Jeff Banister's first season as a major league manager has been a rousing success. He took over a Texas Rangers team that finished in the AL West cellar last year and led it to a division championship. Over in the NFL, rookie head coach Dan Quinn has the Atlanta Falcons, who went 6-10 a year ago, off to an impressive 4-0 start.
First-year coaches often inherit bad teams, so the kind of instant success Banister and Quinn have had isn't the norm, although it's not unprecedented. In fact, according to ESPN Stats & Information, there are 11 major pro or college head coaches and managers since 1970 who won championships in their first seasons.
Can Banister, whose Rangers started their playoff journey Thursday against the Toronto Blue Jays, or Quinn join that group? History isn't on their side. Unlike the Rangers and Falcons, all the teams in the past 45 years who won it all under first-year bench bosses were coming off winning seasons, and several were already on the cusp of a championship. Here's a closer look at the 11 rookie head coaches and managers since 1970 who went straight to the top:
NBA -- Steve Kerr, Golden State Warriors (2014-15): The Warriors had been to the playoffs the previous two seasons before Kerr was hired to replace Mark Jackson, who'd been fired. Kerr brought championship credentials (five rings as a player), as well as experience as a broadcaster and team executive (president and general manager of the Phoenix Suns) to the Warriors. His first decision as a head coach turned out to be a wise one; he turned down the New York Knicks for the Golden State job. He immediately led the Warriors to the league's best record, and they capped off the season by beating LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers (with their own rookie coach, David Blatt) in six games in the NBA Finals.
NHL -- Dan Bylsma, Pittsburgh Penguins (2008-09): Coming off a trip to the Stanley Cup finals and led by superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins had a 27-25-5 record when they fired Michel Therrien with 25 games left in the 2008-09 season. They made Bylsma, who had been head coach at Pittsburgh's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton AHL affiliate, the interim head coach and closed the regular season by going 18-3-4. The interim tag was removed after Pittsburgh ousted the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round, and the wins kept coming until the Penguins were champions.
NCAA football -- Larry Coker, Miami Hurricanes (2001): Coker was promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach after Butch Davis was hired by the Cleveland Browns. The Hurricanes had gone 11-1 in 2000 and finished the year ranked No. 2 in the polls. They did one better in Coker's first year as head coach, going 12-0 and claiming the national championship with a Rose Bowl win over Nebraska. Coker got Miami within one win of a second consecutive title, but the Hurricanes lost the title game to Ohio State 31-24 in an overtime thriller.
MLB -- Bob Brenly, Arizona Diamondbacks (2001): The expansion Diamondbacks spent early and often on the likes of Randy Johnson and Matt Williams in an attempt to become instant contenders. They won 100 games in 1999, their second season, but fell to third in the NL West the next year, prompting manager Buck Showalter's dismissal. Brenly had experience as a coach for the San Francisco Giants, but when Arizona hired him as manager, he was better known for his broadcast work after his nine-year career as a major league catcher. He turned out to be the right choice for the D-backs, who edged the Giants in the NL West and beat the New York Yankees in a memorable, seven-game World Series that was capped by Luis Gonzalez's ninth-inning bloop single off Mariano Rivera.
NFL -- George Seifert, San Francisco 49ers (1989): Hall of Famer Bill Walsh moved from the sideline to the front office after winning his third Super Bowl with the 49ers and handed the dynasty over to Seifert, who had been the team's defensive coordinator for six years and two championships. Joe Montana & Co. didn't miss a beat under Seifert, as the 49ers went 14-2, steamrolled through the NFC playoffs and beat the Denver Broncos 55-10 in the biggest blowout in Super Bowl history. It was the first of two championships for Seifert as the 49ers' head coach.
NCAA basketball -- Steve Fisher, Michigan Wolverines (1989): You might call this the coaching version of a layup. Longtime head coach Bill Frieder accepted a job with Arizona State as the 1988-89 season was winding down, which prompted Michigan athletic director Bo Schembechler to show Frieder the door and let assistant coach Fisher lead the team into the NCAA tournament. The Wolverines had gone 24-7 in the regular season to earn a No. 3 seed in the tourney. Fisher guided the Glen Rice-led squad through a gantlet that included wins over 2-seed North Carolina and 1-seed Illinois. In the championship game, Michigan edged Seton Hall 80-79 in overtime on Rumeal Robinson's free throws after a controversial foul call with three seconds left.
NHL -- Jean Perron, Montreal Canadiens (1985-86): Montreal finished first in the Adams Division in 1984-85, but Jacques Lemaire resigned because the job pressure was getting to him. He was replaced by Perron, who had been an assistant. The Canadiens, who had gone six seasons without raising the Stanley Cup, were a mundane 40-33-7 in their first regular season under Perron, but favorable matchups allowed them to advance through the Wales Conference playoffs without facing a team with a better record. In the finals, Montreal faced the surprising Calgary Flames, who had stunned Wayne Gretzky's Edmonton Oilers in the second round. After dropping Game 1, Montreal rolled to a 4-1 series victory and its 24th NHL championship. The Canadiens have won only one title since.
NBA -- Pat Riley, Los Angeles Lakers (1981-82): When Magic Johnson said early in the season he'd rather be traded than keep playing in Paul Westhead's offense, which he felt was too constricting, the Lakers appeased their star point guard and promoted Riley from his assistant post. In addition, Lakers legend Jerry West was named offensive coordinator to help the 36-year-old Riley, a former player and broadcaster who was in just his third season of coaching. Magic was happy with the change, and Showtime was born. The Lakers earned the Western Conference's top seed and beat the Philadelphia 76ers in the Finals for the first of Riley's five championships as a head coach.
NBA -- Paul Westhead, Los Angeles Lakers (1979-80): Jack McKinney was 14 games into his first season as an NBA head coach when he suffered a serious head injury in a biking accident. A team that featured Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and had just drafted Magic Johnson was turned over on an interim basis to Westhead, McKinney's assistant and good friend. Johnson, of course, was an instant superstar, Abdul-Jabbar was the league's MVP, and the Lakers beat the 76ers in the Finals. That allowed Westhead to shed the interim tag, but he lasted only a little more than another year, when Johnson pressured the Lakers to get rid of him.
NFL -- Don McCafferty, Baltimore Colts (1970): McCafferty successfully replaced a legend, although Don Shula wasn't yet a legend at the time. Shula had success with the Colts, including a trip to Super Bowl III, before taking his talents to South Beach for the bulk of his record-setting, Hall of Fame career. After a six-week search, the Colts stayed in house and promoted McCafferty, who'd been an offensive assistant with the team for 11 seasons. The Colts went 11-2-1 in McCafferty's first year and then did what they couldn't do under Shula by winning Super Bowl V, a 16-13 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Jim O'Brien's late field goal.
NHL -- Al MacNeil, Montreal Canadiens (1970-71): MacNeil's tenure as the Canadiens' head coach was less than a full season, but it ended with his name on the Stanley Cup. He was elevated from his assistant post to replace Claude Ruel after the Canadiens, who the previous year had missed the playoffs for the first time since 1948, started the season at 11-8-4. Despite his success, MacNeil, who spoke only English, was criticized for an inability to communicate with the team's French players and connect with its French-Canadian fans. He was reassigned to a general manager/coaching job in the minors and didn't get another NHL head-coaching job until the Atlanta Flames hired him in 1979.
