Sporting News recently released their picks for the best head coaches in the NFL. No big surprise who finished #1: Bill Belichick. And #2 shouldn't catch anyone off guard: Tony Dungy.

Naturally, I was curious where rookie head coach Ken Whisenhunt fits in. The answer (you probably know if you read the title) is #17. Not bad for a rookie. That's 1 spot better than Tom Coughlin and a heckuva lot better than Scott Linehan who slipped to dead last.

Said SN:

He comes from a winning background and has started well in  a place where many have failed.

How did other coaches in the division fare? Mike Holmgren landed at #4 (hard to argue) and Mike Nolan at #30 (ouch). Apparently the NFC West doesn't have the best set of coaches outside of Holmgren and perhaps average-ranked Whisenhunt in the eyes of SN.

The division with some great coaching, according to the weekly mag: the AFC South. Dungy, as I said before, was selected as the second best while Jeff Fisher (5), Jack Del Rio (15), and Gary Kubiak (23) all finished pretty well. Fisher at 5 surprised me, though he has had a pretty long tenure in Tennessee.

Altogether, the ranking was fair for the most part and it's hard to argue their reasoning. What do you think? Is Whisenhunt too low or (gasp!) too high?