PFWA and HOF NFL Assistant Coaches Pantheons

By John Turney 

In 2014 the Pro Football Writers of America (PFWA) began to honor great NFL assistant coaches by giving them the PFWA’s Paul “Dr. Z” Zimmerman Award.

The award got its name from Zimmerman, who covered the NFL for 29 years for Sports Illustrated and for the New York Post for the 13 years prior to that.

He'd shown a level of detail to offensive line play and crediting assistant coaches among other things, which was rare in his era.

Last year the Pro Football Hall of Fame followed suit with their Awards of Excellence, which also honors other professions as well. 

Seven coaches have received  Awards for Excellence in the Assistant coach category—

2022 — Alex Gibbs, Jimmy Raye, Terry Robiskie, Fritz Shurmur and Ernie Zampese

2023 — Sherman Lewis, Tom Moore and Dante Scarnecchia

So far, twenty have been recipients of the Dr. Z Award—

2014 — Jim Johnson, Howard Mudd, Fritz Shurmur and Ernie Zampese

2015 — Dick LeBeau, Tom Moore and Dante Scarnecchia

2016 — Monte Kiffin and Wade Phillips

2017 — Bud Carson

2018 — Joe Bugel and Emmitt Thomas

2019 — Gunther Cunningham and Mike Westhoff

2020 — Bill Arnsparger and Romeo Crennel

2021 — Rod Marinelli and Bobby Turner

2022 — Leslie Frazier and Greg Knapp

Coaches who have received both honors—Tom Moore, Dante Scarnecchia, Fritz Shurmur and Ernie Zampese.

Dick LeBeau is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame partially as an assistant coach and also has a Dr. Z Award. People can decide where he fits in terms of honors.

The following are Dr. Z Award finalists that have yet to receive the award:  Jim Hanifan, Bobb McKittrick, Bruce DeHaven, Jim McNally, Dave Toub, Terry Robiske, Dick Hoak,  Floyd Peters, Buddy Ryan, Bobby Turner, John Teerlinck and Keith Butler.