will never come close to Belichick's level. Hell, we might as well build the Ravens up to just make it to the Divisional Round every year.

[bmorecareful]

LOL @ this thread. There is simply no comparison between the two.

Belichick is at MINIMUM a top 3 coach in NFL history. More likely, he is the GOAT.

Harbaugh is probably a top 10 coach in the NFL right now, opinion on his ranking will obviously vary widely, but he has a proven track record of success. I don't think the Ravens' current slump should take TOO much shine off of him considering how many bad draft/personnel decisions the FO has made during that time.

Sure, you could isolate any section of 2 coaches' careers and surprise yourself by how similar they look... that's called selection bias. In short, those data sets do look similar; but it doesn't really tell us much in isolation.

[Jsmoove]

lol they not even close to comparing in terms of how the game is played and building a team from scratch. Harbaugh is not even in the same realm as Bilicheck. It's like comparing Malone to Jordan, yea Malone was good but he wasn't no Jordan.

[GreatWhiteNorthRaven]

Big Difference is Harbaugh walked into a stacked team. Hoodie was in Cleveland. Let's compare hoodies time in New England vs John. Hell didnt Hoodie get Cleveland to the playoffs?


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Harbaugh came in 2008. WHat was our record in the previous 4 seasons? 33-31.

I find it hilarious that some that rag on our record being 31-33 in the last 4 seasons say that we were stacked.

The only thing that Harbaugh benefitted from was having Ray and Ed here. The offense was shit and had a rookie QB and a lot of question marks at skill positions. The defense was obviously the typical Ravens defense.

He came in and took the team to the playoffs and took them to the playoffs 5 years in a row, ending in a SB.

I just think it's bullshit how Harbs gets no credit for what he did to a team that was very up and down from 2002-2007. Yet our last 4 years are seen as such a dark spot, but we only had 2 more wins in those 4 years than the last 4 years currently.

Does. Not. Make. Sense.

[GreatWhiteNorthRaven]

That being said, I wouldnt' compare the two at all. I just am so sick of seeing this narrative that Harbs inherited all of this talent and deserves no credit. It drives me up the wall.

[Jsmoove]

Just remember Matt Cassells still gets a job in today's NFL because of what Bilicheck did with him in one year alone.