Entertainment
The Best Sports Movies About Coaches
List Rules
Movies must focus on the coaches of sports teams.
Dealing with the pressures of team management as a coach along with a little bit of off the field drama and you've got awesome movie plot: this coach movies list proves that. We're familiar with Space Jam and Rudy but nothing rings emotionally as deep as a the connection with a struggling coach looking to make bring out the best in people. Inspirational coaching movies include famous actors like Gene Hackman in Hoosiers and Football coach Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday make us feel like we are right there in the action. Other great football and basketball coach movies are Remember the Titans and Coach Carter.
We're looking to you sports jocks and movie buffs to build us an awesome list of great movies that feature the coach as the main character and let the world know which one rank the highest. So what are the best coach movies and the best coaching films?
What are the best coaching movies? Take a look at this list and decide for yourself.
Ranked by
- 1Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita, Elisabeth Shue
- Released: 1984
- Directed by: John G. Avildsen
Daniel (Ralph Macchio) moves to Southern California with his mother, Lucille (Randee Heller), but quickly finds himself the target of a group of bullies who study karate at the Cobra Kai dojo. ...more - 2Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Donald Faison
- Released: 2000
- Directed by: Boaz Yakin
In Virginia, high school football is a way of life, an institution revered, each game celebrated more lavishly than Christmas, each playoff distinguished more grandly than any national holiday. And ...more - 3Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Corbin Bernsen
- Released: 1989
- Directed by: David S. Ward
The new owner of the Cleveland Indians, former showgirl Rachel Phelps (Margaret Whitton), has a sweetheart deal to move the team to Miami. But to break the lease with the city of Cleveland, ticket ...more - 4Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Ri'chard, Rob Brown
- Released: 2005
- Directed by: Thomas Carter
In 1999, Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) returns to his old high school in Richmond, California, to get the basketball team into shape. With tough rules and academic discipline, he succeeds in setting ...more - 5Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, Dennis Hopper
- Released: 1986
- Directed by: David Anspaugh
Failed college coach Norman Dale (Gene Hackman) gets a chance at redemption when he is hired to direct the basketball program at a high school in a tiny Indiana town. After a teacher (Barbara ...more - 6Kurt Russell, Patricia Clarkson, Noah Emmerich
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Gavin O'Connor
When college coach Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) is hired to helm the 1980 U.S. men's Olympic hockey team, he brings a unique and brash style to the ice. After assembling a team of hot-headed college ...more - 7Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, Ian McShane
- Released: 2006
- Directed by: McG
In 1970, Marshall University and the small town of Huntington, W.Va., reel when a plane crash claims the lives of 75 of the school's football players, staff members and boosters. New coach Jack ...more - 8Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna
- Released: 1992
- Directed by: Penny Marshall
As America's stock of athletic young men is depleted during World War II, a professional all-female baseball league springs up in the Midwest, funded by publicity-hungry candy maker Walter Harvey ...more - 9Leon, Doug E. Doug, Malik Yoba
- Released: 1993
- Directed by: Jon Turteltaub
Four Jamaican bobsledders dream of competing in the Winter Olympics, despite never having seen snow. With the help of a disgraced former champion desperate to redeem himself, the Jamaicans set out to ...more - 10Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, Orlando Jones
- Released: 2000
- Directed by: Howard Deutch
It's late in the season; the playoffs are fast approaching; and the Washington Sentinels have just gone on strike. Scrambling for a solution, the Sentinels' owner Edward O'Neil hatches a plan to ...more - 11Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman
- Released: 2011
- Directed by: Bennett Miller
Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), general manager of the Oakland A's, one day has an epiphany: Baseball's conventional wisdom is all wrong. Faced with a tight budget, Beane must reinvent his team by ...more - 12Billy Bob Thornton, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez
- Released: 2004
- Directed by: Peter Berg
A small, turbulent town in Texas obsesses over their high school football team to an unhealthy degree. When the star tailback, Boobie Miles (Derek Luke), is seriously injured during the first game of ...more - 13Emilio Estevez, Joss Ackland, Lane Smith
- Released: 1992
- Directed by: Stephen Herek
After reckless young lawyer Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez) gets arrested for drunk driving, he must coach a kids hockey team for his community service. Gordon has experience on the ice, but isn't ...more - 14Walter Matthau, Tatum O'Neal, Vic Morrow
- Released: 1976
- Directed by: Michael Ritchie
Hard-drinking, ex-minor-league hopeful Morris Buttermaker (Walter Matthau) grumpily agrees to coach a Little League team at the behest of lawyer-councilman Bob Whitewood (Ben Piazza), who has a ...more - 15Cuba Gooding, Ed Harris, Alfre Woodard
- Released: 2003
- Directed by: Michael Tollin
In a racially divided town, coach Jones (Ed Harris) spots a mentally disabled African-American student named Radio (Cuba Gooding Jr.) near his practice field and is inspired to befriend him. Soon, ...more - 16Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Burt Reynolds
- Released: 2005
- Directed by: Peter Segal
Disgraced pro football quarterback Paul Crewe (Adam Sandler) lands in jail, where manipulative Warden Hazen (James Cromwell) recruits him to advise the institution's team. This turns into a lead role ...more - 17Al Pacino, Cameron Diaz, Dennis Quaid
- Released: 1999
- Directed by: Oliver Stone
Four years ago, DAmato's (Al Pacino) Miami Sharks were at the top. Now, his team is struggling with three consecutive losses, sliding attendance, and aging heroes, particularly 39-year-old ...more - 18Rick Moranis, Ed O'Neill, Shawna Waldron
- Released: 1994
- Directed by: Duwayne Dunham
Ever since childhood, nerdy Danny O'Shea (Rick Moranis) has felt inferior to his brother, Kevin (Ed O'Neill), a former college football star. Danny runs a gas station, while Kevin coaches the local ...more - 19Josh Lucas, Derek Luke, Austin Nichols
- Released: 2006
- Directed by: James Gartner
After being appointed the new coach of the 1966 Texas Miners, Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) decides to build a team based on talent rather than race. The conservative townsfolk balk at the new racially ...more - 20Kevin Costner, Maria Bello, Morgan Saylor
- Released: 2015
- Directed by: Niki Caro
Track coach Jim White (Kevin Costner) is a newcomer to a predominantly Latino high-school in California's Central Valley. Coach White and his new students find that they have much to learn about one ...more - 21Dennis Quaid, Rachel Griffiths, Jay Hernandez
- Released: 2002
- Directed by: John Lee Hancock
A true story about a coach who discovers that it's never too late for dreams to come true. Jim Morris (Dennis Quaid) never made it out of the minor leagues before a shoulder injury ended his pitching ...more - 22Kevin Costner, Rene Russo, Cheech Marin
- Released: 1996
- Directed by: Ron Shelton
Roy McAvoy (Kevin Costner) was a golf pro with a bright future, but his rebellious nature and bad attitude cost him everything. Now working as a golf instructor, he falls for his newest pupil, Dr. ...more - 23Natt Tangnimitthana, Jetsada Taesombat, Jaa Kongwiang
- Released: 2013
- Directed by: Josh Kim
Draft Day is 2013 short documentary drama film written and directed by Josh Kim. - 24Paul Newman, Michael Ontkean, Lindsay Crouse
- Released: 1977
- Directed by: George Roy Hill
In the small New England town of Charlestown, the local mill is about to lay off 10,000 workers. The town's minor league hockey team, the Charlestown Chiefs, is doing no better. After years of ...more - 25Emilio Estevez, Kathryn Erbe, Michael Tucker
- Released: 1994
- Directed by: Sam Weisman
An international competition for junior league hockey teams is being held in Los Angeles. Coach Gordon Bombay (Emilio Estevez) is picked to lead Team U.S.A. He reunites the "Mighty Ducks," the teen ...more
