All too often, real world coaches live only to disappoint. They steer your favorite team into a first round playoff exit. Or they muster their troops for an 0-16 season. Or they get caught in a cheating scandal. But not in the movies. There, coaches always have the perfect speech ready, the ultimate strategy in mind, and the suitably disturbing psychological problem simmering just below the surface that'll deliver the big game win and maybe, just maybe, teach us all a little bit about ourselves.

Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) - Hoosiers
Underdog (read: all white) basketball teams need a man to give them the tough love, sense of discipline, and boost of confidence to play David to a whole conference full of Goliaths. That man, naturally, is Hackman.



Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) - The Bad News Bears
Sure, Morris is a mess, but consider all those people who entrust the safety of their children to mildly depressed alcoholics and end up…well, not winning the big game, that's for damn sure. These parents should thank their lucky stars all Buttercrud does is drive the kids around without seatbelts while drinking.



Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) - Miracle
Few would argue that the 1980 U.S. men's hockey team victory over the Soviet Union was one of the greatest sports moments of all time—and this in a sport that ranks just below bull riding in the American consciousness. Such is the greatness of Brooks.



Tony D'Amato (Al Pacino) - Any Given Sunday
Motivating a bunch of roided-up, overpaid millionaires is a tough job, but imagine doing it and maintaining the beef jerky-textured tan required of a Miami-based coach. Now you see why Tony is a man to be respected.



Pete Bell (Nick Nolte) - Blue Chips
Although not Bobby Knight, Nolte's Not Bobby Knight does all sorts of Kinda Bobby Knight things like throw chairs, berate players, and linger on the verge of a coronary every second of his life. But he's Not Bobby Knight. Seriously.