Chuck Noll never won Coach of the Year

Earlier this week Atlanta Falcons head coach Mike Smith was voted the Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year...the AP has been presenting this award since 1957...when looking over the list of other coaches who have won this award, there were some interesting facts that I wanted to share with my readers...

- Despite winning four Super Bowls, Chuck Noll (photo, left) of the Pittsburgh Steelers was never named Coach of the Year...

- Other notable non-winners include: Paul Brown (Browns, Bengals), John Madden (Oakland), Tom Flores (Oakland), George Seifert (San Francisco, Carolina), Hank Stram (Kansas City, New Orleans) and Tony Dungy (Buccaneers, Colts)...

- Vince Lombardi, Tom Landry, and Bill Walsh only won the award one time each...together, they combined to win seven Super Bowls...

- Lombardi won the award in 1959, his first year with the Green Bay Packers...he never won the award again despite dominating the entire decade of the 1960s...

- There was only one tie...that happened in 1967 when George Allen of the Rams shared it with Don Shula of the Colts...

- Only three coaches ever won the award in back-to-back seasons: Allie Sherman of the Giants (1961-62); Don Shula of the Colts (1967-68); and Joe Gibbs of the Redskins (1982-83)...

- In 1957, George Wilson of the Detroit Lions was the first recipient of the award... (Wilson is in the bowtie in the picture on the right)

- Don Shula received this honor the most - four times...(Colts 1964, 67, 68 and Dolphins 72)...

- Chuck Knox is the only coach to win the award with three different teams - (Rams 1973, Bills 1980, Seahawks 1984)...

- Despite taking the Buffalo Bills to the Super Bowl four straight years, Marv Levy never received the Coach of the Year award...

- Ray Rhodes was the first African-American coach to win the award...he received this honor in 1995 as coach of the Eagles...Lovie Smith of the Bears is the only other African-American to take this honor...

- Despite their "Commitment to Excellence," no Raiders head coach was ever named Coach of the Year...

- Some of the forgotten names to win the award include: Buck Shaw, Eagles, 1960; Red Miller, Broncos, 1977; Jack Patera, Seahawks, 1978; Lindy Infante, Packers, 1989; Wayne Fontes, Lions, 1991...