The Ten Toughest Coaching Jobs in America

Your fans expect success. Your front office expects success and a profit. Sports pundits critique your every move, whether it's the offensive gadget play you added to the playbook last week or merely your choice of tie. Your players have their own ideas on how to run the team. All of this is par for the course for head coaches at both the college and pro level. But some coaching jobs have a little something extra in the hardship department -- a legacy to live up to or live down, a sticky ownership situation or sometimes just plain bad luck.

  1. Manager, New York Yankees

    • Sure, your team has the best professional baseball players money can buy. You have a spanking new stadium in the Bronx and some of the most dedicated fans in sports. It's too bad they expect you to win the World Series every year. Making the postseason isn't nearly good enough. Just ask former manager Joe Torre, who was negotiated out of a job after leading the team to 12 straight postseason appearances.

    Head Coach, Oakland Raiders

    • It's putting it mildly to state that Al Davis is one of the most controversial owners in professional football. He has a reputation for micromanaging and is quick to fire anyone who doesn't bend to his will -- the Raiders have been through 10 coaches since their last championship way back in 1983. He nurses public feuds with players and the NFL establishment, fueled by the sharpest tongue in pro sports, period. If his team were winners, he'd be a genius. But instead the Raiders had seven straight losing seasons before finishing 2010 with an 8-8 record. Davis responded by not only firing head coach Tom Cable, but by fining him $120,000 for perceived "infractions" during the season.

    Head Coach, Notre Dame Football

    • Notre Dame, nicknamed the Fighting Irish, are a private Catholic school in Indiana with a storied football legacy that includes 11 national championships and seven Heisman Trophy winners. But more recent years have been marked by inconsistent performance. Lately, they've also had a revolving door in the head coaching slot. Notre Dame rarely competes for the national championship these days, but woe to the head coach who doesn't at least secure a bowl berth. A winning record isn't enough and, as former coach Tyrone Willinghman found out the hard way, a losing record might as well be a pink slip.

    Head Coach, University of Alabama Football

    • At Alabama, football is huge. The fans are hardcore. The team, nicknamed the Crimson Tide, has won 13 national championships in its history. Six of those were earned under legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant, who died within a month of his retirement in 1982. Since then, the football program has been plagued by various NCAA sanctions and occasional inconsistency. But even if you can deliver a winning record as head football coach, if you lose to bitter rival Auburn more than once or twice, your job is probably on the firing line.

    Manager, Chicago Cubs

    • The Chicago Cubs have a well-earned reputation as the lovable losers of professional baseball -- they haven't won a World Series title since 1908, the longest dry streak in the pros to date. But in recent years a lot of money has been invested in the team to make them contenders. And investors like to see a return on their stake. Former manager Dusty Baker pointed out in an interview with Fox Sports that no Cubs manager since 1972 has lasted more than four seasons with the club: "They don't stick with anybody for a period of time, because everybody's counting -- Year 100, Year 101, Year 102. There's no such thing as a four- or five-year plan. It's a one-year plan." Worse, if you fail with the Cubs, it's hard to get rehired anywhere else.

    Head Coach, Kentucky Basketball

    • The Kentucky Wildcats have the honor of being the most historically successful men's college basketball program in the country. What's more, they've succeeded under a number of different coaching regimes. Which means whoever the current coach is has no excuse not to win. This is another program where winning isn't enough. In fact, making the postseason isn't enough -- nor is making it past the first round in the NCAA tournament. That's how high the expectations are in this job.

    Head Coach, Dallas Cowboys

    • The pressure of coaching "America's Team" and dealing with colorful owner Jerry Jones is so much that winning coaches have resigned from the Dallas Cowboys' head coach position in order to explore less stressful life options elsewhere. Jimmy Johnson parted ways with the Cowboys in 1993 after two consecutive Super Bowl victories, because he couldn't work with Jones any longer. His successor, Barry Switzer, had three strong seasons including one Super Bowl victory, but after turning in one losing season in 1997 chose to retire from football entirely.

    Head Coach, University of Miami Football

    • In the 1980s and early 1990s, the University of Miami football program changed the college game forever. They won four national championships in that time, but were also widely criticized for the team's over-the-top celebrations and aggressive style of play. Then the school was sanctioned by the NCAA for a host of violations. They slowly rebuilt their program and have since returned to the top tier of college football competition, but their reputation lingers -- and so do the expectations of success.

    Head Coach, Los Angeles Clippers

    • The Los Angeles Clippers are the perennial ne'er-do-wells of the NBA. The team has only had six winning seasons in its entire history. Worse, they operate in the perpetual shadow of the other Los Angeles home team, the Lakers. Owner Donald Sterling has a reputation as a tightwad so Scroogelike he refused to pay the bill for his then-head coach's prostate cancer treatment. Sterling has also been known to heckle his own team at a game.

    Head Coach, U.S. Women's Soccer National Team

    • Brandi Chastain's iconic shirtless celebration after scoring on a penalty kick to lead the U.S. to victory in the 1999 Women's World Cup put women's soccer on the map as a sport. But many people seem to have assumed that the U.S. women's national team routinely dominates their international competition, thanks to legendary players like Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers and Kristine Lilly. In fact, the team has struggled in recent years; in 2011 they barely qualified for their World Cup berth at all. Still, the expectations for the team are always high -- it's consistently ranked first or second in the world and anything but a World Cup final appearance is a disappointment. The resulting pressure is underlined by the fact that current head coach Pia Sundhage is the seventh to hold the position since 1985.