The coach is usually the most important character in a sports movie. Viewers need to connect with the top players on the team, but the character who has a coaching position is typically the one to rally them together. A good coach figure is enough to have a story of this person getting the team on the same page and motivating them to having bigger success.
We will look at the best and worst instances of coach characters contributing to a sports film. The best ones feature the coach representing the heart and soul of the team to help the viewer become invested in their success like a real game. Bad ones typically just get portrayed as failures that struggled to find success in the job. Find out which ones stand out the most. The best and worst sports coaching characters in movie history will be featured here.
Best: Jack Cunningham (The Way Back)
The initial reviews for The Way Back see critics impressed with the work of Ben Affleck as Jack Cunningham. Affleck started his press tour a few weeks early to attend the most popular sports show to get more hype buzzing about the movie release.
The journey of Cunningham shows the story of a construction worker struggling with alcoholism getting a job to find an old passion. Cunningham’s old high school hires him to coach the basketball team. Affleck delivers a great performance playing a coach with many layers to his life.
Worst: Jackie Moon (Semi-Pro)
Will Ferrell created countless laughs for the viewers to watch the basketball film Semi-Pro. The character of Jackie Moon owns the Flint Tropics in the ABA. This turns into a problem when Moon also takes on the roles as the star player, pre-game announcers, and the head coach.
Moon’s selfish mentality and fear of trusting others leads to many problems coming for him and the basketball team. Things eventually work out once he learns his lesson, but any character that delusional should rank high among the worst coaches.
Best: Ken Carter (Coach Carter)
The acting chops of Samuel L. Jackson are shown in Coach Carter with a great story following his progression as a coach. Ken Carter becomes the head coach of a high school basketball team with players that lacked discipline.
The tactics of Carter are polarizing at first, but his strict style forces the team to bond together through the adversity. Carter leads the team to a close loss in the finals of their playoffs. However, they became happier and better students off the court as well, thanks to Carter’s life lessons.
Worst: Morris Buttermaker (The Bad News Bears)
The original Bad News Bears film released in the 70s became a beloved movie for anyone of the era. Morris Buttermaker was the team manager forced to coach the little league team of the worst players in the league.
The selfish nature of Buttermaker sees him drinking in the dugout in between yelling at the kids. Buttermaker recruits under the radar kids with stronger talents to join the team. The end of the movie does give us the payoff of Buttermaker, realizing he went too far, but he did so many awful things before the self-realization.
Best: Tony D'Amato (Any Given Sunday)
Any Given Sunday is often described as a top tier underrated football movie. Al Pacino specifically stands out for his performance as head coach Tony D’Amato in the film. The story sees D'Amato clashing with the team owner, and a coordinator expected to replace him throughout the season. His memorable speech in the film makes him an all-time great coach character.
D'Amato both stays true to his vision but also makes some changes against his instincts for the betterment of the team. They fall just short in the championship game, but D'Amato reveals the best swerve at the end when announcing he’s going to coach the new expansion team and is taking quarterback Willie Beamen with him.
Worst: Edwina Franklin (Eddie)
The actual NBA teams and league are a huge part of the Whoopi Goldberg film Eddie. Goldberg plays a diehard New York Knicks fan named Eddie frustrated with the lazy and selfish play of the team. The desperate owner runs a contest for a fan to become the head coach if making a half-court shot, and Eddie does it.
Most of the movie shows the story of how badly things will go if a fan becomes the head coach of a pro team with no experience. Eddie does accomplish good things, but she crosses the personal line with players. At one point, she stops a game to inform the fans of the owner’s idea to sell the team if they win. Eddie was highly entertaining, but she was not a good coach.
Best: Lou Brown (Major League)
One of the most common tropes in a sports movie is the coach having to rally together an overlooked group of outcasts to win against all odds. Major League was the best baseball movie to showcase this with the managing style of Lou Brown.
The Cleveland Indians owner wants to sell the team and intentionally tries to deliver a terrible season. Brown instead inspires the young and old talents to get their opportunity on a team with no expectations. The coaching work of Brown saw him step when needed but also letting the team learn from their own mistakes.
Worst: Coach Klein (The Waterboy)
Adam Sandler found success by entering the sports movie world with The Waterboy film. The role of Coach Klein was played by the legendary Henry Winkler. Klein was down on his luck with a 40-game losing streak until discovering the hidden talent of Sandler’s character Bobby Boucher.
The skills of Boucher allow Klein to pile up some victories and save his coaching career. Klein becomes a character worth rooting for and Winkler is always likable in comedic roles, but this was clearly a bad coach. You can’t lose 40 games in a row and avoid the worst all-time movie coaches!
Best: Herman Boone (Remember The Titans)
The legendary Denzel Washington took on a coaching role based on the true story of Herman Boone. Remember the Titans is a film that focuses on issues like racism, race relations, and the resistance of civil rights in the 70s through the story of a football team.
Many players, students, and residents are unhappy when Boone receives the head coaching job. Washington delivers a beautiful performance that both relays the importance of the show and gives us great sports movie drama. The movie did the story of Boone quite well with positive reviews and new viewers still loving it today.
Worst: Roy McCormick (Rebound)
Any movie that stars Martin Lawrence as the head coach of a basketball team is likely going to end in disaster. Lawrence’s comedy is often a slam dunk, but Rebound was an airball with the abysmal Rotten Tomatoes score of 14% positive reviews.
Roy McCormick loses his job as a college basketball coach for various moments of losing his temper negatively impacted the game. The story sees McCormick rediscovering his love for basketball by coaching his old junior high team. No coach struggles such a drop in drastic fashion without having a reputation as the worst in his field!