Is Chuck Knox the best head coach not in the Hall of Fame?
The Pro Football Hall of Fame named former Packers and Seahawks head coach Mike Holmgren as the coaching finalist for the 2025 Hall of Fame class, putting him over eight other semi-finalists, including Chuck Knox. Also a former Seattle head coach, Knox made his mark with the Rams starting in 1973, which was the first of five-straight 10+ win seasons by the team.
Amazingly, Knox won three Coach of the Year awards and led the Rams to five straight division titles, as well as being the only coach to lead three different teams to division titles, but he isn’t in the Hall of Fame. Knox died in 2018.
Rams, Bills, Seahawks
Knox won the first of three Coach of the Year awards with the Rams in 1973 when he took over a 6-7-1 team from Tommy Prothro and led L.A. to a 12-2 record and a spot in the playoffs. The Rams then made three straight NFC Championship games from 1974-1976, but Knox stepped away from the team after L.A. lost in the first round of the 1977 playoffs to the Minnesota Vikings.
He took a job with the Bills in 1978 and after two bad seasons, won Coach of the Year again in 1980 after leading Buffalo to a 11-5 record. The next year, Buffalo went 10-6 and won a playoff game.
After parting ways with the Bills in 1983, he immediately went to Seattle and the Seahawks improved from 4-5 the year before to 9-7 in his first season. The Seahawks made the playoffs in 1983 and upset the Broncos and Dolphins prior to losing to the Raiders in the AFC Championship game. Knox won his third Coach of the Year award in 1984 after leading Seattle to a 12-4 record, by far the team’s best season in franchise history to that point.
That would also be the last time that Knox would lead a team to a playoff victory.
Knox coached nine seasons in Seattle, but went back to the Rams in 1992 and coached for three more years.
- 186-147-1 career record
- 7-11 career playoff record
- 3 coach of the year awards
- Division titles with Rams, Seahawks, Bills
- Seahawks ring of honor
Knox has the 10th-most wins by a head coach in NFL history and the only ones above him who aren’t in the Hall of Fame are Bill Belichick, Marty Schottenheimer, and Dan Reeves. Belichick will be a first ballot, while Schottenheimer and Reeves were also denied as semi-finalists this year.
Whether or not Torry Holt made it to the finalist stage for the Hall of Fame will be announced on December 28th.
