Curse to hire a coach who won a Super Bowl?

Judging from talk radio, lots of fans think the Eagles would be wise to hire a "proven" coach who has won a Super Bowl.

The likes of a Jon Gruden, Bill Cowher or Sean Payton.

Not so fast. Believe it or not:

No coach has won Super Bowls with two different teams.

As in zero.

Not even Vince Lombardi, the legendary Green Bay Packers coach. In fairness, though, illness cut short his attempt to later rebuild the Washington Redskins.

Speaking of the Redskins, how that's Mike Shanahan experiment working out? After winning two Super Bowls with Denver, he's led the club to consecutive last-place finishes in the NFC East.

Jimmy Johnson won a couple of Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys, then floundered with the Miami Dolphins, even with future Hall of Famer Dan Marino at quarterback.

Johnson also lost on Survivor: Nicaragua.

George Seifert won two Supes with the San Francisco 49ers, then failed to have a winning season with the Carolina Panthers.

At least Bill Parcells, two-time winner with the New York Giant, got back to the Super Bowl with the New England Patriots - and lost.

It's more common for a coach to lose a Super Bowl with one franchise then win with another. Don Shula lost with the Baltimore Colts, but won twice with Miami. Dick Vermeil lost with the Eagles, then won with the St. Louis Rams. Mike Holmgren won with Green Bay then lost with Seattle.

So, if trends were fate, a fired Andy Reid would stand a better chance of winning a title elsewhere than the likes of Gruden or Brian Billick would have of being triumphant with the Eagles.

Reid shouldn't hang his hat on that angle, either. Dan Reeves lost several Super Bowls with Denver, then lost another with the Atlanta Falcons.

The likes of Jeff Fisher and Lovie Smith have yet to make it back.

Trends aren't fate.

Remember Reid's flawless record after the Eagles had a bye? This season, the Eagles not only lost, they got trounced.

It's not like there's a good reason for this Super trend, other than winning coaches tend to remain, even retire, with their teams.

Maybe the guy who wins just doesn't have the same fire anymore? But why wouldn't that happen in other sports?

Exhibit A: After winning six NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls, Phil Jackson won another five with the Los Angeles Lakers.

Actually, the Jackson example might hold the key. He went from a franchise with the NBA's best player to one with two other greats, Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal. Often, it's the desperate NFL franchise that outbids for a big-name coach.

No, it's not some NFL curse.

Winning with another franchise has happened in the NFL as well - if you count seasons before 1967, when the Super Bowl began.

You're getting up there in years if you remember that 1969 Super Bowl, in which Joe Namath led Weeb Ewbanks' AFL champion New York Jets to an upset win.

Ewbanks previously won NFL titles with a different team, the Baltimore Colts, in 1958 and 1959.

Shula, the losing coach in 1969, also qualifies on a technicality. His Colts won the NFL title that season - the NFL-AFL merger had yet to take place - and he later won two Super Bowls with the Dolphins.

Finally, maybe football coaches just get too much credit. After all, top franchises have won Super Bowls with different coaches - Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Dallas and the New York Giants, to name a few - but not the other way around.

That can't be coincidence.

Contact staff writer Peter Mucha at 215-854-4342 or pmucha@phillynews.com.