Tom Coughlin, New York Giants – It’s very well documented and obvious what Coughlin has done in the last season and a half in New York. What is remarkable about him, though, is that somehow his teams keep covering the spread no matter how much of a love affair the media has with them. He is in the midst of his fifth season with the Giants. He’s already guaranteed to have a profitable season for bettors this year since he is 9-2 ATS. He has then had only two non-profitable season, and both were barely so – 8-8 and 7-8-1. He was 10-5-1 ATS n 2005. Last year he was 10-6 ATS and a perfect 4-0 in the playoffs. Not only is he 9-2 this year, but he has covered his last six in a row despite the fact that everyone in the public regularly reads that they are the class of the league. That tells me that he has his team focused and playing their best instead of just well enough to win. That’s a bettor’s wet dream. He wasn’t as impressively reliable with Jacksonville, but he was still solid – he had four profitable seasons in eight years, and he never covered fewer than seven games. In his first job at Boston College, Coughlin had two very profitable years, and was 6-6 ATS in the third.
Gary Patterson, TCU – Patterson may be in his last days with TCU before moving on to brighter pastures. Bettors will want to pay special attention where he goes. He has been an absolute gem in recent years for bettors. He finished the regular season this year at 8-3 ATS. That’s the identical record that he had in both 2005 and 2006. His performance last year wasn’t as impressive, but 5-6-1 ATS isn’t disastrous. It’s no surprise that Patterson is as good to bettors as he is – his combination of rigid defensive discipline and decent offense is a perfect formula for covering spreads. He’s also proven to be very good at preparing his team for their bowl games – he has won and covered each of his last three bowl games.
Wally Buono, B.C. Lions – Buono didn’t lead his team to the Grey Cup this year – they lost to Calgary in the Western Conference final. Despite that, Buono has a remarkable record of consistency in the league. There are five teams in the conference, and the top two play in the conference final, with the winner going to the Grey Cup. Buono has coached in the CFL for 19 seasons. He has made it at least as far as the conference final in 16 of those seasons. He’s been to the Grey Cup eight times, and won it four times. He has finished in first place in the regular season 12 different times. There very likely isn’t a more consistent coach over a two decade period currently active in football. Buono also has a very good record of developing quarterbacks. He was the CFL coach of Jeff Garcia and Doug Flutie.
