There are several sports films that come out every year and while some coaches can be motivating, others can be uninspiring. 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.
5. 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
4. 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.
3. 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.
2. 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.
1. 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.