Minnesota sports history isn’t filled with championship trophies, but the professional scene has been blessed with all-time greats donning headsets, drawing up plays and scheming up game plans. Let’s dive into 10 of the best pro coaches in Minnesota sports history.
10. Kevin O’Connell, Vikings
Is it too soon to put him in the top 10? While there’s a case to be made for the likes of Norm Van Brocklin, Jerry Burns, Rocco Baldelli, Mike Yeo and perhaps some others, O’Connell has 34 wins in three seasons leading the Vikings. Thirteen wins as a rookie head coach in 2022 was shocking, but not as unreal as the 14 wins the 2024 Vikings piled up when preseason expectations were beyond low. He’s 0-2 in the playoffs, but he’s proved early in his career that he’s capable of turning what appear to be average rosters on paper into legitimate threats on the field.
9. Chris Finch, Timberwolves
Finch is poised to rise on this list as he coaches a Timberwolves team led by one of the best players on the planet, Anthony Edwards. Finch guided Minnesota to a postseason series victory for the first time in two decades in 2024, bringing the Wolves all the way to the conference finals. As of this writing, Finch is 185-148 in his fifth season since taking over as head coach midway through the 2020-21 campaign. He’s the second-winningest coach in franchise history and it’ll likely be a long, long time before anyone comes close to passing him as he racks up more wins in the seasons ahead.
8. Mike Zimmer, Vikings
Zimmer didn’t exactly leave Minnesota on good terms after the 2021 season, but he did depart as the third-winningest coach in Vikings history. Zimmer won 74 of 134 games as head coach and produced some of the league’s best defenses during his eight seasons in Minnesota. The 2017 team overcame an injury to quarterback Sam Bradford and went all the way to the NFC Championship Game with Case Keenum at the helm. He only had two playoff wins and two division titles in eight seasons, but he was the guy on the sideline when Keenum found Stefon Diggs for the “Minneapolis Miracle” to beat the New Orleans Saints in the 2017-18 playoffs.
7. Jacques Lemaire, Wild
Lemaire was 55 years old when he was hired as the first head coach in Minnesota Wild history back in 2000-01. He led the Wild for eight seasons and went 293-255-55-53 with a .529 winning percentage before being fired in 2009. The 2002-03 team reached the conference finals, while three others seasons saw the Wild lose in the first round of the playoffs.
6. Ron Gardenhire, Twins
Gardenhire managed the Twins to 1,068 wins and 1,039 losses during a 13-year career as the team’s skipper. He was named the American League Manager of the Year in 2010 and finished second in the vote for manager of the year in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008 and 2009. Known for his fiery nature, Gardy ranks eighth in MLB history with 84 career ejections.
5. Dennis Green, Vikings
Green is a no-brainer on this list after taking the Vikings to the playoffs in eight of his 10 seasons as head coach from 1992 to 2001. He was the man in charge in 1998 when the Vikings drafted Randy Moss and helped revive Randall Cunningham’s career with a record-setting 15-1 seasons. It ended with a loss to the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Championship Game, but Green’s Vikings were the greatest show in football at the time and will forever be remembered as one of the best teams to not win the Super Bowl.
4. Flip Saunders, Timberwolves
The Timberwolves had never tasted the playoffs when Saunders was hired as a 40-year-old head coach in 1995. He broke down that wall in his second season and guided Minnesota to the postseason in eight consecutive seasons, going as far as the Western Conference Finals in 2003-04. Kevin McHale fired Saunders in February 2005, only for Saunders to get hired by the Detroit Pistons and win 64 games his first season there in 2005-06. He went 176-70 in three seasons with Detroit. Saunders returned to coach the Timberwolves in 2014-15. He died of cancer at just 60 years old, just two weeks before the start of the 2015-16 season.
3. Bud Grant, Vikings
Grant at No. 3?! Sure, he guided the Vikings to four appearances in the Super Bowl and won 11 division titles, but going 0 for 4 in the big game is a tough pill to swallow. Can you imagine the vitriol fans would have for him if the Vikings got to the Super Bowl and lost four times within a decade? Grant is the best football coach in Minnesota sports history, but championships matter.
2. Tom Kelly, Twins
Minnesota Twins, makes a pitching change at Fenway Park against the Boston Red Sox Mandatory Credit: Photo By USA TODAY Sports © Copyright USA TODAY Sports
Kelly, like Grant and Saunders, is the ultimate Minnesota success story. He grew up in the tiny town of Graceville, Minn. and was only 37 years old when he led the Twins to the World Series championship in 1987. Winning a second World Series in 1991 at the age of 41 was incredible. Sure, he lost more games (1,244) than he won (1,140) during his 16 years on the bench, but he can walk through Graceville with shiny World Series rings and a career postseason record of 16-8.
1. Cheryl Reeve, Lynx
Reeve owns four WNBA championships and she might have two more if it weren’t for some highly questionable calls going against the Lynx in pivotal moments of the WNBA Finals in 2024 and 2016. Her Lynx teams have won 330 regular-season games and lost only 180 since she took over in 2010. In the postseason, she’s 49-28. She’s the best coach in the WNBA while handling general manager duties to boot. That’s why she’s the coach for Team USA and the No. 1 coach in Minnesota pro sports history.
